By Karen Leiter, JD, MPH; Chris Breyer, MD, MPH
Thai hill tribe women and girls, and Burmese immigrant women and girls, contend with denial of full legal status and gender-based discrimination, which make them vulnerable to trafficking, unsafe migration, subsequent exploitative labor, and sexual exploitation, and place them at increased risk of HIV infection.
US government officials continue to classify certain acts as permissible under the Geneva Conventions; in response to this, PHR has issued the following guiding principles to clarify the US government’s legal obligations with regard to interrogations, to help ensure that interrogators prevent and account for acts of torture and/or ill treatment of detainees, and to make clear the health consequences of all forms of torture and ill treatment, including so-called stress and duress coercive techniques.
By Allen Keller, MD
The practice of imprisoning asylum seekers who flee to America to escape torture, abuse, and persecution in their own countries has damaging effects on the well-being of these individuals. Detention can induce fear, isolation, and hopelessness, and exacerbate the severe psychological distress frequently exhibited by asylum seekers who are already traumatized.
Historically, the United States has opened its doors and provided refuge to those fleeing persecution, as echoed in the words of Emma Lazarus inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free; the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” 1
Since the enactment of a restrictive 1996 immigration law and new restrictions after September 11, 2001, asylum seekers arriving without proper documentation are imprisoned without any opportunity for judicial review and with increased frequency, some remaining in detention for months or even years.
1. Emma Lazarus, New York City, 1883. The New Colossus. Available at: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/LIBERTY/lazaruspoem.html.
Fidelity to the patient is a cornerstone of the ethics of health practice; yet physicians, nurses and other health professionals are increasingly called upon to subordinate the patient’s interest to some social objective – sometimes at the expense of the rights of the patient. In this book, PHR analyzes the problem of dual loyalty and proposes both practice guidelines and institutional mechanisms to support health professionals facing dual loyalty conflicts.
PHR has concluded that preparing for extraordinary use of military force to be deployed in a manner that will likely risk huge damage to infrastructure and civilian life, without due consideration for the consequences to the highly vulnerable population of Iraq, as the US did, is intolerable. PHR joins in the call issued by other human rights organizations for the US and its allies to be much more transparent about the anticipated consequences for the population during and following a war with Iraq and preparations for the anticipated humanitarian crisis.
Sierra Leone’s decade-long conflict of the 1990s and onward was marked by an extraordinary level of brutal human rights abuses, including summary killings, sexual violence against women and girls, abductions, amputations, and the use of child soldiers.
The combined effects of prolonged conflict, pervasive human rights abuses, and massive forced migration in one of the poorest countries in the world, devastated the health and well-being of the Sierra Leonean people. The daunting process of rebuilding and reconciliation in the aftermath of such destruction requires the establishment of an accurate account of the nature and extent of abuses that were committed.
By Jennifer Leaning, MD
On the basis of direct observation, contact with the prisoners, and interviews prior to and subsequent to this inspection at Northern Afghanistan’s Shebarghan Prison, PHR’s 3-member team reported that conditions at Shebarghan were in grave violation of international standards for those held in detention or as prisoners of war. The facilities were entirely inadequate for the care of the number of people held there, the food insufficient in quantity and nutrition, the water supply unclean, sanitation virtually absent, clothing meager, and barred walls open to the elements exposed the inhabitants to winter conditions.
By Leonard S. Rubenstein, JD
PHR conducted two investigations in Chechnya in 2005. The findings of reveal widespread war crimes against thousands of civilians, including executions, torture, and violations of medical neutrality by Russia’s federal forces commanded by President Vladimir Putin.
Read the full report here.
PHR’s guide for epidemiological-based surveys provides essential data for properly quantifying the public health consequences of landmines responsible for the death or injury of tens of thousands of people every year despite an international treaty banning their use. The development of standardized survey tools helps to ensure that data collection proceeds according to appropriate scientific methods and allows the comparison of data between different regions and countries.