Support victims of torture. Reject those who practice or defend its practice.

Today is the International Day in Support of Torture Survivors. I know many. The problems isn’t simply the physical & psychological trauma but the social pariah status that haunts you and your loved ones. Torture victims in despotic states, also endure a society that rejects them. In Tunisia even after the revolution, Tunisian society has yet to come to terms with what has happened to many an individual, and the highly polarised environment has meant that people see that confronting and publicising what has occurred as some kind of attempt to garner sympathy for undesirables. Survivors of torture need to be recognised, and supported financially and morally and that culture of impunity which creates the environment where torture possible, needs to be unambiguously rejected so that no future child in Tunisia or elsewhere will have to live through a time when they see one or both of their parent humiliated or broken in front of them. I fear too that Tunisia’s mainstream media and opinion makers' sympathy for Syria's regime which ignores the plight of those who have been killed and tortured in detention has destroyed a moral sense that sees beyond politics and revels in the anathema of such regimes that despise the concept of human dignity. Support victims of torture. Reject those who practice or defend its practice, provide support for the survivors financially and morally.