We are a Center for the Care of Victims of Abuse and Torture
We offer comprehensive care to people who are victims of political violence, serious human rights violations, mistreatment and/or torture.
We provide the necessary clinical care for the rehabilitation Psychological and psychiatric care of individuals. We specialize in the documentation of cases of ill-treatment and torture through the application of Istanbul Protocol.
We document human rights violations and support their victims
Sira is a center specializing in both the documentation of ill-treatment and torture through the application of – among other mechanisms – the Istanbul Protocol, and in the comprehensive care of victims of serious human rights violations. Our goal is to guarantee the full rehabilitation of victims, strengthening their coping mechanisms and resilience.
Who do we serve?
We intervene in diverse social realities by assessing the medical and psychological impact of serious human rights violations on individuals and communities. Our work encompasses cases of police violence or repression during protests; violence at borders, along the migration route, and in immigration detention centers; human rights violations in prisons; and cases of vulnerability and denial of access to fundamental rights, such as adequate housing or the right to health.
Patients seen
Forensic evaluations
Training
Universal attention
Our team offers support to people who need it, regardless of where they come from, their administrative status, or their income.
Expert reports
Since its founding in 2011, Sira has produced more than 300 expert reports as instruments of defense and denunciation, until becoming a group of professionals of reference at the international level.
Press
Would you like to contact one of our professionals?
You can write to us at comunicacion@psicosocial.net
Work areas
Direct intervention
We offer a comprehensive care program for the rehabilitation of people affected by violence, focused on strengthening their coping skills and resilience. This area of work is divided into two parts:
1. Expert documentation
- Medical-psychological documentation, based mainly on the Istanbul Protocol, for strategic litigation and criminal cases.
- Preparation of reports, with a psycho-legal approach for medical-psychological documentation in International Protection procedures.
- Collective expert reports and studies for the evaluation of collective damage from situations of violence.
2. Therapeutic actions for the rehabilitation and strengthening of the capacities of the victims
- Psychiatric evaluation and follow-up.
- Individual therapeutic support with a humanistic working model
- Bodywork through movement and mindfulness training
- Therapeutic work through art (art therapy)
- Processes to promote the active participation of survivors of
violence, the weaving of mutual support networks and the construction of group spaces
insurance
Other areas of work
To maximize the transformative impact of our work, we have four additional areas of focus. From a technical perspective, we seek to share our learnings, raise awareness of human rights violations, and contribute to the fight against torture. These areas of work are as follows:
1. Research Area
Dedicated to the medical-psychological study of the contemporary concept of torture and other human rights violations linked to our work.
2. Psychosocial Area
To promote processes that guarantee therapeutic and dignifying approaches in intervention in contexts of repression and violence where human rights violations occur.
3. Area of Influence
To make visible the contemporary reality of torture and other forms of human rights violations and to offer useful technical arguments at the social, political, judicial, academic and media levels.
4. Training Area
To facilitate spaces for critical reflection and collective learning to improve the therapeutic capacity of accompaniment.
To carry out all this work, the areas of administration, projects, communication and legal affairs are essential, as they allow the Center's work to be sustainable and have a broad scope.
Sira could not carry out her work without all the professional collaborators who enable us to provide appropriate and comprehensive support to those we assist. Sira is part of various formal and informal networks of professionals and organizations, which give our work greater meaning.
Mission
To guarantee comprehensive support and dignified legal representation for people affected by violence, ill-treatment, and torture. Also, to develop partnerships, theoretical models, and working tools from a psychosocial, transcultural, and intersectional perspective.
We believe that our research and intervention work should serve as a mechanism for prevention, reporting, and advocacy in situations of human rights violations. We understand networking with other organizations and with the people affected by violence themselves as fundamental to change.
Vision
To position our work as a key piece at the state and international level in the fight against torture, through the psychological and medical documentation of various human rights violations.
To consolidate the center as a space that guarantees comprehensive and universal care, specialized and focused on strengthening the capacities of the people affected by violence.
Values
Technical rigor in our performance. We champion scientific and methodological advancement and innovation.
Commitment and responsibility Sira works with victims of violence, with justice, and with the fight against torture. It emerged as a response to social reality. Our work is carried out by and for those who suffer human rights violations.
Networking and participation of the people affected by violence, as a basic and essential form of relationship, support, work and struggle for social transformation.
Transculturality and universality of knowledge. We maintain that knowledge is structured within multiple cultural frameworks that must be equally valued and respected, harmonizing the globalization of knowledge and avoiding forms of ethnocentrism and cultural assimilation. Furthermore, we believe we have a duty to share our knowledge and learning as part of our pedagogical practice.
Universality of care to any person who is a victim of human rights violations, including torture, regardless of their political position, social class, purchasing power, ethnic origin, religion, or any other personal condition.
Independence. We are not affiliated with the principles of any political or religious organization. Our positions will be taken independently of any potential economic or political pressures.
Transparency Regarding our decisions and management model, we embrace accountability as a commitment to the people and groups we work with, as well as to society in general.
Critical capacity towards our work and the contexts of violence, committed to the duty to promote critical analysis and practices aimed at transforming reality.
Careful. Since we know that violence has an impact, we are committed to working dynamics that promote care in the processes.
Cross-cutting approaches
Psychosocial: Following the principles of Liberation Psychology, we approach our work from a historical, political, and systemic perspective. Through contextual analysis, with the participation of those affected and using participatory research methodologies, we prioritize actions that promote transformation and drive the pursuit of justice and reparations.
Psycholegal: It proposes cross-cutting actions of teamwork between psychosocial and legal professionals, which seek to guarantee a rights-based approach in therapeutic support and a restorative approach during legal proceedings.
Transcultural: The population we work with comes from diverse cultural backgrounds. We are committed to a diverse organization, trained to maintain high standards of cultural competence, with a deconstructive view of the hegemonic Western model of support, and open to incorporating other approaches to develop methodological or intervention strategies. A transcultural approach requires the integration of an anti-racist perspective into our work.
Gender: Specific attention to gender-based, sexual, and orientation-based violence. Methodological, interview, and therapeutic approaches with a gender and specific focus. Internal work within the organization to mainstream measures for preventing harassment and promoting equality.
Rights: The central focus of our work is to facilitate access to and promote the fulfillment of rights. Sira works based on fundamental rights, the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) placing special emphasis on the fight for universal health and well-being (3) gender (5) the reduction of inequalities (10) and peace, justice and the development of strong institutions (16).
Sira takes as a reference the Global Rehabilitation Standards from the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT). These guidelines emphasize a commitment to maintaining the safety, well-being, and dignity of victims and supporting their families. They also highlight facilitating access to information, justice, and the resources necessary for their rehabilitation without cost or discrimination, and sharing the knowledge generated and the need to document our vital impact.
Sira is an acronym for "Without Apparent Reason," because violence is sometimes difficult to understand and put into words.
Many people cannot find an explanation for their suffering, and our job when they arrive at the center is to accompany them to search together for the meaning of what is happening to them and to recover coping strategies to combat it.
Sira was created in 2011 as the clinical area of Community Action Group (GAC), An organization dedicated for over 20 years to promoting mental health and defending human rights from a psychosocial perspective. We started with a network of professionals from various social science disciplines, working to ensure comprehensive support for people affected by violence.
Sira continues to exist thanks to the tireless collaboration of dozens of professionals. In May 2016, we became an independent entity to guarantee the neutrality and impartiality of our work. The Sira Center is part of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), the Network of Rehabilitation Centers for Torture Victims (Euronet) and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT).
