“First and foremost, the judicial process needs to be
adjusted more effectively to victims’ psychological needs.
All participants in the judicial process should consider
how they can reduce the psychological burden of victim
participation without compromising the legal procedures
or fairness to the accused.
TPO in Cambodia
Collaboration between health and legal professionals is also of paramount
importance, to provide the victim with the fullest range of psychosocial and legal
support necessary, and also to provide specific expertise to the court, for example
through expert reports. Maintaining and developing greater collaboration between
stakeholders in the health, legal and court sectors is required to foster a greater
understanding of the effects that participation in legal procedures can have on
victims and the particular need torture victims have for support from courts and
legal professionals. Thus it is vital to encourage greater cooperation among all
stakeholders involved in legal proceedings (torture victims, health and legal
caretakers, court officials, judges, etc.) to ensure that the judicial process takes into
account the victim’s needs more effectively.
“The staff and material capacity of PRIVA is limited in
its ability to respond to the therapeutic needs of severely
traumatised victims. Demand is higher than the capacity
of the centre to provide psychosocial rehabilitation.
PRIVA in Ecuador
It should also be emphasised that the number of rehabilitation centres worldwide,
providing the kinds of psychosocial support interventions described in Part 2 is
limited as compared to the number of torture victims in need of support. In fact, the
rehabilitation centres contributing to this report stress how lack of staff and financial
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