UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture - Economic Assistance |
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Financial assistance which may be direct or indirect is often provided in addition to other kinds of assistance offered. In the very poorest regions, financial aid quite often enables the victims to gain easier access to other types of assistance when their basic needs for survival are partly met. The approaches are very diverse and adapted to local conditions, and meet very different needs. In some cases, assistance is distributed in the form of nominal amounts that allow unemployed victims to cover their own and their relatives' basic needs (such as food, clothing and housing). In other cases, the financial assistance helps to pay the school costs of victims' children or of victims themselves when they are unable to work as a result of the serious physical and psychological aftermath of torture, as well as a modest daily food ration during the school year. Indirect financial assistance can also include reimbursing the travel costs of victims for regular trips to receive medical or psychological care or for relatives of torture victims to visit them in the places where they are being held. Finally, other forms of financial assistance that some victims receive include ad hoc donations in kind (such as food, utensils, tools and clothing) and income-generating projects run directly by the victims.