On Friday 17 June, the International Society for Health and Human Rights, one of the organisations based in the Human Rights House in Oslo, will host a workshop on ‘Truth, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation’. With human rights activists visiting from Peru, the main focus will be on the relevance of such processes there. Speakers from both Peru and the Human Rights House in Oslo will contribute. (14-JUNE-05)

Following an opening address from Nora Sveaass, the director of the International Society for Health and Human Rights, experiences from the Human Rights House in Oslo will be shared with both the visiting Peruvians and the general audience. In this section, Ingrid Vik from tha Nansen Dialogue Project, Gunnar M. Karlsen from the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and Niels Jacob Habitz from the Human Rights House Foundation will speak.

The survivors’ cry
Then, the attention turns to Peru from where Elsa Bustamente and Rosalía Chauca, both of the human rights organisation REDINFA of Lima, Peru, will give an outline of the contextual situation in their home country, and develop that into a methodological proposal for the elaboration of the historical memory in post-conflict communities. These topics will be discussed in further detail in the next section, in which the cry of survivors of Peru?s internal armed conflict for the right to mental health will be heard. Lisa Laplante and Roxana Castellon, also both Peruvians, will address this.

The aftereffects of violence. Living with them at home and abroad
Carmen Wurst and Juana Luise Lloret of the organisation CAPS discusses the potential of the public testimony as a therapeutic instrument, whilst Carmen Elena Aldana and Vilma Patricia Yarleque Muija of SUYASUN will describe a methodology of social support to devise the continuity of life of the women experiencing aftereffects from political violence. Finally, Jorge Aroche, representing the organisation STARTTS, will elaborate on the clinical and psychological implications for torture and trauma survivors living in exile, before Nora Sveaass sums it all up with some concluding reflections and closing remarks.

The seminar commences at 09.00 and finishes at 15.30. Lunch will be served.