Newsletter. Documenting torture: Why the Istanbul Protocol matters

Overview of content:

Documenting and investigating human rights crimes
Lecture. The 2022 Revision of the Istanbul Protocol
Further reading
All manuals can be downloaded
Upcoming events

Dear colleagues

By Nora Sveaass, Chair of the board of MHHRI,
Professor Emeritus at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo.

The fight against impunity for human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and ensuring justice for the survivors, is a fight of high priority! Impunity and lack of justice may be experienced as a continuation of the violations by those whose lives have been seriously affected by such crimes. The importance of holding the responsible to account, telling the stories about what happened and ensuring that the right to redress and rehabilitation for the victims is respected, is fully acknowledged in the international human rights community. For these ambitions to be realised, it is essential that violations are described and documented, that the consequences of the violations are equally described and systematised and that the documentation serves as the basis for investigations and sanctions.

How can this be carried out, and who may engage in the documentation of serious human rights abuses and violations? An important step was taken in September 2022, when Eurojust, together with the EU Network for investigation and prosecution of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes (Genocide Network), and the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) developed and published guidelines on how to document international crimes and human rights violations. This important initiative aimed to enable Civil Society Organisations to engage in this work and provide information and systematised documentation for accountability purposes.

Documentation and the collection of evidence of serious human rights crimes may also take their toll on the survivors. The approach in this work must always respect individuals and their rights, it must be in line with international standards and principles for human rights and obey all ethical guidelines. An important guideline or set of principles, the Murad Code was developed, named after Nadia Murad, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate from 2018.

The Istanbul Protocol, or the Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, is the most developed and elaborate tool concerning the documentation of torture.

Torture is among the most brutal and inhuman forms of treatment known to humanity, and it inflicts profound and long-lasting harm on those who are subjected to this. The Istanbul Protocol was first drafted based on an initiative that grew out of an international symposium that took place at the Department of Forensic Medicine, Cukurova University Medical Faculty, in Adana, organised by the Turkish Medical Association. Doctors, psychologists, lawyers, and other professionals from various countries working to prevent and respond to torture contributed to the development of the first version, which was presented in 1999. The main drafter was Vincent Iacopino from Physicians for Human Rights, USA

In 2022, a revised edition of the Istanbul Protocol was released. This updated version, known as the Istanbul Protocol 2022, was the result of collaborative work by nearly 200 experts, with contributions from key civil society organisations such as IRCT, HRFT, Redress, and PHR, alongside all relevant UN anti-torture bodies (including CAT, SPT, UNVFVT, and the Special Rapporteur on Torture). The updated protocol received official endorsement from the United Nations.

This updated UN-endorsed version provides practical guidelines for health professionals, lawyers, and human rights experts to document and investigate torture effectively. It covers relevant international law, methods and effects of torture, and offers clear guidance on how to describe and document findings, including common challenges in this work.

The new version, the IP-22, contains two new chapters, namely one on the Role of Health Professionals in Documenting Torture and Ill-Treatment in Different Contexts and one on Istanbul Protocol Implementation. It also includes a new annex, Annex II: Guidelines for Documenting Torture and Ill-Treatment of Children.

To conclude, a quotation from Lancet, 2022, by Iaccopini et al., “Health professionals have vital roles in global efforts to hold perpetrators of torture accountable. The 2022 edition of the Istanbul Protocol is an essential tool to empower health professionals to leverage their clinical knowledge and skills to help end torture and safeguard our humanity”.

Read the full document here

All our gender-based violence manuals can be downloaded from the MHHRI website

Three gender-based violence manuals have been developed to support helpers working with women, boys and men, and children who have experienced sexual violence.

These manuals are available in multiple languages, enabling survivors and helpers to access the content in their preferred language while maintaining consistent headlines and numbering. This multilingual approach facilitates teaching when participants and trainers speak different languages. Each manual includes a toolbox of grounding exercises that survivors can use on their own, to manage emotions or in collaboration with a helper. Additionally, helpers can use these exercises for their own self-care.

GBV Manuals Online E-Training

You can now be self-trained and apply for a certificate for this online training.To be able to obtain the MHHRI GBV training certificate, you are required to:

• Read thoroughly the selected manual (and tutorials, when offered).

• Write responses that deeply reflect your thorough understanding of the topics discussed with clear language.

• Submit your responses and feedback regarding the training you have completed on its’ course structure and content.

Read our annual report for 2024

We are happy to share our annual report for 2024 with you. MHHRI has maintained a high level of professional activity and engaged in broad international collaboration. We have further strengthened our position as a key actor at the intersection of mental health, human rights, and work in conflict settings. The organisation faces important strategic decisions in the period ahead, yet there is a clear and continued need for, and interest in, our resources. This provides both motivation and hope for the work that lies ahead.

Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn

On our MHHRI Facebook page, and on Instagram we are continuously posting new and relevant articles that we add to our website, as well as events and videos. We also just launched our new LinkedIn page!

Upcoming events

European Conference on Domestic Violence.
The conference series for individuals working to address domestic violence in Europe.
September 3-5, Barcelona, Spain.

Frontiers in Traumatic Stress 
The ISTSS Annual Meeting provides an inter-disciplinary forum to share research, clinical strategies, public policy related to trauma.
September 17 – 20, 2025, Baltimore MD, US.

13th European Conference on Mental Health. 
ECMH is an annual event for mental health professionals, service users, researchers and everybody interested in the field.
10 –  12 Sep, 2025, Antwerp, Belgium,

HDCA 2025 Conference “Culture, Peace and Capabilities”
The annual conference of the Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA) brings together people from all over the world from different disciplines and fields interested in human development and the capabilities approach.
September 1-5, 2025 Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK

61st Psychological Association of the Philippines Annual Convention and 8th ASEAN Regional Union of Psychological Societies Congress  
At the heart of this year’s theme, “Futurescaping Psychology: The Role of Psychology in Achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” exemplifies psychology’s powerful force that can help shape a better and more sustainable world.
September 25-27, 2025. Cebu, Philippines

North American Refugee Conference.
Addressing all aspects of refugee health.
September 11-13, 2025, at Niagara Falls, Canada.

The European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health
Network of European societies and platforms of global health and tropical medicine.
29 September – 2 October 2025, Hamburg, Germany

2nd Annual Conference of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies
International Conference on Mental Health, Human Dignity, and Climate Change: Mitigating Global Psychological Risk.  his conference aims to foster a global dialogue on human dignity, humiliation, and the intersection of these themes with pressing global challenges, such as mental health and climate change.  27 – 28 October 2025, Lahore, Pakistan and Online

Children’s rights under pressure in a changing world: Need for a new research agenda?
The Symposium offers an opportunity to hear about current, cutting-edge research by PhD’s and to work together on a research agenda.
16, 17 October 2025 Kamerlingh Onnes Gebouw, Steenschuur, Leiden, Nederlands.

24th Nordic Conference on Trauma Treatment
For professionals working with trauma-affected refugees. November 20- 21, 2025, Copenhagen, Denmark.

We appreciate feedback and comments

Welcome to our new subscribers, we hope you will find our content useful. The Mental Health and Human Rights Info Newsletter is a newsletter with the aim to provide insight on a certain subject across the scope of our work; human rights violations in war and conflict areas and mental health. Our intention is to deliver a newsletter as a short “lecture” where you can find relevant information regarding a specific subject from a mental health perspective. You will receive our newsletter 5 times a year.

We would appreciate your thoughts and suggestions on other issues you would like to see in this newsletter or if you are planning an event on related issues, please let us know so we can include your event in our newsletter.

If you know anyone who would be interested in receiving this e-newsletter, please forward it, and encourage them to sign up.

Sincerely yours,

Mental Health and Human Rights Info team
post@hhri.org
www.hhri.org
To the top

——————————————————————————

Copyright © 2025 MHHRI.ORG All rights reserved.

MHHRI are not responsible for the content of external websites. Links are made because we think the content might be of use. The comments and evaluation on this page are made by our staff to make the links more accessible to you, and is entirely our subjective impression of the link in relation to our context.