The purpose of this guide is to explain why it is necessary to ground health workforce planning in human rights, and how to develop a plan that does just that.
Other
Other
Medical Leaders Call for Justice for Iranian Doctors
Statements
Rubenstein, Allen, and Keller Statements to Helsinki Commission on Medical Evidence of Torture
PHR [past] President Leonard Rubenstein, JD, Scott Allen, MD, and Allen Keller, MD, gave statements in a briefing before the U.S. Helsinki Commission, on medical evidence of torture by US personnel against detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo Bay.
Leonard Rubenstein and Allen Keller's statements discussed the evidence shown in PHR's report, Broken Laws, Broken Lives. Scott Allen discussed the challenge of hunger strikes in US detention facilities. All three stressed that clear evidence exists of complicity by medical professionals in the maltreatment of the detainees. In their testimony, the three men called for US repudiation of torture techniques, investigation of events in the various detention centers, and apologies and reparations to those harmed during their detention.
Other
Amicus Brief in Support of Adequate Health Care for Immigration Detainees and Asylum Seekers
Along with colleagues at the Bellevue/NYU Center for Survivors of Torture, PHR filed a brief amicus curaie in the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit that would allow a class action lawsuit to proceed to challenge health conditions in an ICE detention facility.
The brief argues that ICE policies and practices, such as denial of key health screening tests and exclusion of care for certain chronic conditions, should be subject to full review by a federal trial court.
Report
Broken Laws, Broken Lives
Medical Evidence of Torture by US Personnel and Its Impact
This report shows the human consequences of harsh and unlawful US interrogation practices. Revealed here is the excruciating pain and continued suffering of men who, never charged with any crime, endured torture at US detention facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo Bay. Based on internationally-accepted standards for clinical assessment of torture claims, the report documents practices used to bring about long-lasting pain, terror, humiliation, and shame for months on end.
NOTES:
Report Preface:
- Written by Major General Antonio Taguba, US Army (Ret.): Major General Taguba led the official US Army investigation into the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, testifying before Congress about his findings in 2004.
Report authors and clinical evaluators:
- Fárnoosh Hāshemian, MPH: While a research associate at PHR, Fárnoosh led the investigation and was lead author for Broken Laws, Broken Lives. She was also a co-author on PHR’s 2007 report Leave No Marks. Fárnoosh is currently studying for her law degree at UCLA.
- Vincent Iacopino, MD, PhD: Report co-author Dr. Iacopino is Senior Medical Advisor at PHR and was the principal organizer of the UN guidelines on effective investigation and documentation of torture and ill treatment, known as The Istanbul Protocol. He is internationally recognized as an expert on the medical and psychological effects of torture.
- Sondra Crosby, MD: A PHR Asylum Network member and Associate Professor of Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine, Dr. Crosby has a long-standing relationship with PHR investigations. In 2008 and 2009, she traveled to refugee camps in Chad to interview and evaluate Darfuri women who had suffered rape and sexual assault both in Darfur and after arriving at the camps in Chad.
- Allen Keller, MD: PHR Medical Advisor and co-author of several of PHR’s report on torture, landmines, and PHR’s manual for Asylum Network volunteers, Dr. Keller is also Associate Professor of Medicine at the New York University School of Medicine and is the Director of the NYU Center for Health and Human Rights.
- Onder Ozkalipci, MD: As a PHR consultant, Dr. Ozkalipci assisted as forensic expert at mass grave exhumations in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996 and 1997. He is one of three coordinators and a co-editor of the The Istanbul Protocol.
- Leanh Nguyen, PhD: A former refugee of the Vietnam War, Dr. Nguyen is now a psychoanalyst practicing in New York City. She holds a PhD in clinical psychology and is on staff at the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture.
- Christian Pross, MD: Dr. Pross is the author of many publications on the effects of torture, including numerous articles on the history of Nazi medical abuses. He co-founded the Berlin Center for the Treatment of Torture Victims.
- Barry Rosenfeld, PhD: As a practicing clinical psychologist, Dr. Rosenfeld is board-certified in forensic psychology and has conducted numerous evaluations of the effects of incarceration and torture in a wide range of legal cases and across diverse settings. He previously collaborated with PHR in an investigation of torture in the State of Punjab, India.
The illustration:
The above image which also illustrates the cover of this report is a detail from a painting by Colombian artist Fernando Botero. Botero’s series of riveting paintings and drawings that reimagine the shocking photographs of the abuses of Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, which were revealed in 2003, can be seen in his book Botero Abu Ghraib.
Botero, in his Abu Ghraib series, suggests that anyone with a sense of humanity must realize that fighting terrorist attacks with further acts of cruelty and terror is not the right solution.
~ David Ebony, Associate Managing Editor of Art in America, text in “Botero Abu Ghraib”
PHR is grateful to Mr. Botero for allowing the use of his painting for the report and this site.
Other
In Response to the NY Times Article on Inadequate Health Care in Detention Centers
To the Editor:
The suffering and death of immigrants in United States detention facilities point to a still bigger outrage: the alarming breakdown of health care for detained immigrants and asylum seekers. This is a direct result of the longstanding abdication of responsibility by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Public Health Service, private contractors and local jails for the health of immigration detainees in their custody.
The harsh circumstances of detention and the detrimental effect on health have been known for years, and the victims include asylum seekers who have come to this country to escape persecution in other lands, only to find themselves imprisoned instead of supported while their claims are pending.
Congress and immigration officials must immediately take at least four steps:
- First, they should provide the funds needed to protect the health of immigration detainees.
- Second, they should enforce compliance with established standards of medical care in detention facilities, no matter who operates them.
- Third, they should release from detention asylum seekers who pose no risk of flight or danger to the community.
- Fourth, a bill to address many of these issues, introduced this week by Representative Zoe Lofgren, should be passed quickly.
- Fifth, both Congress and the appropriate executive agencies should investigate the deaths of immigrant detainees in United States custody, ensuring that the health and human rights of those still in these facilities are protected.
Frank Donaghue
Chief Executive
Physicians for Human Rights
Cambridge, Mass., May 5, 2008
Other
PHR condemns forced sedation of detainees solely to facilitate deportation
Other
Statement of Support for Dr. Sen's Travel to U.S. to Receive Jonathan Mann Award
The Global Health Council announced on April 21st that Dr. Binayak Sen is the winner of the 2008 Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights. Dr. Sen, a physician and human rights activist, has been in custody since May 14, 2007, for his alleged involvement with prisoners who are a part of the banned Communist Party. Leaders in the fields of health and human rights including Global Health Council President and CEO Nils Daulaire, Jim Yong Kim of Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health, as well as PHR's CEO Frank Donaghue, signed a letter to Indian officials supporting the release of Dr. Sen to travel to Washington, DC to receive the award in person on May 29th, 2008.
Other
Letter Regarding Arrests and Prosecutions of People Living with HIV/AIDS
Other
Administration Officials Responsible for Torture and Abuse of Detainees
To the Editor:
The Bush administration attributes detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere to the rogue actions of a few soldiers and a lack of clear interrogation guidelines. But the mounting evidence, particularly the declassified memo by John C. Yoo, a former Justice Department official, proves that administration officials themselves are responsible for the torture and cruel treatment of detainees in United States custody.
The continuing effort to exempt the president from anti-torture law, among other revelations, shows that the government's calculated policy of torture originated at the highest levels of the administration. The Justice Department's interpretation of long-held tenets of American and international law provided the executive branch with the unlimited power to treat detainees as it saw fit.
Longstanding legal precedents were willfully twisted to justify a systematic regime of abuse employing the expertise of military psychologists and medical personnel. These ''enhanced'' techniques inflicted severe and lasting harm on detainees — the kind of harm explicitly criminalized by the United States War Crimes Act.
The use of these interrogation techniques has eroded our international standing and compromised the rule of law. The question is no longer who is responsible. The question now is whether they will be held accountable.
Frank Donaghue
Chief Executive
Physicians for Human Rights
Cambridge, Mass., April 3, 2008