Kosova Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims (KRCT)

The Kosova Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims (KRCT) is an independent, non-governmental and non-profit organization that was founded in 1999 with the mission to provide treatment and rehabilitation for Kosovar torture victims. KRCT continuously works to expand its staff’s and the public sector’s capacity to provide services on trauma and torture related issues.

KRCT is also engaged in promoting the respect of human rights for all of Kosova’s ethnicities and in the prevention and eradication of torture and any form of ill-treatment.

After the first arrivals of Kosova refugees (1998) to Albania, the Albanian Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims (ARCT) and the Albanian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) have been actively involved in providing medical assistance to them. During March 1999, when the majority of Kosovars fled from Kosova, mainly to Albania, most of them suffered from severe mental and somatic consequences of torture and other human rights violations. At that time, around 45 health professionals from Kosova (also refugees) were involved in the above-mentioned organizations, providing medical and psychosocial assistance for the refugees.

After the return of the refugees to Kosova, the need for psychosocial support was clearly present. In October 1999, a team of doctors who worked for ARCT and ACHR, Albania, supported by the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), set up a rehabilitation centre.

Kosovo Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims (KRCT) is an independent, non-governmental and non-profit organization with the mission to provide treatment and rehabilitation for Kosovar torture and trauma victims, to build capacities of KRCT management and professional staff, as well as the different public sectors working in Kosova and to promote the respect of human rights for all Kosova ethnicities and to influence the prevention and eradication of torture.