The Special Needs of Victims of Torture or Serious Violence: A Qualitative Research in EU

Abstract

In recent years ongoing wars and serious violations of human rights have driven increasing numbers of people away from their homes, especially in the Middle East and Africa to countries in the European Union to seek asylum. It is estimated that between 5% and 35% of these asylum-seekers and refugees have suffered from torture or serious violence. Studies and practice have shown that an appropriate response to the special needs of victims of torture or serious violence contribute to reduce survivors’ suffering and provide properly international protection. EU legislation recognizes that such vulnerable individuals have special needs, but few of these needs have already been identified and recognized as such. This article reports on a qualitative study carried out in six EU countries - France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta and Portugal - to explore the special needs of victims of torture or serious violence who present among asylum-seekers, during the asylum request procedure, in reception, and throughout rehabilitation and social integration. The study aims to release into the academic community the results of a large policy and practice-oriented study.

Keywords:

• “Special needs”
• torture victims
• procedure
• reception
• rehabilitation
• social needs
• interdisciplinary and specialized assistance

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge and thank the colleagues of the following organizations for their participation to this research: Aditus (Malta), France Terre d’Asile (France), Greek Council for Refugees (Greece), Portuguese Council for Refugees (Portugal) and Zentrum Überleben GmbH (Germany).

Notes

1 See https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/pdfscache/5777.pdf

2 Available online at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32013L0033&from=EN

3 Available online at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32013L0032&from=en

4 See https://ipsn.easo.europa.eu/

5 Aditus (Malta), France Terre d’Asile (France), Greek Council for Refugees (Greece), Italian Council for Refugees (Italy) Portuguese Council for Refugees (Portugal) and Zentrum Überleben GmbH (Germany). We would like to acknowledge and thank the colleagues from these organizations for their important contribution to this research.

6 The research proposal obtained approval by the European Commission (EC) under compliance to ethical principles while doing research with refugees and particularly vulnerable groups (at the time, according to the EU Directive 96/46/EC). National research groups obtained approval for these procedures from their own national research ethics committees and complied with national legal obligations before the EC approved and granted the research.

7 See the project report at http://www.cir-onlus.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/final-report_TIME-FOR-NEEDS_CIR-1.pdf

8 Office Fançais de Protection des Réfugiés et Apatrides.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by European Commission under the “Asylum Action Grants” – HOME/2014/AMIF/AG/ASYL/7836.