Victims of Torture Fund
In keeping with its legislative mandate under the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998,
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) works through the Victims of
Torture Fund (VTF) to assist the treatment and rehabilitation of individuals who
suffer from the physical and psychological effects of torture. According to the
International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), rehabilitation aims to
empower the torture victim to regain the capacity, confidence, and ability to resume as
full a life as possible.
Toward this end, USAID's Victims of Torture Fund administers treatment programs
based in 26 countries that span
four regions (Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the Near East, and Europe
and Eurasia). Currently, VTF is supporting treatment programs that attend to the medical,
psychological, and social needs of torture survivors and their families. In addition to
treatment services, some programs include advocacy, training, technical assistance, and
research.
It is important to realize that due to limited resources, the Fund cannot work in all
countries where there is evidence of torture. Consequently, the Fund gives priority to
settings where needs far outweigh financial commitments of donors. Also, in an effort to
extend itself to the broader community of organizations treating survivors of torture, the
Fund maintains an open and collaborative spirit in sharing information and experience to
better the state of the art of programming in the field in general.
USAID is committed to improving the capacity of its partners to study the impact of their
interventions in order to improve the standards of practice. Similarly, we encourage
collaboration among partners to strengthen networks of practitioners and the quality of
service.
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