“ To me, the value of documentation is the ability to present the stories of the people. You’re able to know the effects of torture through documentation, and therefore, because you know the details of the sequelae and the effects, you are putting forth a face of the victim, especially if you are using such documentation in advocacy. In our experience in the Philippines, documenting the effects of torture — including the effects to the family — has helped others to understand better who these torture survivors are. Before, we could just say, “These are the torture survivors,” without the benefit of giving them the face. Right now, because of torture documentation, we know who these people are, we know their names, we know what happened to them and we know the effects. Therefore, we can tell the public, “These are the torture survivors, and these are the effects to them”. — Josephine Acuna-Lascano, Balay Rehabilitation Center, the Philippines possible – that they are entitled to. For this reason the IRCT and its member centres around the world lobby the European Union, the African Commission for Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission and take cases to the regional human rights courts. Example from our partners: using cases to advocate in the Philippines The United Against Torture Coalition — a network of human rights organisations in the Philippines, including two IRCT members — brought cases supported by the IRCT to the attention of the UN’s Universal Periodic Review in 2012. As a result, torture in the Philippines was among the primary focuses of the UN Human Rights Council during the country’s UPR. More than 15 states focused on torture in their recommendations to improve human rights in the Philippines. These recommendations included: • that the Government of the Philippines effectively implements the 2009 Anti-Torture Act, with a particular focus on ensuring that all investigations and prosecutions of allegations of torture and ill-treatment fully cover the possibility of command responsibility as stipulated in section 13 of the Act; and that all alleged victims of torture and ill-treatment have effective access to a medical evaluation of their injuries by institutionalising the use of the Istanbul Protocol, including by providing guidelines to judges, prosecutors, forensic doctors and medical personnel dealing with detained persons, to detect and document physical and psychological trauma of torture; • that the Government of the Philippines effectively implement the Anti-Torture Act with a special focus on responsibility of superior officers, access to a medical examination and the establishment of a sufficiently resourced rehabilitation programme for torture victims. Advocacy in relation to forensic documentation is a two-way street: documented cases of torture are much more effective and useful to use in advocating for change, yet at the same time, advocacy is necessary to produce a conductive policy environment for improved documentation of torture. Getting the evidence: Countering torture through medico-legal documentation 19