Inge Genefke

Inge Genefke (born  July 6, 1938 in Frederiksberg ) is a Danish neurologist . In 1982 she founded the Rehabilitation and Research Center for Torture Victims (RCT), a facility for the support of torture victims based in Copenhagen , and in 1985 the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), for which she was medical director from 1985 to 1997 subsequently acted as general secretary until 2000. Her main focus is on the psychotherapeutic care of the victims of torture and the forensic diagnosis of traces of torture. She received various honors for her longstanding commitment, including the Right Livelihood Award in 1988 .

Life

Inge Genefke was born in Frederiksberg in 1938 , where she also graduated from high school until 1956. She then studied medicine at the University of Copenhagen , where she graduated in 1965. In the following years she devoted herself to biochemical research on biogenic amines in Strasbourg , Paris , Munich , Switzerland and Italy . From 1968 to 1971 she was a research assistant at the Institute for Pharmacology at the University of Copenhagen, before she continued her training at the university as a specialist in neurology from 1972 to 1982 .

Inge Genefke, who has been a member of the Danish section of Amnesty International (AI) since 1969 , was involved in the AI ​​campaign against torture that began in 1973 , in which the organization called in particular to improve medical care for victims of torture. In 1982 she founded the Rehabilitation and Research Center for Torture Victims (RCT) in Copenhagen , the aim of which is to support torture victims in their rehabilitation through the cooperation of doctors from various disciplines, physical and occupational therapists , psychologists , nurses and social workers .

Three years after the founding of the RCT, she also initiated the establishment of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), which was initially responsible for the international activities of the RCT and later developed into an international umbrella organization for the support of victims of torture, with currently over 140 Member organizations in over 70 countries. Inge Genefke acted as medical director from 1985 to 1997 and then as general secretary and from 2000 as honorary general secretary and from 2002 as ambassador of the IRCT. In the area of ​​research, she primarily devoted herself to psychotherapeutic aspects of the care of victims of torture as well as the forensic diagnosis of torture using burns and electric current through the detection of morphological changes in the skin .

Inge Genefke was married for the first time from 1965 and was married for the second time in 1991 to the doctor Bent Sørensen, who advises the IRCT and was a member of the UN Committee against Torture from 1988 to 2000 . In the 2005 film The Secret Life of Words by Spanish director Isabel Coixet , which is dedicated to her work, she is portrayed by British actress Julie Christie .

Awards

Inge Genefke received various honors for her commitment, including the 1988 Right Livelihood Award . In addition, she has been in command of the French Legion of Honor since 1999 and in command of the Chilean order of Bernardo O'Higgins since 2004 . The medical faculties of the Universities of Bologna (1989) and Copenhagen (1996) awarded her an honorary doctorate . The International Press Center of the Danish Foreign Ministry named her Dane of the Year in 1982 , and in 1999 she was named European of the Year by the editors-in-chief of the European editions of Reader's Digest magazine . The Italian city ​​of Monteveglio granted her honorary citizenship .

The US $ 10,000 Inge Genefke Award is named after Inge Genefke and has been presented every two years by the Anti Torture Support Foundation for outstanding work against torture since 2004 .

Publications (selection)

• Finn E. Somnier, Inge Genefke: Psychotherapy for Victims of Torture. In: British Journal of Psychiatry. 149/1986. Royal Medico-Psychological Association, pp. 323-329, ISSN  0007-1250
• Tonny Karismark, Henrik Klem Thomsen, Lis Danielsen, Ole Aalund, Ole Nielsen, Kristian G Nielsen, Inge Genefke: Immediate Dermal Changes in Pig Skin After Exposure to Moderate Amounts of Heat and Electrical Energy. In: Journal of Investigative Dermatology . 87 (4) / 1986: pp. 528-532, ISSN  0022-202X
• Eugene F. Roth Jr., Inge Lunde, Gudrun Boysen, Inge Genefke: Torture and its Treatment. In: American Journal of Public Health . 77 (11) / 1987. American Public Health Association, pp. 1404-1406, ISSN  0090-0036
• Bente Danneskiold-Samsøe, Else Marie Bartels, Inge Genefke: Treatment of Torture Victims - A Longitudinal Clinical Study. In: Torture. 17 (1 )/2007. International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, pp. 11-17, ISSN  1018-8185

literature

• Thomas Larsen: Inge Genefke: Portræt af en ildsjæl. Lindhardt og Ringhof, Copenhagen 2005, ISBN 8-75-952545-2 ; English edition: The Meeting with Evil: Inge Genefke's Fight Against Torture. Serving House Books, Florham Park, NJ 2010, ISBN 0-98-269214-5
• Stephen Pincock: Inge Genefke. In: The Lancet . Volume 363, edition 9424 of June 5, 2004, p. 1914

Web links

• Jytte Willadsen: Genefke, Inge In: Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon digital edition. KVINFO - Danish Center for Information on Gender, Equality and Ethnicity, 2003 (Danish; accessed August 22, 2011)
• Inge Kemp Genefke In: Dansk Biografisk Leksikon Digital edition of the third edition published between 1979 and 1984 (Danish; accessed on August 22, 2011)