JUNE CARIDAD C. PAGADUAN-LOPEZ, MD
PHILIPPINES

Candidate for election as a member of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT)

Mrs. June Caridad Pagaduan-Lopez, MD, recognized expert in psychosocial trauma management and a member of the University of the Philippines Faculty Medicine since 1980, has been involved in human rights work and rehabilitation of torture survivors and their relatives for more than three decades.

Dr. Lopez is a founding member of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) where she served as a member of the board and regional vice-president for Asia and the Medical Action Group (MAG), a non-government organization and known to be service-provider of medical and psychosocial support to victims of human rights violations in the Philippines. She has conducted trainings on the detection, management and rehabilitation of torture victims and other survivors of political violence in the Philippines, East Timor, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Burma, Cambodia and Kosovo.

For many years, Dr. Lopez has also ventured into issues concerning women’s rights, especially violence against women, and in particular, the special needs of women who have experienced sexual violence as a result of war. She is also known as an authority on the campaign against domestic violence.

As a renowned expert in gender and psychosocial trauma management, Dr. Lopez has done researches and published books related to human rights, political violence including torture, and violence against women. She also serves as a technical expert on Mental Health and Sexual Violence and as a member of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO).

All these attest to her capabilities and outstanding commitment in linking her profession as a psychiatrist to the promotion and defense of human rights particularly the prevention of torture and rehabilitation of torture survivors not only in the Philippines but worldwide.

She was one of the 1000 Peace Women nominated to the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.

Key messages on Dr. Lopez candidacy to the SPT

On April 17, 2012, the Philippines became the 63rd State Party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT).

At the implementation of the OPCAT, both international and national levels, working on legal or institutional reform, on preventative visits, on improving access to justice, on initiatives in support of torture survivors and their families, are all worthwhile, but real implementation will require the combined efforts of various experts in this field who should be included in torture prevention initiatives.

Dr. Lopez proven long-standing expertise in psychiatry and torture prevention speaks for itself. Her election to the SPT will considerably strengthen the mandate of the SPT particularly on the field of mental health rehabilitation of torture survivors taking into account proper balance in the membership of the SPT among the various fields relevant to the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty.

Dr. Lopez as a member of the SPT is relevant and fitting representation of the Asian region. Her election to the SPT will strengthen democratic governance and “equitable geographical distribution” among the members of the SPT with only two States Parties from Asia– Philippines and Kazakhstan, has been nominated to the SPT for the October 25th election.

Dr. Lopez election to the SPT is a clear indication of the confidence of the international community in the Philippines’ role “in helping spur a critical mass of ratifications” to the OPCAT by States Parties. Her election will help to stimulate and support the SPT to take gender perspectives into account in their work and is a testament in contributing to realization of “balanced gender representation” in the SPT.

Main professional activities

 30 years as undergraduate and postgraduate educator in medical school and public health school (psychiatry, organizational development, occupational and mental health)
 30 years of academic and clinical psychiatry with focus on torture and other forms of human rights violations, sexual violence and psychosocial trauma
 30 years of experience in psychiatric patient management
 Gender and health specialist through international and local consultancies
 6 years Director of Center for Gender and Women Studies (University of the Philippines-Manila)
 7 years member and resource person of the World Health Organization (WHO)
Gender Advisory Panel, WHO Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland
 Pre and post debriefing of survivors/witnesses for the United Nations (UN) Enquiry on
Human Rights Violations in East Timor
 Legal and forensic adviser and trainer and expert witnessing on cases of violence against women
 International Faculty, (Torture Prevention and Rehabilitation) Rotary Peace Center,
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok Thailand

List of most recent publications in the field

 Enhancing Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Capacities in Emergencies and Disasters in Mindanao- A Manual for Trainors. University of the Philippines (UP) and Department of Health, November 2009.

Click to access 28b4f62110dbea00ad076bb6848b74476e84a5d2.pdf

 Medico-Legal .and Health Services for Victims of Sexual Violence: A Situational Analysis in the Philippines Gender-Based violence in the Western Pacific Region: a hidden epidemic? (Special issue on women’s health). Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO) 2006.

Click to access ViolenceBook.pdf

 Multi-country Study on Medico-Legal Interventions for Survivors of Sexual Violence. Gender-Based Violence in the Western Pacific Region. WHO-Western Pacific Region publication. 2006 pp 114-144.
 Recipes for Healing-Gender-Sensitive Care for Women Survivors of Torture. ISIS International. 2006.
http://www.isiswomen.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=169:recipes-for-healing-gender-sensitive-care-for-women-survivors-of-torture&catid=48:book&Itemid=240
 Human Rights and Health Professionals Towards an Education Program for the Asian Region, 1997.
http://books.google.com.ph/books/about/Human_Rights_and_Health_Professionals.html?id=ogoZGQAACAAJ&redir_esc=y
 Torture Survivors and Caregivers. University of the Philippines-Center for Integrative and Development Studies (UP-CIDS) and University of the Philippines (UP) Press, 1995.
http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=jfbaAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_similarbooks
 Physicians and Torture: Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices. Psychosocial Trauma Program (PST)
Quarterly University of the Philippines-Center for Integrative and Development Studies (UP-CIDS), December 1995.
 Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims in the Philippines. Torture and Its Consequences (Chapter 22), (London: Cambridge University Press), 1992.
http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item1161380/?site_locale=en_GB

Visit and LIKE Dr. June’s FB page www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-June-Lopez-for-UN-Subcommittee-on-Prevention-of-Torture-member/399749163425339