Part I: Recognition and usage 26 Torture is never forgotten: documenting trauma of ex-detainees “ After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.” – Maj. General Antonio M. Taguba (USA-Ret)1 By Dr Önder Özkalipci Medical Expert, IRCT One of the key functions of effective torture documentation is to combat impunity. Allegations of torture by US authorities at detention facilities around the world are numerous. Very few of these allegations have been substantiated by concrete evidence, but a project lead by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) in 2008 achieved precisely this. PHR co-ordinated a team of specialists, including several affiliated with the IRCT, who examined eleven former detainees from the US-controlled Guantánamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and Bagram Airbase detention facilities. These examinations were made possible due to effective collaboration between the medical specialist team and lawyers representing the former detainees. Thanks to the willingness of the former detainees to participate in the investigations and the extensive torture documentation expertise of the specialist teams, the public now has access to a reliable account of the torture of eleven persons at the hands of the US authorities. Each ex-detainee was examined over two days by a physician and either a psychologist or a psychiatrist. To ensure the highest possible degree of reliability of the medical reports, the examination teams utilised the Istanbul Protocol standards for assessing physical and psychological evidence of torture and compared the findings with the specific allegations made by the individual ex-detainee.