Building a Torture Treatment Network for Ukraine: Heartland Alliance International Presents at Clinton Global Initiative 2023 Meeting
CHICAGO, IL – This morning, Executive Director of Heartland Alliance International (HAI), Melissa Cook, joined world leaders for the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2023 meeting in New York City. Cook presented HAI’s Commitment to Action, “Building a Torture Treatment Network for Ukraine,” an extension of the trauma informed care offered at their internationally recognized Marjorie Kovler Center, which aims to treat survivors of torture and advance human rights in Ukraine.
“Through our Commitment to Action, the Kovler Center will adapt its evidence-based model and technical expertise to support Ukrainian torture survivors. We will directly train 440 medical and mental health professionals in specialized torture treatment, reaching more than 4,400 survivors by April 2025, and creating a global network of experts,” Cook said.
The Marjorie Kovler Center, a Chicago-based program of HAI, has remained dedicated to providing survivors of torture with opportunities to heal, access to justice, and resources to rebuild their lives with dignity since 1987. Today, the Kovler Center is an expert leader in trauma-informed care for survivors of torture and serves as a trusted resource of integrated treatment and services to reach vulnerable populations – asylum seekers, immigrants, refugees, children and families, unaccompanied minors, survivors of forced displacement, and victims of human trafficking. The Kovler Center also trains and educates service providers locally and globally, and advocates for the end of torture worldwide.
This June, Yahad-In Unum, a humanitarian organization in eastern Ukraine, asked HAI for support in treating thousands of torture survivors that had been identified. With collaboration and support from Yahad, MedGlobal, and the Judy & Peter Blum Kovler Foundation, Heartland Alliance International team members are currently on the ground in Ukraine.
“Ultimately, we envision a permanent torture treatment center in Ukraine, sustainably integrated with the health system and led by local partners. I invite you to join us in solidarity with survivors in Ukraine, as we build a future of hope, healing, and resilience — together,” Cook said. “Torture and trauma break the bonds of community, and the Marjorie Kovler Center rebuilds those bonds through its internationally recognized, community-based trauma treatment model.”
Additional CGI speakers included Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Orlando Bloom who spoke on behalf of UNICEF, and Nicholas Kristof, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist and Author.
Heartland Alliance International (HAI), now an independent nonprofit organization, started as the global arm of the Chicago-based Heartland Alliance family of nonprofits, founded by Jane Addams over 130 years ago. HAI dedicated to providing life-changing support to vulnerable populations worldwide and implements programs in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, Eurasia, and in Chicago at the Marjorie Kovler Center. Our technical areas include access to justice, mental health and psychosocial support, prevention of human trafficking, and stigma-free healthcare including innovative HIV/AIDS approaches. Across all programmatic sectors, HAI promotes progressive, innovative, and participatory approaches to human rights protections.
About the Clinton Global Initiative
Founded by President Bill Clinton in 2005, the Clinton Global Initiative is a community of doers representing a broad cross-section of society and dedicated to the idea that we can accomplish more together than we can apart. Through CGI’s unique model, more than 9,000 organizations have launched more than 3,900 Commitments to Action — new, specific, and measurable projects and programs.
