Publications

This Annual Review highlights the activities and achievements of REDRESS from April 2023 to March 2024. We drew attention to the systemic use of torture in Egypt, advocated for accountability in Sudan amidst the ongoing armed conflict, and campaigned for repurposing frozen assets of human rights abusers as reparation for survivors. We also promoted a survivor-centred approach to our work by establishing a Survivor Advisory Group in the United Kingdom and challenged the use of torture to supress dissent and oppress marginalised and excluded minorities. REDRESS also joined the United Against Torture Consortium, allowing for a long-term co-ordinated response to both torture and prevalent impunity for grave international crimes. 

Torture is a widespread and systematic practice in Egypt arguably amounting to a crime against humanity under customary international law and Article 7 of the Rome Statute. At the regional level, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, has confirmed in four cases that torture occurs in Egypt. Focusing on the ACommHPR recommendations in the case of Mohammed Abderrahim El Sharkawi v. Egypt, this briefing explores the steps that the Egyptian government should take at the domestic level for the implementation of the reparations issued.

In March 2022, Roman Abramovich promised to sell Chelsea Football Club and donate the £2.5 billion to support victims of the war in Ukraine, nearly 7 times the value of humanitarian assistance provided by the UK to Ukraine so far. However, two years on, the sale has hit a stalemate and no money has been delivered to victims of the conflict. This briefing paper outlines how the UK Government can break the deadlock over the funds and direct them towards victims in Ukraine, as promised.

REDRESS has developed nine key principles that underpin its commitment to being survivor-centred across all work areas, including the three main techniques used to challenge torture and deliver impact: (1) strategic litigation, (2) policy advocacy, and (3) media and communications. These principles fall into three categories: working with survivors, representing survivors, and accompanying survivors.

NGOs have urged Secretary Blinken and USAID Administrator Power to repurpose a percentage of immobilized Russian sovereign assets towards urgent interim reparation which would address the devastating harms suffered by the most vulnerable survivors of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. According to the U.S. REPO for Ukrainians Act, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the USAID Administrator, must submit an assessment of Ukraine's pressing needs for "reconstruction, rebuilding, and humanitarian aid." The open letter from REDRESS and the Global Survivors Fund emphasizes the importance of prioritizing interim reparations within this needs assessment, asserting that humanitarian assistance, reconstruction, and recovery must be considered hand in hand with provision of reparation.

Since 2022, REDRESS has been working alongside a group of UK-based survivors of torture and their family members in the UK. This began with the co-production of the ‘Whose Justice’ report, that highlights what justice means to survivors in practice, why it is important, and what their key barriers are to achieving justice within the UK. Since then, we have continued to develop our survivor-centred advocacy, by producing the Survivor of Torture manifesto, a call to action with seven recommendations to the UK Government that aim to improve access to justice, accountability, and reparation for survivors of torture.

This publication builds on the discussions from a thematic briefing on reparation for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence held by REDRESS and the Global Survivors Fund during the 88th session of CEDAW. It highlights the challenges faced by survivors and the existing gaps in law and practice that hinder the fulfilment of their right to reparation. After analysing the relevant practice and jurisprudence from CEDAW, it also presents recommendations to this UN body to further support survivors in obtaining reparation.

The armed conflict in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces  has caused unprecedented devastation. Rather than mitigating the magnitude of civilian harm caused by their fighting, the warring parties have each exploited the ongoing state of conflict to target civilians. This report is an abridged version of a submission made to the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan in July 2024 and addresses one of the most prominent features of the targeting: the ongoing arbitrary arrest, arbitrary detention, and torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by both sides of thousands of individuals, many of whom are civilians as part of a shadow war against civil society, human rights defenders, activists, and marginalised communities.