ACESO – Access to early protection and rehabilitation services right on arrival in the EU
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee implemented the ACESO project between April 2015 and May 2017. Together with the Cordelia Foundation, the Croatian Law Centre, the Foundation for Access to Rights, the Assistance Centre for Torture Survivors and the Greek Council for Refugees, the consortium provided complex legal and rehabilitation services to hundreds of victims of torture in Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia and Greece.
The overall goal of the project was to ensure that torture victims who arrive through the East Mediterranean and the Western Balkans route and seek international protection in the EU have access to high-quality, effective and sustainable treatment, care and support services. This was ensured by (a) preventing and reducing the continued physical and mental suffering of torture victims seeking asylum through professional and effective psychotherapy and rehabilitation, (b) facilitating the access to international protection of victims of torture seeking asylum through professional legal counselling and representation, (c) challenging the unlawful and unreasonable detention of victims of torture seeking asylum through individual assistance as well as monitoring and publicising the health impact of detention on this particularly vulnerable group, (d) empowering civil society actors in Eastern EU MS to enable them to effectively support and step up for the rights of torture victims and (e) ensuring that a favourable and effective legal and procedural framework is put in place for the early identification and rehabilitation of asylum-seeking torture victims in Eastern EU upon the transposition of the Recast Reception Conditions Directive.
The project was co-funded by the European Union through the “Preparatory Action for the Victims of Torture” fund.