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The Center for Victims of Torture
History of CVT and the Torture
Treatment Movement
The Center for Victims of Torture was established in 1985 as the first comprehensive
treatment center for torture victims in the United States. The organization provided
momentum to the fledgling torture treatment movement in the United States and continues
to work toward building torture treatment capacity in the United States and abroad. The
following timeline highlights important events in both the history of CVT and the torture
treatment movement at large.
First U.S. torture treatment center
The Center for Victims of Torture began with a
conversation between Rudy Perpich, Jr., an
Amnesty International volunteer at Stanford Law
School, and his father, then-governor of Minnesota
Rudy Perpich. The governor promised his son he
would use his position to advocate for international
human rights.
The governor sought ideas from local leaders in
human rights, including Minnesota Advocates for
Human Rights (then known as the Minnesota
Lawyers International Human Rights Committee),
and David Weissbrodt, a professor at the
University of Minnesota Law School and an expert
in international human rights law. Together they
presented Governor Perpich with ten ideas for
action, the most ambitious being the establishment
of the first treatment center in the United States
for victims of torture.
Governor Perpich embraced the idea and began to
act. He went to Copenhagen, Denmark, to visit the
first treatment center in the world, the
Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims, and
appointed a task force to determine whether such a
center would be feasible in Minnesota.
The Center for Victims of Torture was founded in
May 1985 as an independent, nongovernmental
organization. For the first two years, services were
provided at the International Clinic of St. Paul
Ramsey Medical Center. CVT eventually moves to
a more home-like, less institutional setting.
Moving to a noninstitutional setting
A challenge grant from the Northwest Area
Foundation and the promise of a home from the
University of Minnesota provided the impetus for
the move. An outpatient clinic in Minneapolis was
established in May 1987 in a small house on the
University of Minnesota campus. In February
1991, CVT moved to its current home, a beautiful
three-story Victorian house on the Mississippi
River, rented from the university for $1 a year.
Renovating the house was a community effort.
Local businesses and many individuals showed
their respect and concern for survivors of torture
by donating materials, funds and labor to make the
house comfortable, welcoming and functional.
Expanding CVT's reach
By 2001, CVT had outgrown the Victorian house
on the river and some staff and one of the client
services healing teams moved into an office
building in St. Paul. CVT purchased a house in a
residential neighborhood in St. Paul, which opened
in summer 2003 as a welcoming, home-like center
to serve clients from St. Paul and the eastern
suburbs. The new facilities will increase the
number of clients served and allow CVT to expand
training and research programs.
CVT in Guinea and Sierra Leone
CVT expanded its healing and training programs
to West Africa in 1999. At the request of the U.S.
State Department, CVT opened centers in refugee
camps in Guinea to provide mental health care to
people fleeing the conflict in Sierra Leone. The
project not only provided immediate, direct care to
thousands of survivors, it also began to build a
local care network by training camp residents as
paraprofessional mental health care providers. In
September 2001, as the war subsided and refugees
717 E River Rd.  Minneapolis, MN 55455  612.436.4800  www.cvt.org
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began to repatriate, the project expanded to Sierra
Leone. CVT is shifting its focus to serve Sierra
Leoneans in the cities and towns to which they are
returning. At the same time, Liberians fleeing
conflict in their homeland to the north are filling
the refugee camps in Guinea, creating continuing
demand for services.
Torture Treatment Movement Timeline
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Amnesty International founds the first group to study torture methods and their effects on
the physical and mental health of torture victims. A group made up of four volunteer doctors
in Denmark quickly expands to include nearly 4,000 doctors from 34 countries.
The World Medical Association adopts the Tokyo Declaration condemning medical
participation directly or indirectly in the practice of torture.
The first international medical seminar on torture, held in Athens, leads to the
establishment of an international medical working group to address the rehabilitation of
torture victims.
Members of the Danish medical group founded by Amnesty International obtain permission
to admit and treat victims of torture at the University Hospital in Copenhagen.
The United Nations establishes the U.N. Fund for Victims of Torture to finance medical and
psychological support for torture victims.
The Danish torture treatment program evolves into the Rehabilitation and Research Centre
for Torture Victims (RTC): the world’s first treatment center. Growing demand for global
support and assistance of torture victims causes RTC to establish an international arm
named the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, an independent
organization since 1987.
Several Toronto doctors, lawyers, and social service professionals associated with Amnesty
International found the Canadian Centre for Investigation and Prevention of Torture. The
name of the organization changes in 1988 to the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture to
better reflect its mandate.
The United Nations adopts the U.N. Convention Against Torture, which requires states to
punish torture committed within their territory either by or against nationals. The
convention also provides for measures to be taken in the prevention of torture and the
rehabilitation of torture victims.
The Center for Victims of Torture is established, and becomes the first comprehensive
treatment center for torture victims in the United States. Clients are initially treated at the
International Clinic of St. Paul Ramsey Medical Center.
CVT moves into a small, noninstitutional residence on the University of Minnesota Campus.
The U.N. Convention Against Torture, first drafted in 1984, takes force. June 26 is
designated as a day to recognize survivors of torture.
The University of Minnesota provides a three-story Victorian house for a rent of $1 per year.
Extensive reconstruction, with the help of volunteers, ensures that every room in the house
is a welcoming, nonthreatening place for all who enter.
The U.S. Congress passes the Torture Victim Relief Act to assist victims of torture in the
United States.
CVT opens a new office in a renovated warehouse building, which houses training,
development, technology, and communications staff, and serves as a temporary treatment
center.
St. Paul Healing Center opens.