First-Hand Reflections

by Eva Spranger " Then it dawned on me – I am a human rights worker!" Eva Spranger is a social worker at the Center for Victims of Torture. She writes about how the Symposium helped connect her own work in torture treatment to the larger human rights movement.

Introduction

Attending the New Tactics in Human Rights Symposium was a pivotal event in my work in human rights. It provided the chance to join a gathering in which the diverse participants focused on solutions rather than an endless expression of the various human rights problems they work on. While we came from backgrounds of helping children, women, political activists, victims of violence, and many other causes, we all agreed that we were "among friends" where we didn’t need to defend our issues, but rather to be in dialog about the best strategies to use to achieve forward movement of any of the causes. This was a gathering of people who "do" and "create" and "innovate," each in his/her own expression of the struggle for "radical social change."

Know the Adversary. Know Yourself. Know the Terrain.

A central concept of the symposium was that successful human rights efforts must be informed by conscious strategies. We were reminded of the words of SunTsu, the Chinese philosopher who asserted that strategy emerges from understanding your adversary, yourself, and your terrain. Knowing the adversary means learning as much as possible about the power and motives of the force you want to influence to bring about desired social change. Knowing yourself means assessing your own strengths and identifying vulnerabilities. Knowing your terrain mean knowing the political climate, the recent history, the fronts on which you will have the best chance for success. "Know your adversary. Know yourself. Know your terrain" served as a simple framework for my own introspection of strategic planning, tactical thinking, and my work at CVT as a social worker. Even so, the inter-relationship between these three elements is, in reality, far from simple. There are always differing views of who is the good guy, who is the bad guy. Sometimes, to our shock, horror, and general angst, we even find that we are affiliated with a "good" organization or political group or government entity that another human rights worker identifies as the bad guy!

Re-defining Myself in Human Rights

Every morning, all of the participants would pile into the shuttle bus that would transport us from our hotel to the symposium site. On about the third day, I looked around at my fellow riders and marveled at the fact that I was here with all of these amazing human rights workers. Then it dawned on me – I am a human rights worker! This was the moment when I stepped outside of my identity as a Minnesota-based social worker. I had consciously entered the global "human rights movement."

New Tactics: An Entree into the Larger Human Rights Community

"Why are we be helping or even talking to human rights agencies who are addressing other concerns in the world? Does this diffuse our mission with its specific focus on torture?" I know my CVT colleagues wrestle with these questions and so I searched for some better understanding of the relationship between the New Tactics initiative and the work of the Healing Teams and other CVT projects. Following are some of my post-symposium thoughts on that. While our focus at CVT is exclusively on torture, human rights and human needs necessarily compete with each other. A participant from Asia who worked in HIV/AIDS awareness among prostitutes recounted this illustration: "When I asked her why she would continue to submit herself to the risk of contracting a fatal disease, the prostitute replied, ‘if I am infected with HIV, I will likely live 5 years. But if I stop prostituting, I will have no money and my children will begin to go hungry within days.’" The issues of prostitution and HIV could not be successfully combated as long as the prostitute faced the other injustices – lack of access to food resources for her family. A realization of this sort may result in a creative partnership between the HIV prevention movement and the right to food access issue that enables progress in both areas of concern. In fact, there are many other human rights issues that are similarly attached to the torture issue.

While we cannot tackle all of those issues, it is in our interest to see that other human rights workers thrive in their efforts to make more humane policy reform, to defeat community apathy or ignorance about human rights abuses. Coalitions are more important today than ever; some creative collaborations may even seem counter-intuitive. An attack on a small organization damages all others. Even in the torture treatment movement, what is happening in other treatment centers around the world profoundly impacts the health of the entire torture treatment and abolition movement. As mentioned above, the new relationships and cooperative partnerships connect our work with the larger anti-torture movement. It also puts our work into a context of the global human rights movement. As other movements make advancements in difficult terrains to reform laws, solidify public sentiment behind a justice issue, the terrain is made more fertile for advancements in torture abolition and treatment as well.

The other really obvious fruit of the New Tactics project is the catalog of specific tools that are being used by other human rights workers in countries from which our clients are coming or in organizations that are tackling similar challenges to those we face. The terrain, the adversary, and even ourselves are dynamic, changing forces. Advancement for US and international treatment/abolition is helped by an in-flow of knowledge of tactics that can be adapted to work for us, for our clients. Some examples of tactics I learned about and thoughts about their application in our work here in Minnesota follow.

The Tactic from Abroad

Using cultural resources to build awareness and inspire action Some issues can be very difficult to discuss or even bring to the consciousness of the public – such as domestic violence, racism and even the general topic of human rights. Cultural resources like theater (to address domestic violence), concerts and soccer matches (to raise awareness of racism) and cinema (to start discussions about human rights) have been used to overcome stigmas, build awareness and inspire action.

Potential Connections to Our Work in Minnesota

I was particularly interested in the Senegalese group who used street theater to open dialog on the taboo issue of domestic violence. Torture and sexual abuse are certainly no less taboo among survivors in Minnesota. It made me wonder if this tactic could be adapted to target African survivors living in Minnesota. Could it be an effective means of community education regarding the after-affects of torture and the healing services offered at CVT?

The Tactic from Abroad

Building relationships with police for education and training When law enforcement professionals have direct experiences that give them a solid understanding of why we must protect human rights and what that means, it helps to improve community relations and encourage empathy for new migrants and suspected criminals.

Potential Connections to Our Work in Minnesota

I have heard many, many accounts of emotionally charged encounters our clients have had with local law enforcement. Some experiences have been tragic in which the client is terrorized by any interaction with a police officer. Other accounts have been characterized by a client marveling at the kindness of a highway patrolman who rescued her on the freeway following a mechanical breakdown. In this workshop, an Austrian group described an extended "tandem immersion" in which carefully selected police officers were matched with carefully selected refugees for a 6-month guided experience (as part of a larger police training). All refugees were language competent and efforts were made to create a non-hierarchical partnership between the refugee and the police officer. To encourage this, the two were required to meet regularly and to complete a concrete, creative project together. The training benefited both groups; both became more sensitized to the issues and concerns of the other (and possibly de-sensitized to initial negative attitudes about the other). CVT has been active in training the local police forces on how to work most effectively with refugees, asylees, and particularly torture survivors. I wonder whether this training idea could be suggested to local law enforcement officials and whether there might be a way to adapt it to suit local training needs.

The Tactic from Abroad

Accompaniment for victims as they share stories about abuses Ensuring the physical, psychological and emotional safety of victims of abuse is essential to helping them tell their stories. Accompaniment, which can take many forms, is one way to do this. Whether in court, in mock tribunals or in informal community settings, when victims tell their stories they can help break the silence surrounding abuses, end impunity for perpetrators and create space for healing and momentum for change.

Potential Connections to Our Work in Minnesota

The group from Nigeria spoke of a mock tribunal to meet the needs of survivor/ witnesses who were unable to participate in official Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. This workshop had me thinking a lot about the need for public denouncement of violence and victimization. It also touched on a recurring theme I encounter here in CVT Minneapolis from board members and some (albeit few) clients re. justice, restitution, and reconciliation issues. It made me wonder if there is not some sort of community ritual or exercise that would be helpful to some clients as part of their process of integrating the torture experience into their lives. This sort of thing is an incredibly delicate undertaking. I wonder if it was especially feasible and beneficial for the Nigerian community in that the mock tribunals were conducted in the communities within which the atrocities were committed and attended by community members at large who truly understood the context of the violence.

The Tactic from Abroad

Archiving and documentation to support human rights work It has been said that "knowledge is power." In the area of human rights, documenting information and creating systems that help people access this information are critical prerequisites for planning and taking action. Innovations in building cooperative data systems, utilizing people with special skills and organizing resources for human rights educators provide additional ideas for sharing knowledge that can lead to healing and action.

Potential Connections to Our Work in Minnesota

Like the mock tribunals mentioned above, the tactic of preserving the evidence of war and violence on communities seems to speak to the need for "bearing witness" and "breaking the silence." In a related vein, I have noted that museums have also served this purpose of holding the evidence of a terrible event. Holocaust museums are an excellent example of this. The collection of objects and testimonials serve as a concrete reminder of the experience shared by an entire community. I wonder what resources now are available in the world for documentation of torture. I also wonder what ways torture survivors in Minnesota have to safely put the stories of victimization and injustice "on the record." Coming to mind are a number of oral history projects that I’ve heard are taking place at the University of Minnesota. Are there others?

The Tactic from Abroad

Religious tenets: Changing perceptions on human rights People gain guidance, strength and consolation from their religious beliefs and practices. Human rights work and efforts can be advanced by creating public space to educate and help people to understand the mandates arising from their own faith tradition to deal with social issues that can be confusing and contentious such as women’s rights, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights, and the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS.

Potential Connections to Our Work in Minnesota

This workshop rocked me with the realization of the complexity of the "adversary-self-terrain" paradigm. These workshops grappled with the tactics a human rights organization might adopt when a seemingly just institution is perceived to be acting unjustly. In this case, religious faiths (and the interpretation of their tenets) were targeted for their involvement in blocking human rights advancement. Participating in this workshop created personal discomfort for me and several others in the audience because many of us were members or affiliates of the named "adversary." For me it was the Catholic church. What do you do when you identify with both the adversary AND the self of the paradigm? Finally, this symposium offered me the most precious of gifts -- of unabashed enthusiasm and encouragement from others in the human rights field. In her closing statement Mufuliat Fijabi, of BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights/ Nigeria, echoed the sentiments of so many participants of the New Tactics in Human Rights symposium– "We are on a journey that seems to have no end. But keep the hope!"