A/65/273 importance of the Istanbul Protocol, the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims and the Turkish Medical Association, together with the Government of Turkey, concluded last year the training of 4,000 medical doctors, 1,000 prosecutors and 500 judges. Against all odds 67. Throughout his tenure of the mandate, the Special Rapporteur has been impressed by the courageous, dedicated and professional work undertaken by rehabilitation centres around the world. In all the centres he visited during his fact-finding missions, he was impressed that staff members had been working extremely hard and often at considerable personal sacrifice. Confronted with the continuous arrival of new victims, aware of the large number of those who cannot be reached and knowing how quickly a person’s life can be broken and how long it takes to heal, their work may at times appear frustrating. Working with survivors of torture involves listening to their experiences of abuse and its consequences, and may place a considerable psychological burden on those treating torture victims. Nevertheless, the staff of rehabilitation centres work relentlessly, often on a voluntary basis, in order to provide treatment and shelter. A. Hostile environment 68. Rehabilitation centres for the victims of torture often operate in an environment characterized by insecurity and violence. Their engagement with victims of torture, the provision of medical services and particularly the documentation of torture cases make them frequent targets of those who inflicted the suffering. As a consequence, physicians, forensic experts, psychologists, administrative staff and volunteers all work under considerable personal risk and are often confronted with harassment, threats, assault or even killings. 69. More subtle, but similarly obstructive, has been the introduction of new, sweepingly restrictive regulations for civil society organizations in many countries. While it has to be recognized that it is within the discretion of each State to adopt domestic legislation concerning non-governmental organizations, such provisions sometimes appear to be more the expression of a general suspicion or even hostility towards the work of civil society organizations working in the field of human rights, rather than serving any reasonable administrative purpose. In Egypt, the El Nadeem Centre for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, which provides holistic support to victims of torture through medical rehabilitation, family support and legal aid, is threatened by a proposed law on non-governmental organizations. If approved, the law will lead to the centre’s closure, along with that of many independent non-governmental organizations. A similar situation already exists in Algeria, where the political situation presents extreme challenges for the establishment of non-governmental organizations. As a result, despite efforts by the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, there is as yet no rehabilitation centre in the country. Likewise, in the Sudan, the Amel Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture was recently closed in a crackdown on independent non-governmental organizations. Yet, in other areas work continues. In Zimbabwe, the Counselling Services Unit, which the Special Rapporteur visited in 2008, is a heartening example of how courageous individuals manage to provide crucial rehabilitation services and documentation in sometimes extreme 16 10-48049