PRACTICE NOTE 11 - A SURVIVOR-CENTRED APPROACH TO SEEKING REPARATION FOR TORTURE

The purpose of a survivor-centred approach to human rights litigation for reparation is to ensure participation, reduce the risk of further harm and re-traumatisation to the survivor, and to reinforce their agency and self-determination. [...] To mitigate the risk of potential conflicts between the survivor’s goals and the practitioners’ legal and ethical duties, practitioners should clearly establish and outline their duties, obligations, and boundaries to survivors at the outset. [...] ■ Clarify that the form and level of survivor participation in the reparation process might be limited to the rules of procedure of the court or body considering the claim. [...] CASE STUDY In a case involving a child survivor of torture from Cameroon, after a decision by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the State tried to contact the survivor to implement the reparation measures ordered by the CRC. [...] PRACTICE NOTE REPARATION FOR TORTURE SURVIVORS 35 Kinshasa Declaration on the Rights to Reparation and Co-creation of Survivors and Victims of Conflict-Related Sexual and Gender-Based Violence In 2021, during a survivors’ hearing on reparation in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, survivors and victims of CRSV and GBV from 12 African.