A Philippine Human Rights NGO providing Psychosocial Services and Rehabilitation to Internally Displaced Persons and Survivors of Torture and Organized Violence.

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Survivors of torture and enforced disappearance obtain rehabilitation assistance from government agency

Around 200 survivors of torture and enforced disappearance and their relatives have started to receive some financial assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in recognition of their right to rehabilitation under the Anti Torture Act and the Anti-Enforced Disappearance Act. The monetary assistance is intended for the purchase of medicines and to pay for basic medical check up of the victims. Some amount are meant to augment their resources for their livelihood projects as well.

The milestone was a result of the workshop organized by the DSWD and its civil society partners, the Balay Rehabilitation Center and the Families and Victims of Enforced and Involuntary Disappearance or FIND, in Zamboanga City on August 23-25, 2016.

Some 30 social welfare officers and case managers from three regions identified by the DSWD to be the pilot areas for the initial implementation of its rehabilitation program participated in the three-day workshop. The pilot areas include the National Capital Region, Region XI which covers the Davao Region, and Region IX in Western Mindanao, including Isabela City in Basilan Province.

The list of victims recognized by the DSWD constitutes the first batch that will receive rehabilitation support from its various field offices from August to December this year. The list is based on the records submitted by Balay and FIND to DSWD. Other victims may also access the DSWD rehabilitation services as long as they are documented by its social workers or endorsed by its civil society partners.

Balay facilitated the granting of financial assistance to 17 torture victims and some family members a week after the rehabilitation workshop was concluded. The DSWD intends to provide psychosocial care and other therapeutic support after its case managers have determined the areas of intervention that matters for the survivors and torture and enforced disappearance based on their participatory needs assessment. 

The DSWD calls its rehabilitation program “PagHILOM.” It stands for Healing Intervention Leading to Optimum Management for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture and Enforced Disappearance. The initiative is in fulfilment of the DSWD’s role as one of the major leading agencies mandated by law to implement Section 19 of Republic Act 9745 or the Anti-Torture Act that provides for the formulation of a comprehensive rehabilitation program for the victims of torture and their families. It was a product of the partnership between the DSWD, Balay and FIND which started in 2015.

The Commission on Human Right (CHR), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of Health (DOH) are the other major agencies expected to fulfil the right to rehabilitation of victims of human rights violations.  

Among the other action plans determined during the rehabilitation workshop are the following:

-         Convene a multi-disciplinary team of health and psychosocial practitioners in partnership with civil society groups and professional experts

-         Call the attention of the Commission on Human Rights to convene an inter-agency meeting to enjoin other concerned departments to come up with their respective program to provide rehabilitation services to those entitled under the law.

-         Establish an inter-agency mechanism for the referral, case management coordination, monitoring, and evaluation of the rehabilitation program, with the CHR exercising an oversight function.

-         Enhance the capacity of social workers to detect, screen, and document torture cases that come their way, as well as to provide proper psychosocial care – including home visits - for those in need.

-         Study the current capacity of DSWD shelters to house and care for survivors of torture and enforced disappearance