NYC's Invisible Victims
Team: BoHee Yoon, Zoe Stein, Melissa Jangl, Nicole Barber
Semester: Spring 2006
Doctors Of the World USA Human Rights Clinic
Doctors of the World-USA (DOW) is the autonomous 501(c)(3) United States affiliate of Médecins du Monde, an international health and human rights network headquartered in Paris. The organization was founded in 1991 by the late Jonathan Mann, the distinguished physician and international activist for health and human rights. DOW works where health is diminished or endangered by violations of human rights and civil liberties. DOW provides care and services while training community residents to carry on its mission of health at the conclusion of its efforts, combining these services with appropriate advocacy to ensure maximum impact. To achieve its goals, DOW mobilizes American health care professionals as volunteers, bringing their expertise and idealism to those who need it most. Currently DOW works in Kenya, Kosovo, Mexico, Nepal, Romania, Russia, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, and the United States.
In the U.S. DOW's largest project is the Human Rights Clinic (HRC). HRC trains medical and mental health clinicians to recognize and document indications of torture among people who seek refuge from torture in the United States. All of our clients seek asylum based on claim of having been tortured. To date we have served more than 1000 people from more than 100 countries. According to estimates from the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the United States Department of Health and Human Services, there are over 100,000 immigrants in the New York City who have survived torture. The United States may provide refuge to torture survivors through asylum, however each individual must prove either having been tortured or having a credible fear of being tortured if deported. But people seeking asylum frequently do not have the resources to document their torture and have no right to counsel or other assistance in their petition to U.S. immigration judges. Immigration attorneys tell us that the evidence provided by HRC may be the factor that convinces a judge to grant asylum.
The proposed research will examine the capacity of medical centers in New York City to assess torture. Students will undertake four key research activities:
1 Compile a complete listing of all medical centers and other health clinics in the city;
2 Develop an interview protocol designed to assess awareness of and responsiveness to torture;
3 Survey all health facilities
4 Analyze findings and present a final report.
Ideally, findings will be analyzed in conjunction with an analysis of the major immigrant communities who are most likely to use each medical center. This could be done by matching study findings with census track data.
Because the field of assistance to torture survivors is so small, there is a dearth of research about the prevalence of survivors, the awareness of torture throughout the city's service sector, and the efficacy of intervention efforts that exist. The research findings would provide critical information about the scope of knowledge about torture among New York City's health care providers. It would also provide insight into the range of screening and service techniques used by medical center to reach their increasingly diverse patient populations.
Core Documents
Terms of Reference
Timeline
Final Presentation
Additional Documents
2006 Spring - Doctors of the World - NYC's Invisible Victims.pdf
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