Annual Report 2015 // Messages from the Chair and Director
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REDRESS Annual Report 2015 // Messages from the Chair and Director 65 ANNUAL REPOrt 2015 2 The REDRESS Trust Limited Board of Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31st March 2015 3 The REDRESS Trust Limited 87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ United Kingdom Phone:+44 (0)20 7793 1777 Fax:+44 (0)20 7793 1719 www.redress.org Charity Number: 1015787 Company Number: 2774071 REDRESS Annual Report 2015 4 REDRESS Annual Report 2015 // Contents CONTENTS MESSAGES FROM THE CHAIR AND DIRECTOR 06 ABOUT REDRESS 08 PROGRAMMES 10 // Casework 12 // Justice in the Context of Mass Victimisation 20 // Influencing National Laws and Standards 28 // Promoting International Standards 32 5 COMMUNIcatIONS 34 OUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE 35 OUR SUPPOrters 36 GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT 39 FINANCIAL REVIEW 40 Who’S WHO at REDRESS 60 PUBLIcatIONS THIS YEAR 62 REDRESS Annual Report 2015 // Messages from the Chair and Director MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR Sir Emyr Jones Parry GCMG, Ph.D. F.Inst.P, PLSW It is my privilege to introduce this Annual Report Again, REDRESS is indebted to our staff, a small of REDRESS’ activities over the past year, which dedicated talented team, for their unflagging provides a comprehensive account of the wide efforts on behalf of survivors and to combat torture. range of our work. It is regrettable that this is made Particular thanks are due to our Director, Carla necessary by a deterioration in global human rights. Ferstman, for her leadership. Funding REDRESS is an ongoing challenge, so our warmest thanks to all 6 Every day the media assails us with accounts of those donors who support us and provide the means the plight of refugees and displaced persons for us to do our work, and to our patrons, old and who now total more than 50 million worldwide. new, for their encouragement. Working with partners Many are fleeing persecution and atrocities, increases our effectiveness and we greatly appreciate and torture is all too prevalent. It may be illegal that collaboration. and counterproductive, but for some regimes it is common practice. Its use offends us all and This Annual Report describes our activities and sets strikes at the core of human dignity. So the burden out our financial performance. I commend it to you. for REDRESS and other NGOs has increased, My personal thanks go to my fellow trustees, and to and our case load is strikingly international and our director and to our loyal staff. heavy, crossing continents and legal institutions. Again REDRESS continues to champion torture survivors, and I believe that the quality of our work is widely appreciated. This year saw REDRESS working in more than REDRESS CONTINUES 25 countries and with about 850 individual survivors. We welcome positive action by governments. TO CHAMPION But we also intervene in support of victims and point TOrtURE SURVIVORS out those who transgress and who condone torture. REDRESS takes cases on their merits and approaches all governments with the same rigour and candour, without favour. All governments need to fulfil their legal obligations and match words and deeds in the fight to eliminate the scourge of torture. REDRESS Annual Report 2015 // Messages from the Chair and Director MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR Carla Ferstman I am honoured to lead the committed and talented team at REDRESS, to work with some of the most dynamic civil society groups around the world and to have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of some of the most vulnerable people who have suffered torture, one of the most horrific abuses of human rights. A review of this Annual Report will show that more and more of our 7 clients are receiving positive judgments from human rights courts and related tribunals. More and more survivors and lawyers working on their behalf in all regions of the world have joined forces with REDRESS to pursue remedies for torture and related international crimes. Impunity remains a deep-seated problem in many countries where we work but with the combined efforts of REDRESS and other organisations, it is a problem that can be confronted and can be overcome. We are making MORE important progress, but there is much more that we need to do. THAN 25 I am grateful to the trustees of REDRESS for their continued support COUNTRIES and to REDRESS' founder and Honorary President Keith Carmichael for his vision and to the staff for their daily efforts to realise this vision. REDRESS is fortunate to work with a range of lawyers, academics, students and volunteers all of whom are invaluable to our efforts. Thank you as well to the range of foundations, institutions, governments and individuals who continue to see value in funding our work. INDIVIDUAL 850 SURVIVORS REDRESS Annual Report 2015 // About REDRESS ABOUT REDRESS // REDRESS is an international human rights organisation with a mandate to seek justice and reparation for survivors of torture and related international crimes. KEY valUES It was established on 10 December 1992 REDRESS prioritises the interests and and was founded to ensure survivors’ perspectives of survivors in all aspects of its work. The highest priority rights to justice and reparation would in decisions and interventions 8 is given to promoting survivors’ be capable of being enforced in practice. well-being and the avoidance of further traumatisation. Collaborating with REDRESS accomplishes this through like-minded organisations is at the centre of REDRESS’ ethos. More can a range of activities which it implements be achieved when forces are joined. in the United Kingdom and in countries Sharing of expertise within and between cultures and continents is a value that around the world in partnership with REDRESS seeks to promote as a goal in and of itself and as a means a range of counterparts. to maximise impact. VISION A World without Torture. MISSION To seek justice for survivors of torture; to combat impunity for governments and individuals who perpetrate it; and to develop and promote compliance with international standards. REDRESS Annual Report 2015 // About REDRESS OUR StrateGIES We pursue our objectives through three mutually reinforcing strategies involving litigation, research- based advocacy and capacity building, designed to strengthen the conditions necessary to end impunity for torture and afford survivors redress. 9 Casework // We provide direct legal assistance to individuals and communities that have suffered torture and related international crimes in securing their rights. We provide legal advice, litigation support and representation to survivors in all regions of the world. Advocacy // We seek to positively influence policies, practices, laws and standards to enable justice and reparation for survivors. Capacity Building // Working in partnership with like-minded organisations, REDRESS provides technical assistance and support to civil society organisations and networks as well as national authorities around the world to combat torture and help survivors. < Carla Ferstman and Legal Advisor Kevin Laue REDRESS Annual Report 2015 // Programmes PROGRAMMES We work along four broad programme areas to advance our mission: Casework // to provide direct legal support to torture survivors to obtain justice and redress Justice in the Context of Mass Victimisation // to obtain justice and 10 redress for torture survivors in situations of violent conflict, or in those societies emerging from, or having emerged from, a period of mass human rights violations Influencing National laws and institutions // working collaboratively to promote strong national legal frameworks and institutions that reflect international standards and are enforced in practice Promoting International Standards // to promote and strengthen international standards and regional and international institutions that reflect survivors’ rights to justice and reparation. REDRESS Annual Report 2015 // Programmes PROGRAMMES CASEWORK JUSTICE IN THE CONTEXT OF MASS VICTIMIsatION INFLUENCING 11 NATIONAL LAWS AND INSTITUTIONS PROMOTING INTERNatIONAL StaNdards REDRESS Annual Report 2015 // Programmes // Casework PROGRAMMES CASEWORK // Helping torture survivors is central to REDRESS’ mandate. We provide wide-ranging legal advice and support to survivors to help them achieve adequate and effective remedies. The types of cases taken by REDRESS include: These cases are important to 12 criminal complaints against alleged perpetrators; the individuals and communities civil claims for compensation and other remedies; directly concerned; they also claims for consular support and the exercise of serve the additional purpose diplomatic protection; administrative claims against of advancing the rule of law public bodies relating to the failure to carry out and the fight against torture diligently their mandates; support to survivors worldwide. to access national human rights commissions REDRESS’ cases concern women, and/or other inquiry processes operating in the men and child survivors of torture, country. committed during relative REDRESS also uses its good offices to assist survivors peace and in times of conflict. to make contact with government officials, whether The survivors can be suspects to obtain apologies or other measures or to assist of ordinary crimes, tortured them to access primary support. Internationally, to obtain confessions. They also REDRESS uses regional and international courts concern human rights defenders, and related quasi- and non-judicial mechanisms when protesters and others tortured local remedies fail. In addition to direct litigation