Background The right to rehabilitation for victims3 of torture – an ongoing dialogue with OSCE participating States All victims of torture have an explicit right to rehabilitation under the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT, Article 14). Rehabilitation should aim to restore, as far as possible, torture victims’ independence, physical, mental, social and vocational ability, as well as their full inclusion and participation in society.4 States have a corresponding duty to provide for as full rehabilitation as possible, either through the direct provision of rehabilitation services, or through funding private medical, legal and other services, including those administered by non-governmental organizations (NGOs).5 All OSCE participating States have ratified the UNCAT as prescribed in OSCE commitments (e.g. Copenhagen 1990, Athens 2009, paras. 1 and 6). In addition, OSCE participating States have committed to ensuring the full rehabilitation of torture victims (Athens 2009, para. 9). This workshop built on previous discussions with OSCE participating States on the implementation of the right to rehabilitation for torture victims, notably a discussion of the Human Dimension Committee in March 2016 on "Challenges of implementing the right to rehabilitation - regional perspective”, an OSCE high-level regional conference in Copenhagen organised by the Danish Government as part of the Convention against Torture Initiative (CTI) in partnership with the German Chairmanship of the OSCE and DIGNITY- Danish Institute Against Torture on 23-24 June 2016,6 and an OSCE workshop on the rehabilitation for victims of torture organised by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in cooperation with the OSCE German Chairmanship 2016, CTI and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.7 Based on the positive outcome of these discussions, ODIHR in partnership with CTI launched a small-scale project supported by Italy and Denmark aimed at the publication of a practical implementation tool for State parties to the UNCAT, including all OSCE participating States. The workshop brought together representatives of 32 OSCE participating States (44 participants, 24 women and 20 men) as well as expert speakers and facilitators from the Italian Ministry of Health, Ms. Serena Battilomo; the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), Mr. Asger Kjaerum; the Secretariat of the Convention against Torture Initiative (CTI), Dr. Alice Edwards; the Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture in Rome/Medici Contro la Tortura, Ms. Federica Dolente and Ms. Luisa Pepe; the Center for Torture victims in Athens/ ‘Medicines sans Frontieres’, Mr. Christos Eleftherakos; and ODIHR’s Adviser on Torture Prevention, Ms. Stephanie Selg. 3 Acknowledging that victims ’organizations increasingly use the term “torture survivors” or “survivors of torture” instead of “victims of torture”, this paper uses both terms interchangeably. 4 UN Committee against Torture’s General Comment No. 3 (2012): Implementation of article 14 by States parties, §11. 5 Ibid, §15. 6 Outcome report at http://cti2024.org/content/docs/CTI%20OSCE%20report_final_rev.pdf 7 Outcome report at https://www.osce.org/odihr/osce-workshop-on-rehabilitation-for-victims-of-tortureoutcome-report-on-discussion-and-recommendations?download=true 5