Capitol Words a project of the Sunlight Foundation

Rep. Betty McCollum

Mr Speaker, I rise today to honor the inspiring career of Mr. Doug Johnson, an international leader and voice for human rights, on the occasion of his retirement from the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT).

When the Center for Victims of Torture opened in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1985 it was the first center of its kind in the United States and only the third torture treatment center in the world. Doug Johnson became its Executive Director in 1988 and served in this role for the next 23 years. Today, because of Doug's extraordinary leadership and commitment to eradicating torture, CVT is helping thousands of torture survivors from over 60 countries at centers in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, the District of Columbia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Jordan, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Thanks to Doug Johnson's vision, CVT has become a global leader in the treatment of torture. Doug and CVT have received numerous awards for their pioneering work, including the National Crime Victims Service Award, which is the highest civilian honor awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice. CVT is also a leading advocate for torture victims. Doug worked closely with former Minnesota Senator Dave Durenberger to pass the original Torture Victims Relief Act in 1998, which authorizes federal funding for torture survivor rehabilitation programs in the U.S. and abroad. The United States is the world's largest donor to torture survivor rehabilitation thanks to leaders like Doug Johnson.

CVT's central and steadfast conviction that torture is a crime against humanity--a crime against all of us--is one that I share. It is a weapon of terror, intimidation and cruelty that seeks to dehumanize its victims and traumatize their communities. Torture victims face debilitating and unimaginable physical, social, emotional and spiritual scarring. Unfortunately, thousands of our brothers and sisters around the world have experienced this horror and are struggling each day to live with its aftermath. That is why the work of the Center for Victims of Torture is so incredibly important.

While it is easy for many of us to point fingers at foreign governments when human rights are abused and torture is used to coerce, silence, or intimidate, it takes the courage of one's convictions to stand up to one's own government when abuses are exposed. During the past decade, Doug was a voice for America's best and highest ideals of due process and respect for human rights. When the American people learned of torture as a sanctioned interrogation technique by our own government in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, or other clandestine prisons, it was Doug Johnson who spoke out loudly and fearlessly. He rallied human rights leaders and policy makers to condemn these abuses and sought to expose them for what they were--torture. Doug influenced the debate in Congress and helped elevate torture as an issue of national significance.

CVT is a Minnesota treasure and it has been my pleasure to work closely with Doug Johnson over the past eleven years. The legacy of Doug Johnson will live on in CVT's work providing hope for survivors of torture around the world and bring us ever closer to a world free from torture.