REDRESS' International Legal Advisor Lorna McGregor at a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Casework
Examples | Assistance | Case Docket
REDRESS assists individuals and groups survivors in obtaining justice and reparation as a core activity. Our clients are often UK asylum seekers, refugees, or UK nationals, though REDRESS also assists torture survivors in a range of other countries, usually in partnership or with the assistance of local lawyers and/or human rights organisations.
Every torture survivor has specific needs depending on the individual’s circumstances, and at all times we work with survivors and/or their families in ways appropriate for the persons concerned. Owing to limited resources and other practical considerations we cannot take up every case which comes to us, but even then we will always try to offer practical advice. We do not charge for any of our services.
In general terms we provide legal advice for torture survivors in gaining both access to the courts and redress for their suffering before national and international courts, including locating evidence. Where necessary we co-operate with partners in the UK and in different parts of the world where torture is endemic. This includes providing specialised expertise on points of law to lawyers and national and/or international courts. Where it is not feasible to proceed through the courts we try to help in other ways, for example, by putting survivors in touch with appropriate medical and psychological professionals and other specialised primary caregivers, or making representations to international, regional and domestic bodies including human rights institutions, and/or to governments and members of parliament. We can also participate in bringing perpetrators to justice through universal jurisdiction mechanisms where the alleged torturer is outside his or her home state.
Some examples of our work with clients in recent years:
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Taking a Chilean torture survivor's case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
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Helping Bahraini nationals in efforts to seek justice for systematic torture
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Working with the Sikh community on attempts to get accountability for torture
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Lobbying for action against a Zimbabwean torturer working for the UN in Kosovo
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Supporting UK nationals tortured in Saudi Arabia in efforts to get remedies
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Intervening for relatives seeking compensation for an Iraqi civilian was tortured to death
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Taking the case of a man tortured in the Philippines to the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva
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Working with the Bangladeshi community to draw attention to certain questions regarding impunity in their home country
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Assisting Peruvian torture survivors with claims in the Inter-American Commission
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Bringing a cases of torture in Sudan to the African Commission on Human & Peoples’ Rights.
