Torture perpetrated by the law enforcing agencies is common phenomena and widespread in around the globe. Every year a hundred thousand of people face torture severely by law and security personnel, resulting threat to the democracy.
When a person is tortured severely, then that person suffers from various complications and face uncounted odds in his or her life. These complications may create economical problem. Any torture event may have severe economical effects on torture survivors because of many reasons.
Firstly, a torture event may precipitate physical and psychological problem and it takes a large amount of money for the treatment. Secondly due to physical and psychological problem a survivor cannot work like before and earn money like before. Thirdly many torture survivors have legal problems as false cases are often filed against them and they need to carry out these cases on their own expenses.
After torture a survivor may social problems when society people are not accepting and respecting them like before, rather teasing for being tortured by the members of the law enforcing agencies. So torture survivors are not affected equally. It depends on how it has affected the survivor.
A. Economical Problem Due to Physical Problems:
Even if due to torture one develops physical problems it depends on several factors whether it will have impact on the economic condition of the survivors. For example, age, sex, position in the family, frequency, intensity and duration of the torture, the site of the body affected and the severity of the harm, the nature of job/occupation.
i. Age:
If the person is of middle aged then the possibility of being affected economically is much higher than other aged person. But there may be some cases where the children are the source of earning money of the family by doing physical activities then the possibility may be quite high.
ii. Sex of the survivors:
If the person is male then the possibility of being affected economically is much higher than female. But there may be some cases where women are the source of earning money of the family by doing physical work then the possibility may be quite high.
iii. Position in the family:
If the person is the only earning member of the family by doing physical activities then the possibility of being affected economically is much higher. For example if one is in the position of being a father or a husband or the eldest child of the family then the possibility is higher than the dependents and in the position of being a mother or a wife.
iv. Nature of job or occupation:
If some one needs to earn money through physical work like pulling rickshaws, pulling van, cultivating, chopping wood, carrying heavy loads etc then physical torture in different parts of the body may have impaired his physical ability and because of this impairment he can not do physical activity and earn money like before. At that time he cannot meet his personal expenses as well as the expenses of his family. As a result his children cannot continue studying and can not get a good job. As a result it impairs the economic status of the whole family.
v. Severity (Frequency, intensity and duration) of the torture:
If some one is tortured frequently, severely and for a long period of time then there is the possibility of having serious physical problems and having problems in performing physical activities and earning money. But if one is not tortured that much severely then the possibility of being effected economically is less.
vi. The site of the body affected and the severity of the harm:
The deterioration of one’s economic condition depends on whether the part of the body, which is used for earning money, is affected by torture and how much it is affected by torture. For example, if one earns money by pulling van or rickshaw, cultivating then any type of wound in his leg and waist may be a barrier for him to work for a long period of time and earn money like before.
vii. Presence of various types of skills:
Economic problem becomes serious when the survivor has acquired only one skill for earning money. For example if one knows only pulling rickshaw but do not have any other skill like making any handicrafts or tailoring or any other hand work or any other brain work like teaching or doing business etc.
B. Economical Problem Due to Psychological Problems:
After torture the survivor feels shame as he blames himself for the event. He likes to remain alone and develops a tendency to avoid other people in the society. If the torture survivor is involved in one activity that requires frequently meeting with other people then this psychological problem may hamper economic condition.
After torture the survivor may feel that the torture event has caused the loss of honor. Some of them start to believe that everything is unpredictable and unexpected. Torture lowers self-esteem. A survivor often starts to think “There is something wrong with me”. Torture lowers self-confidence when the survivor believe that he or she has no control over his life or he or she is not ok or he or she would not be able to perform achieve success and there is no use of trying.
Then he or she may feel hopeless believing that he has no future. He then feels sad and his mood becomes low. He feels fatigue. As he looses interest he reduces activities. This reduction of activities may cause economic problem. Some of them makes plans about suicide and takes attempt when they think that suicide is the only way to avoid a non-prestigious life. This suicide causes a loss of a life but also economic loss.
After torture the survivor feels shame as he blames himself for the event. He feels guilt believing that “it would never happen if I did not go there”. “I am responsible for all these happenings”. The survivor as a result passes time on thinking about the torture events. He or she becomes so tensed that he cannot concentrate on anything as well as cannot remember many things. Consequently make many mistakes and level of productivity is reduced. It creates negative impact on the economic condition.
After a traumatic event, victim may develop phobia, i.e., irrational fear, e.g., fear may be about places, situations, persons that are similar or resembles the torture event. The survivor tries strongly to avoid these because facing them develop uneasiness in him or her as there is the recollection of the previous traumatic event in his or her mind. He gets back painful emotions, physical reactions, which he felt during the event. He can not realize what to do.
Some times the survivors feel irritated, loose temper and gets angry easily to simple provocation. He behaves aggressively, becomes restless and cannot do anything or stay patiently even for a few minutes. He or she does not fee easy and cannot cope with anything.
C. Economical Problem Due to Social Problems:
After torture the survivor develops social problems when society people start teasing him or her. Then the survivor feels like being detached from other people. When he cannot get support from other people he cannot perform economic activities properly and earn money. His economic condition gets deteriorated.
D. Economical Problem Due to Legal Problems:
After torture the survivor develops serious economic problem when they have legal problems. They have to spend a lot of money to defense before the court to prove him as innocent, providing fees of legal counsel, collecting deference case documents as well as other unusual court related expense. Moreover, they have to spend a lot of time due to legal related activities which fall his economical condition severely deteriorated.
Type of Economical Consequence:
i. Reduce productivity:
After torture there are physical, psychological, social and legal consequences. It causes severe impairment in personal, social, educational and occupational functioning. It reduces the level of productivity. Consequently it causes severe economic damage.
ii. Increased rate of dependency:
After torture the self-dependent people are having difficulties in performing economic activities. As a result they are becoming dependent on others fro being self-dependent. As a result the rate of dependency is increased. Being dependent on others they are destroying the self-dependent’s savings while finishing his own savings. As a result, it causes decrease investment. It then causes decreased opportunity of employment and increases dependency rate and severe economic damage.
iii. Negative impact on GDP:
After torture due to having various complications the survivor’s level of productivity is decreased. It causes decreases in income. As a result he or she can not spend money for purchasing products like before. So there is a decrease in the amount of purchasing. It results in the decrease in the level of production. In this way it is creating a negative impact on GDP.
iv. Diversified occupation in lower scale:
After torture because of physical and psychological impairment survivor often neither can nor continues his previous economic activities and needs to earn money through diversified occupation in lower scale. It decreases his economic status.
v. Increase debt burden:
Although the there is no increase in income there is some level of expenditure. As a result there is an increased debt burden. This debt is becoming a burden because he it is not helping in the income generating activities as they are not investing this money in any business.
Many international and regional human rights instruments including United National Declaration of Human Right (UDHR), Convention against Torture and other Inhuman, Cruel or Degrading Behavior or Treatment (CAT) as well as International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) have been conceded to strictly prohibit all forms of torture. Furthermore, most of the country’s domestic laws as well as spiritual rules do not allow torture or other inhuman, cruel or degrading behavior or treatment. But still torture exists in all the nation and region which make badly impact to the national and global economy.
The Writer is a Lawyer, Human Rights Defender and Journalist; Founding Secretary General of JusticeMakers Bangladesh; Email: [email protected], Blog: www.shahanur.blogspot.com
