title: Medical forensic examination of detained immigrants: is the Istanbul Protocol followed?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Maltreatment and torture during custody is still an important problem in many countries. Both national and international regulations and the Istanbul Protocol are of great importance in terms of elimination of maltreatment and torture. In this study, we evaluated whether examinations for custody of immigrants were performed in accordance with the Istanbul Protocol.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively evaluated reports of forensic examinations for custody of 100 immigrants in Van-Çaldıran Government Hospital in 2009. Data about nationality, age, gender, examination date, referring department, examination findings and departments to which the reports were submitted were collected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty percent of the immigrants were Iranian and they were aged between 11 and 62 years. Ninety-nine immigrants were men and one was woman. Data about history of arrest were missing in forensic reports about all immigrants. Data about signs of trauma were present only for seven immigrants. Ninety-three immigrants were reported to have no signs of trauma. None of the immigrants underwent psychiatric examination. All forensic reports were found to be submitted to the police personally. Whether the immigrants were examined before or after the custody was not clear in the reports.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Evaluation of the data showed that none of the forensic examinations were performed in accordance with the Istanbul Protocol. It can be recommended that the protocol should be incorporated into the curricula for undergraduate, graduate and in-service training programmes in order to improve relevant forensic practices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Ataturk Training and Research Hospital, Ankara,  Turkey.
authors.forename: Alper
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Keten
authors.forename: Ramazan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Akçan
authors.forename: Emre
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Karacaoglu
authors.forename: Aysun Balseven
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Odabasi
authors.forename: Ali Riza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Tümer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005260:Female; D044707:Forensic Sciences / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking; D008875:Middle Aged; D010808:Physical Examination; D012036:Refugees / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014104:Torture / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D055815:Young Adult