INTRODUCTION: Torture survivors can be considered both the most vulnerable and resilient of people. They are a testimony to the human spirit and to the capacity for endurance in the face of unimaginable atrocities.

For three decades, the field of providing care and support, or ‘rehabilitation’, for torture survivors, has developed and flourished to encompass a wide range of interventions, prevention activities and advocacy, to address the needs of survivors and their families, whilst acknowledging their strengths and their survival. All these efforts, led by pioneers in the field, were developed in the absence of guidance on the best way to help torture survivors, and on the appropriate standards. These efforts were driven, and remain so, by a collective commitment and determination to stop torture, to help those whose lives had been shattered by torture, and to ensure that torture survivors are never again placed in danger and in the way of harm. At the heart of these efforts remains a profound urge by practitioners and service providers to respond to human suffering, and survival, in a way that is as humane and respectful as possible.

The guidance herein is aimed at service providers. The context to these guidelines encompasses three key perspectives: those of service providers, donors, and academic/practitioner-researchers…