proof
yesterday i went to this http://www.phrusa.org/students/conference_2004/agenda.html . we rode our bikes there (10 miles)and everything was fine until i got a flat less than a mile from our destination. standing at the gas station freezing and starving, i thought i wouldn't make it. by the time we got to where we were going my feet were so frozen i couldnt walk. while at the gas station i tried to change my tire but my fingers were completely useless due to cold and the mittens i was wearing. mike was wonderful and changed my tire for me. it was rough. i ended up going to a nearby bike shop and buying the expensive puncture resistant tires for the ride home)
The conference was good even though we missed a large portion of it due to bike problems. i went to a workshop about violence against women and then one about immigrants/asylum seekers. the latter was directed more toward med students. people seeking asylum on the grounds of torture (there are different grounds) with no evidence of their claim are granted asylum at an incredibly low rate. physicians, psychologists and social workers can conduct pro bono medical and psychological evaluations of asylum seekers and provide expert testimony at their hearings. when this happens, the percentage of people who are granted asylum jumps up to the 90th percentile. proof. this may sound familiar to anyone who has worked with victims of domestic violence and/or rape. i have a friend who moved here from ethiopia to go to school three years ago. she is not a citizen of the u.s. Last winter when she married a man from africa who is. So everything would be okay except for the fact that he is now abusing her. he does all the classic power and control things. its like he's read the fucking manual. if she divorces him, she'll have to go back to ethiopia, which she doesn't want to do. and while there are provisions for people in situations like this, she has to have proof. she has to be able to prove to INS that there was abuse. the overriding attitude of INS is that this country is so wonderful and great that people will lie about their situations just to stay. i saw a video of two interviews of INS representatives and a people seeking asylum. one interviewer understood the fact that if the person's story wasn't completely tight, it may be due to the fact that the person was traumatized and being traumatized has a tremendous effect on you, including your memory. the other interviewer wasn't so understanding. apparently most of them aren't. so what happens to people who are denied asylum? they are sent back to their countries. right back to the torture. i have and highly recommend this book http://web.amnesty.org/pages/stoptorture-manual-index-eng to anyone interested in the issue of torture. this is in the foreword of the book:
"They started asking me questions from the first moment they put me into the minibus. When I did not answer, they started threatening me in the following manner. 'You don't talk now,' they would say; 'in a few minutes, when our hands will start roaming in between your legs, you will be singing like a nightingale'...
"[T]hey forced me to take off my skirt and stockings and laid me down on the ground and tied my hands and feet to pegs. A person by the name of Umit Erdal beat the soles of my feet for about half an hour. As he beat my soles he kept on saying, 'We made everybody talk here, you think we shall not succeed with you?' and insulting me...
"Umit Erdal attacked me and forced me to the ground. I fell on my face. He stood on my back and with the assistance of somebody else forced a truncheon into my anus. As I struggled to stand he kept on saying 'You whore! See what else we will do to you. First tell us how many people did you go to bed with? You won't be able to do it any more. We shall next destroy your womanhood'...
"They attached an electric wire to the small toe of my right foot and another to the end of a truncheon. They tried to penetrate my feminine organ with the truncheon. As I resisted they hit my body and legs with a large axe handle. They soon succeeded in penetrating my sexual organ with the truncheon with the electric wire on, and passed current. I fainted. A little later, the soldiers outside brought in a machine used for pumping air into people and said they would kill me..."
Statement of Ayse Semra Eker, arrested in Turkey in May 1972
I know this is something that no one really thinks or talks about but that is part of the problem. torture can only exist in hiding. it is also part of the psychological torture to think that this horredous thing is happening to you, you can't do anything to stop it and no one knows. the idea is used to break people down. And it happens all the time all over the world. a very large percentage of the people who are tortured in the world are people working for human rights and social justice. People who challenge governments, regimes, dictators etc. Even right here in the united states (surprize, surprize). Okay. im going on a bit of a tangent. i can't help it. but PLEASE, learn more about torture and the campaign to stop it.
being a victim of rape also brings up the theme of proof. when a rape victim comes in to the emergency room, she/he is offered the opportunity to have evidence collected. the evidence collection isn't pleasant and can sometimes trigger the person to re-experience the rape. but if they don't go through this process, they have no proof to use in prosecution of the attacker. when a specially trained nurse, called a sexual assault nurse examiner, is involved in collecting evidence and testifying the prosecution rates go way up.
If you're still reading at this point, thank you. :) I just want everyone to know about these things and that there are actions all of us can take in the struggle for human rights and justice.
The conference was good even though we missed a large portion of it due to bike problems. i went to a workshop about violence against women and then one about immigrants/asylum seekers. the latter was directed more toward med students. people seeking asylum on the grounds of torture (there are different grounds) with no evidence of their claim are granted asylum at an incredibly low rate. physicians, psychologists and social workers can conduct pro bono medical and psychological evaluations of asylum seekers and provide expert testimony at their hearings. when this happens, the percentage of people who are granted asylum jumps up to the 90th percentile. proof. this may sound familiar to anyone who has worked with victims of domestic violence and/or rape. i have a friend who moved here from ethiopia to go to school three years ago. she is not a citizen of the u.s. Last winter when she married a man from africa who is. So everything would be okay except for the fact that he is now abusing her. he does all the classic power and control things. its like he's read the fucking manual. if she divorces him, she'll have to go back to ethiopia, which she doesn't want to do. and while there are provisions for people in situations like this, she has to have proof. she has to be able to prove to INS that there was abuse. the overriding attitude of INS is that this country is so wonderful and great that people will lie about their situations just to stay. i saw a video of two interviews of INS representatives and a people seeking asylum. one interviewer understood the fact that if the person's story wasn't completely tight, it may be due to the fact that the person was traumatized and being traumatized has a tremendous effect on you, including your memory. the other interviewer wasn't so understanding. apparently most of them aren't. so what happens to people who are denied asylum? they are sent back to their countries. right back to the torture. i have and highly recommend this book http://web.amnesty.org/pages/stoptorture-manual-index-eng to anyone interested in the issue of torture. this is in the foreword of the book:
"They started asking me questions from the first moment they put me into the minibus. When I did not answer, they started threatening me in the following manner. 'You don't talk now,' they would say; 'in a few minutes, when our hands will start roaming in between your legs, you will be singing like a nightingale'...
"[T]hey forced me to take off my skirt and stockings and laid me down on the ground and tied my hands and feet to pegs. A person by the name of Umit Erdal beat the soles of my feet for about half an hour. As he beat my soles he kept on saying, 'We made everybody talk here, you think we shall not succeed with you?' and insulting me...
"Umit Erdal attacked me and forced me to the ground. I fell on my face. He stood on my back and with the assistance of somebody else forced a truncheon into my anus. As I struggled to stand he kept on saying 'You whore! See what else we will do to you. First tell us how many people did you go to bed with? You won't be able to do it any more. We shall next destroy your womanhood'...
"They attached an electric wire to the small toe of my right foot and another to the end of a truncheon. They tried to penetrate my feminine organ with the truncheon. As I resisted they hit my body and legs with a large axe handle. They soon succeeded in penetrating my sexual organ with the truncheon with the electric wire on, and passed current. I fainted. A little later, the soldiers outside brought in a machine used for pumping air into people and said they would kill me..."
Statement of Ayse Semra Eker, arrested in Turkey in May 1972
I know this is something that no one really thinks or talks about but that is part of the problem. torture can only exist in hiding. it is also part of the psychological torture to think that this horredous thing is happening to you, you can't do anything to stop it and no one knows. the idea is used to break people down. And it happens all the time all over the world. a very large percentage of the people who are tortured in the world are people working for human rights and social justice. People who challenge governments, regimes, dictators etc. Even right here in the united states (surprize, surprize). Okay. im going on a bit of a tangent. i can't help it. but PLEASE, learn more about torture and the campaign to stop it.
being a victim of rape also brings up the theme of proof. when a rape victim comes in to the emergency room, she/he is offered the opportunity to have evidence collected. the evidence collection isn't pleasant and can sometimes trigger the person to re-experience the rape. but if they don't go through this process, they have no proof to use in prosecution of the attacker. when a specially trained nurse, called a sexual assault nurse examiner, is involved in collecting evidence and testifying the prosecution rates go way up.
If you're still reading at this point, thank you. :) I just want everyone to know about these things and that there are actions all of us can take in the struggle for human rights and justice.