Turkish human rights defender receives anti-torture award
Friday, the Turkish professor, medical doctor and human rights defender, Veli Lök (72) received the first Inge Genefke Award.
Professor Lök is one of the many human rights defenders in Turkey who, because of their work against torture, have been charged and taken to court on the basis of absurd allegations, according to a press release from IRCT in Copenhagen.
Every other year, the Inge Genefke Award of 10.000 US dollar will be awarded to a person who has carried out particularly commendable work against torture.
– He has always been a step in front of the torturers, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Member of the European Parliament and former Danish Prime Minister said, as he presented the award to Professor Lök.
– His courage and his academic skills as a medical doctor form a combination with an enormous preventative effect. Thanks to the integrity and the high standard of research undertaken by Veli Lök and others, the torturers know that even if the prison doctors are told to lie, the alternative medical reports from the anti-torture doctors will tell the truth, Mr. Nyrup Rasmussen said.
A particular priority of Professor Veli Lök has been to improve the documentation of torture in Turkey. Several times, he and his colleagues have been taken to court on the basis of absurd allegations, that would never take been made in any member state of the European Union. Professor Lök mentioned the many trials in his speech:
– Of course the authorities were disturbed by our activities. We spent years attending trial sessions against us. The number of trials has decreased, but some of them are still continuing, Veli Lök says.
The award of 10.000 US dollar (ca. 60.000 DKR) honours Dr Inge Genefke, the founder of the first rehabilitation centre for torture victims in Copenhagen, The Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims (RCT) and current Ambassador of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT).
– Professor Lök has indeed served as an example and inspiration for all of us. He has helped break the silence surrounding torture, says Dr Inge Genefke, the founder of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT).
The award is conferred by the Inge Genefke and Bent Sørensen Anti-Torture Support Foundation, which was established with the generous assistance of Alan and Jette Parker, the OAK Foundation.
– The deep ethical commitment, the respect for human life and human dignity, and the compassion for those who suffer the most in this world, the victims of torture, has always been, and still is, the brandmark of Inge, Jette Parker said.
A former client of Inge Genefke, Archana Guha Jensen, was present at the award ceremony and read a text by Isabel Allende. The ceremony also included a poetry recital by actress Susse Wold, and musicians Palle Mikkelborg and Helen Davis played Palle Mikkelborgs composition “In Spite of”, which is dedicated to torture victims.
Professor Lök started the work on the identification of torture symptoms and the treatment of torture victims in 1987, when the Human Rights Association was established. He is a founding member and has been a board member of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT) since 1990. Today, the HRFT consists of five rehabilitation centres for torture victims.
In addition to the 10.000 US dollar, Professor Veli Lök was given a Fire Steel from the Iron Age. It was used for lighting fire and symbolises the importance that Veli Lök’s work has for the victims of torture.
For further information, please contact Media Co-ordinator Poul Struve Nielsen, the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), on phone no. 33 76 06 49 or 23 34 55 09 (mobile).
International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), www.irct.org, Borgergade 13, P.O. Box 9049, 1022 Copenhagen K, Tel.: 33 76 06 00, Fax: 33 76 05 00
