IMLU, Kenya
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IMLU is an NGO founded in 1995 to document incidents of torture, provide the victims of torture with medical, psychological and legal services, and advocate against torture. IMLU has a staff of 11 persons, and its network of 150 doctors, 50 psychologists and 15 pathologists around the country helps in providing services for IMLU’s customers. In Kenya, torture exists especially in detention places – police cells and prisons. The general attitude among the police approves torture, and a culture of unpunishment in torture cases prevails. Majority of the victims of torture are poor or unemployed, or they end up losing their job while being in police custody. Thus, they are not able to demand for their rights. In 2005 KIOS gave IMLU a 30 000 euro grant for a project that aimed to identify victims of torture and document the signs of torture, provide the victims of torture with services, and conduct post-mortems. ”The right to be free from torture is absolute. It applies to anyone, whenever and wherever in the world.”
During the first year of the project IMLU registered 167 victims of torture, and 41 of them had either died in detention or were illegally executed. The people surviving torture had either been tortured by authorities or been injured due to political violence. In addition to medical and psychological rehabilitation IMLU provided all the customers with legal councelling but was only able to give legal aid to few customers because of limited funds. Also the families of the victims of torture were given individual or family therapy. Additionally, authorities were trained in the course of the project, and public awareness raising campaign was conducted. The staff of the project visited prisons in order to monitor their conditions and document cases of torture, and on this basis advocated for improved and better living conditions in prison. According to the estimations made by the organization, the need for therapy and counselling of the prisoners is much higher than IMLU can provide. KIOS executive director Elisa Mikkola and project coordinator Sari Naskinen visited IMLU during their project monitoring trip in 2006. The cooperation between KIOS and IMLU continued in 2007 as KIOS granted IMLU 88 100 euro to continue the project. IMLU was now able to give medical and psychological rehabilitation as well as legal counselling for 784 victims of torture. In addition, 135 post-mortems were conducted. Through 14 prison visits more than 2000 persons were reached. In addition, IMLU conducted a research on prevalence of torture in Kenya, organized public events and produced information material in order to further awareness raising. Publicity of IMLU in the media increased remarkably during this project phase. ”It was a terrible experience but thank God I have been helped to cope up by IMLU’s counsellors”
The work of IMLU has had concrete positive results as many victims of torture have received the much needed physical and psychological help. The project has also given them a channel to claim their rights. Due to the monitoring work done by IMLU the conditions in prisons have improved. General public in Kenya have become more aware of human rights and torture. Despite challenges, IMLU has been able to increase and strengthen its network. After the election in the end of 2007 the number of torture cases increased dramatically, which led to multiplication of the amount of IMLU’s customers. The organization took an active role in raising the background of the torture cases into public, and it acted an expert in media and in the meetings between the civil society and public authorities. Reports produced by IMLU have been valuable in documenting the human rights violations and they have been widely recognised both in Kenya and internationally. Due to this active role IMLU’s staff have been harassed by police and authorities. With a new 97 990 euro support from KIOS in 2008, IMLU can respond to the increased need for legal aid, conduct important advocacy work and invest in the welfare and of the staff in their demanding work. (May 2010)
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