IRCT REGIONAL REPORT 2016 note The PROTECT project is an identification tool initiated by experts providing rehabilitation services to torture victims. PROTECT was led by IRCT member centre Parcours d’Exil, in France, along with 11 other EU-based NGOs providing holistic rehabilitation services. Key objectives were to enhance the identification of torture victims in the asylum process and to raise awareness of the need to facilitate their access to immediate health care and treatment. The tool consists of a questionnaire, designed to check for the signs and symptoms of the most common health problems encountered by asylum seekers who may have suffered traumatic experiences, mainly PTSD and depression. This screening checklist has been devised so that nonmedical personnel, such as immigration authorities, civil servants, border guards or other stakeholders accessing asylum-seekers can use it in the early stages of the procedure. The checklist assists the identification of vulnerable persons who have suffered severe traumatic experiences or who are suffering from other severe psychological distress in order to provide them with: (i) adapted material reception conditions, (ii) appropriate physical and mental health care, and (iii) adequate support through their asylum application. As a second step, the asylum seeker should have access to a full psychiatric or psychological diagnosis, if necessary according to Istanbul Protocol standards. Medico-legal reports Article 18 of the Asylum Procedures Directive stipulates that Member States must arrange for a medical examination where they deem it relevant if the asylum seeker shows “signs that might indicate past persecution or serious harm”. Furthermore, when asylum authorities request a medical examination, Article 18 also obliges Member States pay for it out of public funds. However, several IRCT members participating in this report noted that the provision of MLRs is not always guaranteed in practice. They note that the Directive does not impose a strict obligation on Member States to provide MLR services to asylum seekers and that asylum authorities exercise broad discretion in deciding when such a medical examination may be “deemed relevant”. This is particularly problematic because Article 18(2) of the Asylum Procedures Directive stipulates that in cases where the asylum authorities do not request a medical examination, asylum seekers must themselves arrange to cover the costs. For many victims, this cost renders essential medical evidence of their torture claims inaccessible. This creates a risk that valid protection claims will be rejected on the basis of incomplete evidence resulting in torture victims being sent back to their countries of origin where they are at risk of repeated torture and ill-treatment. It may also result in avoidable appeals and delays in the procedure to the detriment of the individual applicants and the broader functioning of the asylum system.31 page 40