*EPF408 04/17/2003
Bill Would Increase Funding for Torture Victim Relief Centers
(Rep. Christopher Smith sponsors H.R. 1813 April 11) (240)

By Kristofer Angle
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Conservative and liberal members of the House of Representatives have joined forces to sponsor a bill that would more than double the current funding for centers that assist torture victims.

H.R. 1813, a proposed amendment to the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998, would provide domestic centers and programs for the treatment of victims of torture -- $20 million for 2004, $25 million for 2005 and $30 million for 2006.

Foreign treatment centers would also receive funding in the amount of $11 million for 2004, $12 million for 2005 and $13 million for 2006.

The bill authorizes the President to voluntarily contribute several million dollars to the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture.

Representative Christopher Smith (Republican of New Jersey) sponsored H.R. 1813 April 11. Smith is the chairman of the House Committee on Veteran's Affairs and is a member of the House Committee on International Relations.

Among the bill's more prominent co-sponsors are Tom Lantos (Democrat of California), the highest-ranking minority party member on the House International Relations Committee and the co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus; Joseph Pitts (Republican of Pennsylvania), the founder of the Religious Prisoners Congressional Task Force and an outspoken human rights activist; and Betty McCollum (Democrat of Minnesota), who gained worldwide attention in 2002 for her condemnation of the practice of stoning.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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