“Portraits of Resilience” in the IRCT 2025 Annual Report
“Portraits of Resilience” is featured in the recently published International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims’ (IRCT) 2025 Annual Report. The portrait is in the Survivor Engagement section highlighting how a different approach can contribute in the campaign to abolish torture. IRCT is the world’s largest membership-based organisation specialising in the treatment and documentation of torture.
The piece includes an introduction to myself and the “Portraits of Resilience” work, which was produced in collaboration with IRCT member TASSC International. It also includes a quote from Lidiya Grigoreva, Chief of Staff at the United Nations, who said in her speech at the Palais des Nations ‘Portraits of Resilience’ exhibition last year, “may these portraits serve us as a reminder of what is at stake. Let them inspire us to work harder, to listen more carefully, and to never turn away from those in need.” After giving her speech, she came up to me and said “What you are doing here is equally as important as what we are doing in the surrounding conference rooms. Thankyou.”
The IRCT are a global network of civil society organisations and independent experts who support survivors of torture to heal and rebuild their lives through rehabilitation, including medical, psychological, legal and social support.
Backed by a Secretariat in Copenhagen and an office in Brussels, each year IRCT collectively supports some 80,000 torture survivors to rebuild their lives, and engage in over 12,000 advocacy interventions, including at the UN in Geneva and with regional and national courts, to promote justice and reparations for victims, and to pressure States to end torture.
