Review of initiatives adopted for effective documentation of torture in a developing country

Abstract

Effective documentation of torture is the key to successful interrogation and redress of torture victims. However the facilities available for such documentation to the forensic practitioners in less resourced countries are far from satisfactory. The emphasis on accurate and detailed documentation of examination findings of torture victims is currently necessary in Sri Lanka as the courts are relying heavily on medical reports for interrogation. In a situation where most of the torture victims are examined by unskilled medical officers who are not full time forensic practitioners, deficiencies of various degrees are commonly observed pertaining to depth of examination and documentation of examination findings. Therefore it was attempted in 2004, to introduce uniformity to existing documentation procedures by implementing Istanbul Protocol on island wide basis. However it was revealed that the adoption of the Istanbul Protocol could not be done as a whole in a short period due to variable degree of compliance from medical officers and further it need to be modified according to domestic requirements. The documentation of torture is a distinct multistage and multidisciplinary process. Therefore unless and untill a cohesive collaboration is established between all disciplines concerned, a positive development on documentation process cannot be anticipated.