This photograph shows the scarred wounds of a Congolese man who was repeatedly beaten, stabbed with a knife and forced into an electric chair. After reaching the UK in 2005, he spent 16 weeks in detention before his asylum case was rejected. He appealed and is currently waiting to find out how his fresh claim will fare. He is one of an estimated 300,000 rejected asylum seekers living in the UK.
A large proportion of rejected asylum seekers have experienced torture and oppression. Others have fled civil war, drought and grinding poverty and arrive in search of peace and a better life. Medact works on these underlying drivers of forced migration and asylum seeking, and seeks to change the policies, behaviours and practices of public and private institutions in the UK that contribute to these global problems.
This spring, Medact is appealing for funds to support its Healthcare and Human Rights programme. We will use any money raised to campaign against the denial of healthcare for refugees and asylum seeker and stop medical complicity in torture.
Change is needed. Please support Medact.
What Medact hopes to do
- Work with the British Medical Association and World Medical Association to encourage national medical associations to protect clinicians who are being punished for refusing to participate in torture.
- Establish a photographic library of torture lesions (hosted by the Wellcome Trust) to improve the training of health professionals in correctly identifying victims of torture
- Provide training opportunities for UK health professionals to write medico-legal reports for patients presenting with signs and symptoms attributed to torture.
- Conduct a systematic review of the clinical and ethical management of hunger strikers for publication through the Cochrane Collaboration.
- Disseminate correct information about the health care rights of refugees and asylum seekers, as well as the professional rights and duties of doctors and other clinicians, to UK health professionals
- Produce a health, equity and financial impact assessment of the government’s proposed immigration bill and proposed NHS charging regime for migrants.
How to Donate
There are three ways you can donate to this appeal.
- Online: Use Just Giving, the well respected and trusted charity website, to donate securely to Medact. Follow this link.
- Text Donation: Text MEDT13 £10 to 70070 to donate to Medact via text. Replace £10 with the sum of your choice – with £10 being the maximum.
- Cheque: Fill out and print this form and send a cheque payable to Medact to The Grayston Centre, 28 Charles Square, London, N1 6HT.
Finally, would you like to get involved in our work on refugees and asylum seekers?
Medact is currently undergoing a process of revitalisation and change. We are actively shaping our programme work and have begun a process of strategic planning for our work in all four of our programme areas. We are holding a mini conference in June and our annual conference in November.
Also, see our Get Involved page and consider joining Medact as a member.
