Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has submitted an amicus curiae brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit challenging a purported “abortion trafficking law” which would prohibit physicians from “intentionally recruiting… a pregnant unemancipated minor … for the purpose of … [c]oncealing an act that would constitute a criminal abortion [or] [o]btaining […]

The Islamic Republic of Iran must immediately stop the persecution, physical harm, and detention of all medical professionals who are reportedly being targeted for treating people injured during the recent protests, said Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today. “Evidence coming out of Iran points to tens of thousands of protesters killed or injured, many by […]

Responding to the Trump administration’s completion of the United States’ withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) and its announcement of a sweeping expansion of the Global Gag Rule, Sam Zarifi, JD, LLM, executive director of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), said:  “The United States is dismantling global public health institutions and partnerships that are critical to preventing […]

Raymond P. Boucher, a veteran trial lawyer specializing in complex consumer litigation, class actions, product liability, toxic tort litigation, employment discrimination and bad faith, is the Founder and Senior Partner of Boucher LLP. He became a trial lawyer, he says, “in order to make the world a safer, fairer, more just place to live.” During […]

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) in the United States (co-publishing with the Global Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School [GHRC]) and Physicians for Human Rights -Israel (PHRI) published two independent reports documenting the severe harm to women and children’s health in Gaza since October 7, 2023, when Hamas’ brutal attacks on […]

Executive Summary After Hamas’ brutal October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, subsequent Israeli military operations in Gaza have caused devastation and displacement. Beginning early in the conflict, humanitarian actors and civil society raised significant concerns about the likely impact on the health and survival of pregnant women1 and infants – two groups granted specific protection […]

As Senior Accountant, Ernest Mwangi works under the guidance of the Controller to support the organization’s financial integrity and accountability across U.S. and international operations. He oversees key accounting functions including payroll, accounts payable, reconciliations, and audit support, ensuring strong financial controls and compliance. He has more than a decade of experience within the nonprofit […]

Israel must urgently allow food, medicine, and aid to reach people in Gaza, notwithstanding the  downgrading of food insecurity conditions in Gaza to Level 4 (Emergency) from Level 5 (Catastrophe) by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) today, said Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Global Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School (GHRC).   PHR and GHRC have interviewed scores of clinicians in Gaza […]

Since assuming office in January, the second Trump administration has actively pursued a variety of detention and deportation practices that tear parents from their children and leave them at risk of long-term, even permanent separation. Over six days in late November 2025, the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) traveled to […]

As the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence unfolds around the world, conversations often center on the scale of the problem. We hear about alarming statistics, stories of harm, and the persistent barriers survivors face in their pursuit of justice, like how only 14 per cent of all women and girls worldwide (about 557 […]

As part of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, evidence is mounting of widespread torture and sexual violence perpetrated against Ukrainians. Survivors often face compounded harm from stigma, limited accountability pathways, and the challenges of navigating domestic justice systems.   Against this backdrop, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is sharing our specialized experience using survivor-centered, trauma-informed methods […]

U.S. federal law enforcement repeatedly misused rubber bullets, pepper balls, tear gas cannisters, and flash-bang grenades in harmful and dangerous ways against journalists, medics, and peaceful protestors during demonstrations in Los Angeles, California over the summer of 2025, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) argues in a new amicus brief filed in L.A. Press Club v. […]

Any proposal for an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine must include accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said today. Instead, the proposed 28-point peace plan’s offer of amnesty to perpetrators encourages further violations and betrays victims and survivors.  “When accountability is treated as essential rather than optional, societies emerging […]

Development Operations Intern, Spring 2026 Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), which shared in the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, is a U.S.-based international advocacy organization working at the intersection of medicine, science, and law. With a global network of thousands of medical, scientific, and legal experts, PHR uses the power of medical and scientific evidence […]

Asylum Case Management Intern, Spring 2026 Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), which shared in the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, is a U.S.-based international advocacy organization working at the intersection of medicine, science, and law. With a global network of thousands of medical, scientific, and legal experts, PHR uses the power of medical and scientific […]

Advocacy Intern, Spring 2026 Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), which shared in the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, is a U.S.-based international advocacy organization working at the intersection of medicine, science, and law. With a global network of thousands of medical, scientific, and legal experts, PHR uses the power of medical and scientific evidence to […]

Trump administration immigration enforcement actions have led to health care disruptions for children and adults across the United States. Health care workers report consequences including children presenting at hospital emergency rooms unaccompanied, delayed diagnoses of life-threatening illnesses, and children as young as six presenting with anxiety due to fears of family separation, according to new data from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN). A survey of 691 health care workers […]

Kimberly Saltz is a Legal Fellow at Physicians for Human Rights. She uses legal advocacy to reform policies, practices, and laws that undermine and violate human rights standards. Prior to joining PHR, she was a member of the Justice in Public Safety Project at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, where she worked on policy and […]

As leaders from Africa’s Great Lakes region and around the world meet in Paris this week to address the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) warns of an escalating humanitarian and health crisis, including immense violence, mass displacement, infectious disease, and acute malnutrition.   Conflict related sexual violence is also surging in the region, with more than 11,000 new cases of sexual violence […]

On 11 September 2025, survivors of post-election sexual violence (PESV) and civil society organizations filed a partial appeal to the Supreme Court of Kenya. The appeal challenges the Court of Appeal’s 8 August 2025 judgment in Civil Appeal E645 of 2021, which acknowledged the State’s constitutional and international obligation to protect citizens from sexual and gender-based […]

Webinar: The Ripple Effects of Abortion Bans Across Medical Specialties Moderated by Alice Miranda Ollstein, senior health care reporter for POLITICO. Panelists: Recorded on September 30, 2025. Explore PHR’s new research documenting how abortion bans are limiting clinicians’ ability to provide care across a wide range of specialties in the United States.

U.S. state abortion bans are disrupting medical care across many fields of medicine and resulting in substandard, discriminatory health care, according to a Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) research brief published today. PHR calls on federal and state policymakers to defend and strengthen national and state protections for abortion access and urge the U.S. Food and Drug […]

Our research highlights how abortion bans and restrictions create cascading effects that extend far beyond reproductive health care, compromising the quality and effectiveness of medical care across reproductive and non-reproductive specialties.

ICE placed at least 10,588 people in solitary confinement from April 2024-May 2025 and solitary confinement rates are surging under the Trump administration, according to a new report published today by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), the Peeler Immigration Lab, and experts at Harvard Law School. As the crisis in immigration detention facilities across the […]

The use of solitary confinement in U.S. immigration detention has risen at an alarming rate, with unprecedented numbers of immigrants held in isolation.