REFUGE: Caring for Survivors of Torture

It’s estimated that more than 500,000 refugees, asylum seekers, and other immigrants to the United States have been victims of politically motivated torture. They come here from Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere — some legally, some undocumented, some with families and some very much alone. They live in major cities and in small towns. Some survivors bear visible scars, but many more have been wounded in ways that remain hidden.

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Refuge: Caring for Survivors of Torture is a video documentary, now in production, on the identification, treatment, and support of immigrant torture survivors living in the United States. The film will be a powerful tool for educating, engaging, and motivating healthcare, mental health and social service providers and students, as well as community organizers and groups serving immigrant communities. Its goals are to increase public awareness and understanding of the situations of torture survivors and their families in our communities; to help providers recognize torture survivors among their immigrant clients; to demonstrate ways that providers can effectively confront the issues that are unique to immigrant torture survivors; and to motivate, inspire and empower clinicians and students to meet the needs of this growing and increasingly vulnerable population.

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The Refuge Media Project’s PSA- the only winning entry from the United States, was shown worldwide in conjunction with the United Nations’ International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, June 26, 2009. According to the IRCT, past spots have appeared on dozens of TV channels in more than twenty countries, reaching an estimated 300 million viewers.

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Ben Achtenberg was for many years the owner of Fanlight Productions, a nationally-respected distributor of independent documentaries. He recently sold the company in order to focus full time on The Refuge Media Project which is dedicated to producing a wide range of video, print, and web-based resources dealing with the issue of torture. Its first documentary, Refuge: Caring for Survivors of Torture, deals with the healthcare and social service needs of refugee torture survivors living in the United States. Ben received an Academy Award nomination for the documentary Code Gray: Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing, possibly the only nursing film ever so honored. Ben’s other award-winning documentaries have focused on such topics as parenting, homelessness, disabilities, aging, and healthcare ethics.

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