ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) has received termination letters from USAID and the U.S. State Department permanently cancelling nearly all funding for our current international programs. This includes life-saving work in Ethiopia, Jordan and other countries where CVT works closely with extremely vulnerable refugees, displaced civilians, partner humanitarian organizations and human rights defenders. While CVT programs continue in the U.S. and some limited overseas locations, these terminations have effectively closed down most of CVT’s current international work.

“The U.S. government is laying waste to the entire ecosystem of life-saving care that the humanitarian and human rights communities have built over decades. This is short-sighted. Torture is used intentionally to destroy lives and intimidate and silence people. The United States has long understood this and has been wise to support the healing of people who’ve survived torture and deep trauma, people targeted sometimes simply because they opposed tyranny or came from the wrong ethnic or religious group. Our work saves lives and brings stability to communities, a well-established and highly effective foundation for core U.S. foreign policy objectives.

“Slamming the door on torture survivors is senselessly cruel.” -Dr. Simon Adams, CVT president & CEO

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The Center for Victims of Torture is a nonprofit organization with offices in Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Uganda, United States and additional project sites around the world. Visit www.cvt.org