About El Nadeem

El Nadeem Center for the Management and Rehabilitation of victims of violence is an independent Egyptian NGO that was established in August 1993 as a civil not for profit company. During the first year of its establishment El Nadeem restricted its activity to the provision of psychological rehabilitation to victims of torture and the provision of medico-legal reports whenever this was necessary. At that time El Nadeem had been working in other human rights organizations and found great difficulty in issuing reports for victims of torture from official medical institutions such as university or government hospitals.

However, in our evaluation of the first year of our work, we realized that working with torture cannot be complete without making the issue public: i.e. publishing, campaigning and mobilization of different societal sectors against a practice that has gone completely out of hand over the past two decades. We have adhered to this approach in all our later activities, whether those were related to torture, violence against women or other issues of democracy and freedom of Civil Society.

Activities of El Nadeem:

Torture related Activities

El Nadeem provides free of charge psychological management and rehabilitation as well as legal aid and counseling services to victims of torture. Together with other NGOs and individuals it also provides some form of social support and undertakes advocacy activities. The access to victims of torture involves receiving them at the center and reaching out for them in case of obstacles or fear of talking about their trauma. Clients, who are in need of investigations or management that is non-psychological in nature, are referred to a respective specialist. Since 1993 and until July 2009 El Nadeem has provided psychological, social and/or legal support to 3088 victims of torture, about two thirds of whom were males, one-third females and a small percentage of children. Half of them are Egyptians.

El Nadeem provides a psychological testimony to be added to the case files in legal aid centers. On two occasions EL Nadeem testified in front of the Prosecution regarding torture cases who were seeking compensation.

El Nadeem helped set up a Sudanese Group against Torture. All of them were former clients at El Nadeem.

El Nadeem also campaigns on particular torture cases and on torture in general.

In addition El Nadeem is a founding member of AMAN, a Regional Network for Centers working against Torture in North Africa and the Middle East with members from Palestine, Lebanon, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, Iraq and Iran. Within the framework of that network El Nadeem has provided training on skills of management, rehabilitation of victims of torture and documentation of torture cases in Lebanon, Morocco and Sudan. It has helped in the foundation of a torture center in the Sudan. It has also provided training to colleagues in South Africa and Algeria.

Activities related to Violence against Women

Other than helping women victims of torture, El Nadeem is also involved in addressing other forms of violence against women. Since 1993 and until 2000 EL Nadeem has provided psychological, social and rehabilitative support to 316 women. More than half of them are Egyptians, one third are torture victims and the remainder are victims of domestic violence and rape. In 2001 El Nadeem set up a separate women's program providing listening and counseling to women victims of violence. The program is based at the center with 11 field extensions: 7 in Cairo, 2 in Lower Egypt and 2 in Upper Egypt.