by Blanche Rivera (Inquirer)Updated 05:03am (Mla time) 06/28/2006
NEXT TIME a doctor pries into the cause of your bruises or wounds, don’t be surprised.
The country’s medical practitioners are being trained by human rights advocates to dig deeper into the condition of their patients, some of whom could be victims of torture who are unwilling to report what they had been through.
The Medical Action Group (MAG), composed of health professionals advocating human rights, has conducted workshops among municipal and city health officers, as well as doctors serving in detention centers all over the country, as part of its campaign to encourage the reporting of torture.
“Our objective is to involve them … We want to deepen their consciousness so they can document and report torture cases to the Commission on Human Rights or to NGOs (nongovernment organizations),” MAG program coordinator Amy Abcede said in a forum.
The role of doctors and health professionals was highlighted by the United Nations as the world celebrated International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on June 26.
The forum, called “Biktima ng Torture, Baka Ikaw na Ang Susunod (A Victim of Torture, You Might be the Next),” gathered representatives from Amnesty International, the United Against Torture Coalition-Philippines, CHR and Congress, and a torture victim.
No questions asked
Abcede said that while it was common knowledge among human rights activists that torture happened inside the country’s jails, most doctors were not familiar with the signs of torture and did not know how to help victims.
“They treat, but they don’t ask. We want them to ask because this will also help the victims to open up,” she said.
In a statement, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak reiterated that documentation and reporting played a crucial role in preventing torture.
Ethical obligations
“I take this opportunity to call upon medical doctors and other health professionals to fulfill their legal and ethical obligations toward torture survivors, including the obligation to document and report instances of torture and political violence,” Nowak said.
He cited an incident in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where doctors had force-fed prisoners in a painful way, “reminding us of the appalling fact that medical doctors have in several instances participated in torture and ill treatment.”
Nowak said that despite the ratification by 141 states of the Convention on Torture, more than 100 countries, including signatories to the convention, continued to torture men, women and children.
Human rights abuses
With the Philippines’ record on human rights violations, Filipino doctors have a lot of reasons to learn.
From 1988 to 1998, a total of 15,556 complaints of human rights violations, most of them cases of torture, were lodged with the Presidential Committee on Human Rights, CHR Director Karen Dumpit said during the forum.
Task Force Detainees of the Philippines recorded 102 cases of torture under the administration of former President Corazon Aquino, 179 cases under Fidel Ramos, 53 cases during the shortened term of Joseph Estrada, and 105 cases under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Painful reality
The MAG released a manual for medical professionals early this year explaining the Philippines’ commitment to international conventions against torture and other human rights violations.
Abcede said the group was also coordinating with the Philippine Medical Association in its education campaign.
The PMA itself has admitted that few doctors are aware that torture is a painful reality among the country’s prisoners and suspected political dissidents.
Doctors’ mandate
Training doctors could be a big boost to the advocates’ efforts to document torture inside jails and detention centers where doctors have access.
NGOs are not allowed to carry cameras when they visit prisoners to check on their condition, so the best they can do is to write down the details of the torture and describe the torture marks on the victims.
Doctors, on the other hand, are even mandated to do routine checks in jails. The law also requires a medical examination of those who have been arrested before they are put behind bars or released.
“There are doctors who have been trained. We encourage the victims to come out,” Abcede said.
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