New testimonies from physicians inside the Islamic Republic of Iran, shared with Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), add to mounting evidence from health care professionals about the scale and severity of the recent nationwide crackdown, which many observers describe as the most violent in the country’s recent history, including the 1979 Revolution. “The doctors we’ve heard from are exhausted […]
Recent accounts of escalating conflicts across Ethiopia, including drone strikes, heavy fighting, and extrajudicial killings, risk causing immediate and severe health harms to affected communities, including a recurrence of widespread sexual and reproductive violence, said Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa (OJAH). Renewed clashes […]
With the four-year mark of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaching on February 24, following over a decade of ongoing war, sustained attacks on health care continue driving widespread physical and mental harm across the country. In 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion, attacks on health care became one of the most visible symbols […]
Physicians for Human Rights and the Council for Global Equality filed a lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to compel the U.S. Department of State to comply with the Freedom of Information Act Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Council for Global Equality (CGE) filed a […]
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 […]
PHR and Physicians for Human Rights Israel, in collaboration with the Global Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School, hosted a webinar briefing on findings from two independent reports examining how the collapse of Gaza’s health system, restrictions on humanitarian aid, and persistent displacement have caused severe harm to maternal and newborn […]
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 […]
January 29, 2026
Attacks on Health Care, Excessive Force, Mass Atrocities
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 […]
January 23, 2026
Reproductive Justice, U.S. Global Health Funding Cuts
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 […]
