As a meaningful way to celebrate special life occasions or memorialize friends or family members who have been important to you, consider giving a Gift of Hope in honor of someone special.
When you make a $25 donation you'll receive five cards to tell your friends and family that you've honored them with a Gift of Hope. If you need more cards, make a note in the "Special Instructions" section or e-mail us at cvt@cvt.org.

MINNEAPOLIS, Jan 30 - On June 24, 2007, Douglas Johnson from Minneapolis sat at a dinner in Washington, D.C.'s, historic Tabard Inn, brainstorming strategies for stopping coercive interrogation tactics the White House had authorized in the name of fighting terror.

No point in mincing words. They were talking about torture.

On Jan. 22 this year, President Obama sat a few blocks from the scene of that dinner and signed an executive order banning the interrogation tactics at issue.

Many Americans know the arc of the events leading up to Obama's order. But few know the behind-the-scenes work it took to build support that would help the new president end a practice which had bitterly divided the nation.

By Douglas Johnson,
Executive Director of the Center for Victims of Torture (Minneapolis), a member of the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights.

In his inaugural speech, President Barack Obama spoke of the "false choice between our safety and our ideals." These words were a subtle but important signal that monumental policy change would be coming in regard to U.S. interrogation rules.

Just two days later we saw those words put into action with Obama's signing of the executive order "Ensuring Lawful Interrogation" — along with  two others that ordered a systemic review of detention policies and the closing of  the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay within a year.

DAYTON, Oct 10 - University of Dayton President Daniel J. Curran will become the first president of a U.S. Catholic university to sign a national petition calling for the president to reject cruelty and torture.

"As a Catholic, Marianist University, we affirm the statement of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that the use of torture must be rejected as fundamentally incompatible with the dignity of the human person and ultimately counterproductive in combatting terrorism," Curran said.

CHICAGO, July 18 -- On June 25, 2008, the Center for Victims of Torture, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, and Evangelicals for Human Rights launched the Campaign to Ban Torture: American Voices for American Values. Today, we are happy to announce that the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights has officially endorsed the campaign.

“No act of war, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for torture"

On June 25, the eve of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Center for Victims of Torture, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, and Evangelicals for Human Rights, launched the Campaign to Ban Torture: American Voices for American Values.

WASHINGTON, June 25 - A bipartisan group of 200 former government officials, retired generals and religious leaders plans to issue a statement on Wednesday calling for a presidential order to outlaw some interrogation and detention practices used by the Bush administration over the last six years.

The executive order they seek would commit the government to using only interrogation methods that the United States would find acceptable if used by another country against American soldiers or civilians.

View this educational guide on the damaging effects of Psychological Torture.

Eight Lessons of Torture is an educational guide developed by the Center for Victims of Torture that discusses the use of torture and cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment by the U.S.

NOV. 28 - Coalition partners are concluding a six-month initiative in Iowa working to raise awareness of the issues surrounding U.S. interrogation policy and torture and abuse suffered at the hands of U.S. officials. With the first-in-the-nation presidential caucus just weeks away, there is no doubt that Iowans will play a unique and important role in shaping the national dialogue on this vital issue.