Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act of 2005
TORTURE VICTIMS RELIEF REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - December 06, 2005)
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2017) to amend the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998 to authorize appropriations to provide assistance for domestic and foreign programs and centers for the treatment of victims of torture, and for other purposes.
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Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from New Jersey?
There was no objection.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, nationwide there are an estimated 400,000 torture survivors, most of whom came to the United States as refugees. Worldwide, it is impossible to count the numbers. As witnesses have repeatedly testified before our committee and before the Congress, the paralyzing scars from the physical and psychological wounds of torture can remain for years. Torture impacts not only the individual victim but their families and society as well.
Yesterday, the first witnesses testified in the trial of Saddam Hussein. Demonstrating heroic courage, they described torture on a scale that is almost beyond belief and which is simply too grisly to be repeated here. Although these events described happened many years ago, their testimony painfully illustrates the lasting impact torture has on those who survive it, their families and communities. There can be no doubt that Hussein's systematic torture was intended not only to punish specific victims but to coerce an entire population into silence and into subservience. As we try to bring democracy to Iraq and to other parts around the globe, we must try to heal the victims of torture that was used to prevent democracy from taking hold in the past.
In 1998, Mr. Speaker, Congress took a historic step towards repairing the broken lives of torture victims with the passage of the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998. I sponsored that legislation, and I was joined by my good friend and colleague (Mr. Lantos), who has also been a hero in this battle to help torture victims. We also sponsored the Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act of 1999 and the Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act of 2003. As important as these congressional measures have been, there continues to be an enormous need for us to reach out to the victims of torture who oftentimes have no other recourse for their suffering. Therefore, I strongly urge my colleagues to join us today in supporting H.R. 2017, the Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act of 2005.
The domestic aspect of this legislation, Mr. Speaker, is designed to ensure that particular attention is given to torture victims in regions with significant immigrant and refugee populations. The measure authorizes $25 million for fiscal year 2006 and $25 million for fiscal year 2007 to the Department of Health and Human Services to assist domestic treatment centers. This maintains the current $25 million authorization funding level for fiscal year 2005 for such centers.
Currently, 27 programs in 16 States are assisted by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement. In addition to direct assistance, many of these centers are also engaged in training mainstream organizations and personnel in the specialized treatment of torture victims.
The number of survivors seeking treatment at U.S. centers funded through the Torture Victims Relief and Reauthorization acts has steadily increased throughout the years. The client base at just 14 such centers increased from 935 in 1999 to 1,550 in 2000 to 2,579 in 2001. A subsequent survey showed that during 2002, 23 Torture Victim Relief Act-funded centers treated over 3,600 clients. With the additional funding, it is estimated the U.S. centers would have the capacity and the capability to serve an additional 2,800 survivors per year.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2017 also authorizes $12 million in 2006 and $13 million in 2007 for foreign treatment centers and programs administered through USAID's Victims of Torture fund. This authorization would maintain the current fiscal year 2005 authorization for 2006 and increase it by $1 million for fiscal year 2007.
The bill gives particular emphasis to supporting centers and programs abroad in emerging democracies and postconflict environments. Nongovernmental organizations that receive this funding provide direct services to survivors, their families, and their communities. They also strengthen institutions on the ground and the indigenous capacity of these institutions to deliver services to survivors. In addition to providing treatment, many of these programs advocate for the elimination of torture itself in these countries.
Lastly, the measure maintains current authorization levels of $7 million for fiscal year 2006 for the U.N. Voluntary Fund for the Victims of Torture. It would increase this funding to $8 million in fiscal year 2007. In 2001, in just that one year alone, the U.N. fund assisted some 77,000 victims of torture. This type of humanitarian assistance provided by organizations which receive grants from the fund consists mainly of psychological, medical, social, legal, and economic assistance.
Again, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I attach for printing in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD an exchange of letters between Chairman HYDE and Chairman BARTON on the bill H.R. 2017 ``The Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act of 2005.''
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Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friends and colleagues for their very kind remarks. This is bipartisan legislation. We worked very closely with the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) to come up with what I think is a bill that will make a significant difference to help those who have suffered the cruelty of despotic regimes all over the world.
I just returned from a trip to Vietnam. I was in Hanoi, Hue, and finished the trip in Ho Chi Minh City; and during the course of more than 24 comprehensive meetings with religious and political people, many of whom are under house arrest, or pagoda arrest, including that of Thich Quand Do, the venerable leader of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, Father Li, Father Loy and many others, in each and every one of those circumstances, the more the conversation went on, the more you saw, while they suffered much in prison, especially for Father Li and others, they were subjected to torture and other inhumane treatment.
Their faith helps them get through it. But for most beyond a facade of coping, the mental pain is overwhelming. They and so many others like them all over the world need what this kind of legislation can provide in the foreign treatment centers as well as our domestic centers. We have learned much about post-traumatic stress disorder. We have learned much of it through our work in this country through the VA and the fine work that the psychologists have done and the psychiatrists in mitigating the pain of our GIs who served in Vietnam and in other conflicts.
But for other people who have suffered so cruelly, being put into coffin-like boxes for days and weeks on end, leaves scars. Father Calciu, I will never forget, a great leader in Romania who spent years in Communist prisons, used to be put in these small boxes where he would suffer beyond words. It was his faith that got him through it, but he carries those scars.
There are people like Armanda Valadaries who wrote a book that should be read by everyone as a primer as to what the Castro regime does to its people, ``Against All Hope.'' Valadaries talks about the torture that he and so many others in Cuba have suffered. And he is one of the brave ones who endured and overcame. But so many others retreat and slide into despair, clinical depression, and then sometimes even to suicide.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this. In like manner, I urge the appropriators to ensure that we meet the authorized levels. Torture victims are the walking wounded and they are on our streets. As both the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) and I said, 400,000 is the estimation of torture survivors living in the United States.
Many of them came here as asylum seekers. Thank God they got the asylum status. Many others survive throughout the world and need the kind of services this legislation can provide.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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