NATIONAL REPORT 2016 The right to rehabilitation In accordance with the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereinafter, CAT) and General Comment 3 on the implementation of Article 14, States parties have an obligation to ensure that victims of torture and ill-treatment have free and prompt access to rehabilitation services. Furthermore, Article 25 of the Reception Conditions Directive notes that “Member States shall ensure that persons who have been subjected to torture, rape or other serious acts of violence receive the necessary treatment for the damage caused by such acts, in particular access to appropriate medical and psychological treatment or care.” However, as with other countries where service for survivors of torture are offered outside state healthcare, there is no holistic system for the rehabilitation of victims of torture in Germany. NGO treatment centres offer psychosocial rehabilitation programmes - providing a multidisciplinary, holistic approach to treatment that addresses the medical, psychological, social and legal needs of the victims. There are only 26 of these specialised centres in Germany, mainly in urban areas; and the demand for treatment far exceeds the resources and funding to centres providing holistic treatment and rehabilitation services is a major concern. While the German national health system provides medical, psychiatric and psychological treatment, access to these services depends on the person’s health insurance status. Persons with legal residency have the right to get the treatment that is necessary; but asylum seekers, during their first 15 months of stay, only have limited access to the healthcare system6. That means that the services are restricted to emergency cases and help that is deemed necessary. As a consequence, applications for therapy from asylum seekers are rejected 10 times more often than applications from persons with legal residency. It can take up to several months or even a year before such an application for psychological treatment for an asylum seeker is approved. The national law determines that after 15 months of residence in Germany, asylum seekers can apply for full access to healthcare services; but there is still no guarantee that victims of torture will receive the treatment they need. A study by Bermejo et al shows that people with immigrant backgrounds do not have the same access to health programs 7. Language barriers, including the lack of trained interpreters and a problems with financing all serve as obstacles to accessing appropriate treatment. The study also found that asylum seekers often do not have proper information about the health programmes that are being offered. Another problem is that rehabilitation needs a multi-professional approach with integrated social work – such services do not exist in the regular health care system. A german police officer takes care of a little refugee child in the registration area of Passau. © Jazzmany page 7