U.S. law enforcement agencies increasingly deployed three crowd-control weapons in dangerous ways to crack down on immigration protests over the past year, according to a new visual investigation by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). The PHR visual investigation spotlights these three weapons (scattershot impact projectiles, Muzzle Blast rounds, and chemical obscurants), unpacks their health hazards, […]
Drawing on four decades of research on the health and human rights harms of CCWs, a team of PHR experts have documented injuries from these weapons and identified the prominent role certain lesser-known CCWs have played in policing U.S. protests throughout 2025 and 2026.
On Tuesday, Denny Adan Gonzalez, a Cuban man detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, died from apparent suicide, according to an ICE news release and earlier reporting by immigration researcher Andrew Free – the latest in a surge of deaths inside U.S. immigration detention facilities. […]
Trump administration cuts to HIV programs, research, and diplomatic relations have delt a “triple blow” to South Africa that wastes years of U.S. investment and risks lives in South Africa, the United States, and around the world, according to a new report published today by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), Advocates for the Prevention of HIV in South Africa (APHA), and Emthonjeni Counselling & Training. “Wasted Investments, Looming Crisis: The […]
South Africa is unique among the many countries impacted by the Trump administration’s actions, having experienced triple blows of cuts to HIV funding, research, and cooperative diplomatic relations.
The war between the United States, Israel, and Iran has continued to escalate over more than a month, with impacts expanding across the region and beyond. Physicians for Social Responsibility, Physicians for Human Rights, and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War renew our call for an immediate end to all fighting and a return to negotiations for […]
U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure, including oil refineries, gas treatment facilities and fuel storage depots, pose severe health and environmental risks to civilian populations in Iran, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA) warned today. All parties to the conflict must cease attacks on energy infrastructure that lead to widespread […]
PHR leadership and staff recently presented key findings and evidence at the 61st Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva. The team delivered several statements before the Council, partnered with other NGOs to amplify findings about the impact of attacks on health, and met with states and other partners about ongoing […]
March 30, 2026
Attacks on Health Care, Children's Rights, Sexual Violence, Torture
This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court will hold oral argument in Noem v. Al Otro Lado (Case No. 25-5). The case raises the question of whether a non-citizen stopped on the Mexico side of the U.S.-Mexico border can be turned back regardless of U.S. statutory or international law provisions conferring rights to asylum and protection against […]
Washington, DC / New York — A new report from the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), based on firsthand interviews with recently deported parents and reception center staff in Honduras, documents clear violations of US immigration policy. What About My Children: Family Separation Among Parents Deported to Honduras finds U.S. […]
