Websites of Organizations Working to End Torture or Support Survivors

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): www.aclu.org. Working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.

American Friends Service committee PA Program www.afsc.org/pittsburgh
The Pennsylvania Program of AFSC has been working actively in Western PA on torture issues.

Amnesty International (AI): www.amnesty.org:  AI's mission is to undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all human rights.

Cageprisoners.com: www.cageprisoners.com Works to improve the circumstances and situation of political detainees worldwide, specifically those interned as a result of the War on Terror and its side campaigns, with focus on: Due process, equal/non-discriminatory application of the law, enforcement of basic rights globally, fair trials using evidence of internationally required standards, badly drafted legislation which criminalizes dissent and prosecutes dissenting members of the Muslim community - targeting the process which makes them "detainees"

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR): www.ccrjustice.org CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization dedicated to protecting and advancing the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (OIRGJ): Detainees and Counter-Terrorism Project http://www.chrgj.org/projects/detainees.html The Center's cutting edge legal analysis exposes the practices of extraordinary rendition, disappearances, and detainee abuse as violations of domestic, regional and international law. The Center works closely with human rights organizations, litigators, regional groups, parliamentary bodies, and other actors working to end abuses by the United States and collaborating countries in the "War on Terror" "Human Rights Abuses in the "war on terror."

The Center for Justice & Accountability (CJA): www.cja.org CJA works to deter torture and other severe human rights abuses around the world by helping survivors hold their persecutors accountable. CJA is the leading center in the United States that represents survivors in civil suits against persecutors who live in or visit the United States. CJA is pioneering an integrated approach to the quest for justice that combines legal representation with referrals for needed medical and psychosocial services, and outreach to schools, community organizations and the general public.

Center for Victims of Torture: www.cvt.org The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) works to heal the wounds of torture on individuals, their families and their communities and to stop torture worldwide.

Human Rights First (HRF): www.humanrightsfirst.org  HRF is a leading human rights advocacy organization based in New York City and Washington, DC. Since 1978, we have worked in the United States and abroad to create a secure and humane world -advancing justice, human dignity, and respect for the rule of law. Human Rights First has launched a campaign to investigate the abuses, analyze U.S. Policy on torture and recommend corrective action. The resources located here bring much needed clarity to a complex and growing scandal."

Human Rights Watch (HRW): www.hrw.org HRW is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. We stand with victims and activists to prevent discrimination, to uphold political freedom, to protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime, and to bring offenders to justice. We investigate and expose human rights violations and hold abusers accountable. We challenge governments and those who hold power to end abusive practices and respect international human rights law. We enlist the public and the international community to support the cause of human rights for all.

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC): http://www.icrc.org.  Among its activities of providing humanitarian relief and the promoting international humanitarian law, the ICRC is mandated by the international community, under the Geneva Conventions, to visit prisoners of war and civilian internees to verify whether they are being treated according to relevant international standards.

The National Consortium of Torture Treatment Programs (NCTTP): http://ncttp.org/ is a U.S. based network of programs which exists to advance the knowledge, technical capacities and resources devoted to the care of torture survivors living in the United States and acts collectively to prevent torture worldwide.

National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT): www.nrcat.org  As men and women of faith and conscience, we are joined together on a non-partisan basis in profound opposition to torture and cruel and inhuman practices by anyone for any purpose. As United States-based organizations, we feel particular responsibility for the abusive practices being utilized by the United States government today. Together we will work for the immediate cessation of torture by the United States, whether direct or by proxy, within our territory or abroad

PA Network Against Torture (PANAT):  http://www.panetworkagainsttorture.org/:  PANAT is a network of individuals, faith groups and civic organizations committed to ending U.S. sponsored torture in Guantanamo, Bagram, and other US bases in other countries, ending U.S. participation in the practice of extraordinary rendition, advocating for a Commission of Inquiry on U. S. involvement in torture, public education about psychological and physical torture in our prisons, including solitary confinement, advocacy and supportive care for survivors of torture.

Physicians for Human Rights: http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/torture Physicians for Human Rights mobilizes health professionals to advance health, dignity and justice, and promotes the right to health for all. Harnessing the specialized skills, rigor, and passion of doctors, nurses, public health specialists and scientists, PHR investigates human rights abuses and works to stop them.

Quaker Initiative to End Torture (QUIT): www.quit-torture-now.org This website offers information and resources for learning and taking action.We want to stop torture as policy and practice forever.

Rabbis for Human Rights -North America (RHR-NA}: http://www.rhr-na.org  RHR-North America is a rabbinic organization dedicated to education, advocacy, prayer, and action in support of human rights. In North America, RHR-NA has launched Honor the Image of God: Stop Torture Now, a Jewish campaign to end U.S.-sponsored torture. The campaign includes developing educational resources and programming for rabbis and Jewish communities nation-wide and organizing Jews in local communities to participate in Jewish and interfaith efforts to end torture.

Redress: http://www.redress.org/about/who-we-are: human rights organisation that helps torture survivors obtain justice and reparation. Redress works with survivors to help restore their dignity and to make torturers accountable.

International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims http://www.irct.org/  The IRCT is a health-based umbrella organisation that supports the rehabilitation of torture victims and the prevention of torture worldwide.

School of the Americas Watch (SOAW): www.soaw.org SOA W is an independent organization that seeks to close the US Army School of the Americas, under whatever name it is called (currently Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation or WHINSEC), through vigils and fasts, demonstrations and nonviolent protest, as well as media and legislative work. In these schools for the past 60 years, the US military has trained Latin American military officers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. These graduates have consistently used their skills to wage a war against their own people. Union organizers, student leaders, and religious workers have been tortured, raped, assassinated, "disappeared," massacred, and forced into refugee status by graduates of SOA/WHINSEC.

TASSC International (Torture Abolition and Survivor Support Coalition): www.tassc.org The Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC) is the only organization founded by and for torture survivors. The mission of TASSC is to end the practice of torture wherever it occurs and to empower survivors, their families and communities wherever they are.

The Unitarian-Universalist Service Committee (UUSC): www.uusc.org/programs/STOP advances human rights and social justice around the world, partnering with those who confront unjust power structures and mobilizing to challenge oppressive policies. Early on it mounted a campaign to Stop Torture Permanently (STOP).

Witness Against Torture: www.witnesstorture.org public education and community outreach, networking and resource sharing, and acts of nonviolent civil disobedience to draw attention to the plight of prisoners in Guantanamo, and victims of the war on terrorism everywhere. In addition to direct action suggestions, the website contains several creative ideas for actions to raise awareness and to provide direct support to Guantanamo detainees.

World Organisation Against Torture:  http://www.omct.org/: Created in 1986, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) is today the main coalition of international non-governmental organisations (NGO) fighting against torture, summary executions, enforced disappearances and all other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.