New York Times OP ED (Opinion Editorial) section Nov 1, 97

By Jack Saul

(Jack Saul is on the faculty of the New York University School of Medicine and director of mental Health services of the Bellevue-N.Y.U Program for Survivors of Torture)

Addressing an audience of Asia experts last Thursday, President Jiang Zemin of China contended that his country's occupation of Tibet had accomplished something "similar to liberation of black slaves in American history." China he maintained, had freed the Tibetan people. It would be hard to find a more dishonest piece of historical revisionism.

In November 1996, I took part in a fact-finding mission to the Tibetan refugee community in Dharamsala, India, sponsored by Physicians for Human Rights. Our goal was to document the treatment of the Tibetans by Chinese, and we ultimately interviewed 258 refugees at a reception center, a school and a Buddhist monastery.

This survey showed that 1 in 7 refugees reported being tortured by the Chinese, while just under half reported that a family member or close friend had been tortured. The most frequently used methods were severe beating; suspension in painful positions; electric shock by cattle prods to arms, face and genitals; sleep and food deprivation and mock executions.

The credibility of this testimony unfortunately , was not in doubt, since many of those we spoke to displayed the classic physical and psychological effects of trauma, including scars and neurological and psychological disorders like depression, recurrent nightmares and flashbacks.

Perhaps most disturbing, our evidence indicated that the torture of children was by no means infrequent. Fifteen percent Of those who reported being tortured were 16 years old or younger at the time, and more than half were under 21.

Human Rights Watch and other such groups have documented that the Chinese systematically imprison and torture young Buddhist priest and nuns in Tibet, many of whom enter the monasteries as young children and become involved in political and religious protest when reach their teens.

One female student we interviewed was arrested at the age of 16 with several classmates after they were discovered studying Tibetan history and culture, which is prohibited by the Chinese authorities. Their teacher was arrested and tortured before he disappeared. The students fear he is dead. They themselves were tortured for several weeks and then imprisoned from two to three years.

The torture of Tibetan Children by the Chinese authorities is part of what experts see as the intentional victimization of children in ethnic, regional and political conflicts. As noted in "The Impact of Armed conflicts on Children," a 1996 United Nations report, "There is no doubt that in today's conflict, children are the targets, not incidental victims."

Indeed the torture of children has a horrific logic. The demoralizing ripple effect it has on the community makes it one of the most efficient forms of political repression. Harming children can disarm opposition.

Children are especially vulnerable to the traumatic after effects of torture. Not only do they suffer afflictions common to adult victims-nightmares, flashbacks, crippling anxiety and depression and insomnia-but the interruption of children's intellectual and emotional growth may also cause deeper wounds.

A Unicef survey of children in Sarajevo, for example, reported that two-thirds of those interviewed had been " in a situation where they expected to die," and about one third said they felt a debilitating sense of unbearable sorrow.

As a clinician with extensive experience in the treatment of torture related trauma, I know it is particularly difficult for victims to heal, to surmount their experiences, if the torturers are regarded by the society or world at large as exercising legitimate political authority.

Unfortunately, that torturers can continue their work with impunity and even with world sanctions is one inescapable inference China's Tibetan victims can make after the welcome President Jiang has gotten in the United States over the past several days.