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The International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) trains local NGOs in counseling skills and awareness of the impact of torture so that they can develop better relationships based on trust, compassion, and caring with victims of torture.  In doing so, ICMC provides local advocacy NGOs with the ability to build stronger relationships with the individuals they are trying to help.

The provinces of Aceh and Papua in Indonesia have suffered enormous human rights violations at the hands of the two sides in conflict: the Indonesian government and pro-independence groups. Both parties are very reluctant to admit to the use of torture.  Indonesian NGOs have tried their best to bring human rights abuses cases to light in order to shame the government and to prevent the government from committing such violations again.  NGOs take the approach of advocacy—sometimes coaxing the victims too much to try to go for redress— and are not trained to look at the issue from their clients’ perspective, nor to look at their needs or rehabilitation.

After a targeted needs assessment, ICMC began training courses for seven local NGOs in Aceh and six for local NGOs in Papua. The training focused on:

• awareness on torture: its definitions and aims;
• consequences of torture;
• needs of torture survivors;
• basic counseling skills;
• documentation of torture;
• counseling torture and trauma survivors;
• monitoring client improvement.

The first two-day training session focused on awareness on torture, the aim and mechanism of the ICMC Survivors of Torture program, and criteria for the disbursement of small grants. After this initial training session, interested NGOs submitted proposals for the grants.

In addition to the small grants program, many NGOs asked ICMC to provide intensive training in counseling skills for working with torture survivors. Consequently, ICMC arranged a five-day counseling training course to take place in the two provinces. In order to provide closer supervision and support to NGO partners who underwent the counseling skills training, the ICMC team also conducts monthly two-day follow up workshops in Aceh and Papua. These workshops function as a forum for NGOs to share their experiences and to learn from each other. Based on the needs identified during the follow up workshop sessions, ICMC provides advanced training in mental health issues associated with torture and trauma. In addition, the program has also set up an E-mail 'list serve' by which trainees from different regions can share their queries and initiate discussions on the counseling of torture survivors, moderated by ICMC staff.

ICMC has also helped these local NGOs by training them on how to document torture in a systematic and comprehensive manner.  This documentation process includes information on why and how the torture occurred, and not just documenting when and where it happened.  According to ICMC, following this international standard will recognize the local NGOs’ work in the eyes of the international communities.

ICMC’s work has enabled local advocacy NGOs to build relationships with victims of torture based on trust and caring, while counseling has increased the victims’ willingness to be involved in some form of legal prosecution against the human rights perpetrators.

In implementing this tactic in another context, it is important to 1) take into consideration the financial aspects of the training, 2) make a needs assessment before starting the training, and 3) regularly supervise and support these local NGOs after training has been provided.

This tactic can be used as an example for training organizations working in the areas of sex trafficking, rescue, child labor, and abuse. 

Photo source: ILRI