This post originally appeared in Syria Deeply.

The crisis in Syria has taken on a new dimension as eastern Aleppo City – the largest redoubt of opposition forces – has all but fallen to forces under the command of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. In many ways, Aleppo has become a shorthand for the conflict, a microcosm of the violence and desperation that reverberate across the battered country.

The Syrian conflict’s atrocities have played out in real time before our eyes, broadcast on Facebook, Twitter and cable news and thoroughly documented. The facts and evidence are clear. Syrian hospitals and medical facilities have been attacked – either intentionally or wholly indiscriminately – at least 400 times since the start of the conflict. Well over 90 percent of these attacks have been carried out by Syrian government forces and their Russian allies. Still, health professionals, with bull’s-eyes on their backs, have worked tirelessly to treat the ill and wounded, performing surgery with the most basic of instruments, guided by the light of their smartphones and flashlights.

The targeting of medical facilities and personnel – a war crime and, when carried out in a widespread or systematic manner, a crime against humanity – underlines just how blatantly deceptive the Syrian and Russian governments have been. They insist they are fighting to end the scourge of so-called radical Islamic terror. Instead, while they are decimating the country’s health infrastructure and carpet-bombing the historic city of Aleppo beyond recognition, the so-called Islamic State group has made significant advances and retaken Palmyra. The facts speak for themselves. This is not an antiterror operation. It is a scorched-earth campaign against anyone who threatens the authoritarian rule of President Assad or Russia’s stronghold in the Middle East.

As both Syrian and Russian government spokespeople have made plain, anyone who remains in opposition-held areas such as eastern Aleppo or who merely provides assistance, including medical aid, to the opposition will be treated as a terrorist and destroyed. If that tough talk sounds familiar, it’s because it tracks closely with former U.S. president George W. Bush’s assertion just nine days after 9/11, at the beginning of the war on terror: “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”

Such rhetoric gives license to Assad and other despots who are hellbent on obliterating any opposition to their power. They use the blanket assertion of terrorism as an excuse to ignore the protections afforded civilians in conflict, for breaching the laws that shield medical facilities and personnel from attack, and for violating the respect for human life and dignity that we in the human rights community have labored for decades to enshrine in law and in custom.

The result of such war without limits is the utter devastation of Aleppo. Its people are scattered and their lives destroyed. They have been cut down in the streets fleeing gunfire. Men and boys have been rounded up and detained, their fates unknown and their families fearful of the torture or executions that may await them. The health professionals who have put their own lives on the line to save others, without regard for politics or affiliation, may now face retribution for following their professional and ethical obligation to help all those in need.

Meanwhile, we have all become eyewitnesses to the annihilation of the laws of war. We’ve all seen images of the bloodied faces of children emerging, stunned, from the rubble, pictures of the mangled limbs of a patient crushed to death after an airstrike on a makeshift clinic, and surveillance footage that in one moment shows a busy hospital corridor, in the next a scene of absolute destruction. If there’s one saving grace, it’s that these photos and videos may one day be used as evidence against those who have violated international law with such impunity to such cruel ends. Combined with eyewitness testimony, documentary evidence, forensic information and other records, they can help form the core of evidence to prosecute those who have spilled so much blood.

This week, Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos accepted the Nobel Peace Prize and said in his remarks, “It is foolish to believe that the end of any conflict must be the elimination of the enemy. A final victory through force, when nonviolent alternatives exist, is none other than the defeat of the human spirit.”

In seizing Aleppo by any means, Assad has dehumanized anyone opposed to his tyranny, claiming that they are not adversaries but terrorists undeserving of life itself. And in allowing the fall of Aleppo, the world has tacitly accepted this method of warfare. We have, as Santos would say, witnessed the defeat of the human spirit in Aleppo. Let us demand protection for civilians, hospitals and doctors – a return to the laws of war – before the human spirit is extinguished across the whole of Syria.

Russia’s recent announcement of its intention to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) follows similar threats of withdrawal from three African states: Burundi, Gambia, and South Africa. Kenya, the Philippines, and Uganda have also threatened to follow suit. These developments have triggered an outpouring of serious concern by human rights advocates. At last months’ Assembly of States Parties, an annual gathering of delegates representing states and NGOs participating in the ICC, leading African jurists warned against a mass withdrawal from the court.

The ICC, established in 2002, is a permanent institution intended to serve as the world’s court of last resort, providing access to justice for victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The ICC was created to step in when countries are unwilling or unable to mete out justice locally for such atrocities. Because the majority of cases before the court concern situations in Africa, disdain for the ICC among leaders of some African states has been brewing for years.

But in truth, the rising critique of the ICC is not about bias; it’s about fear. Fear that the court is actually doing its job. Fear that heads of states may actually be held to account for violating human rights, disappearing civilians who protest against them, and occupying neighboring states. Indeed, Russia’s declaration comes a day after the UN General Assembly’s Human Rights Committee approved a resolution condemning Russia’s occupation of Crimea.

In the cases of Burundi, Gambia, and South Africa, a strong argument can be made that plans to withdraw from the court have not been driven by the hope to pursue justice locally, but rather to deny justice altogether. These states claim the ICC has a bias against Africa because so many of its investigations have focused on the continent. But such a charge is specious. Most of the cases before the court concern Africa because six of the ten investigations were instigated at the explicit request of the countries themselves. More needs to be done to support the court’s investigations of mass atrocities in other parts of the world, but alleging bias against Africa obfuscates rather than bolsters this criticism.

When contemplating the meaning of these impending exits from the ICC, it is critical that we also recall the importance of the court, both symbolic and real, for two groups: the victims of heinous crimes, and the domestic change-agents working tirelessly to reform the justice systems in their own countries and communities.

To be sure, the court took significant time to establish itself as a global institution; indictments, arrests, and convictions have proceeded slowly and faced hurdles, consuming significant funds along the way. And some high-profile cases have fallen apart. But, earlier this year, the ICC convicted former Congolese vice president Jean Pierre Bemba of war crimes and crimes against humanity for failing to stop his Movement for the Liberation of the Congo from engaging in a brutal campaign of rape and murder in the Central African Republic. His landmark conviction was the first at the ICC to recognize rape as a weapon of war.

As I have seen first-hand, it is precisely victories like the Bemba case that give victims and their families some degree of hope for an end to impunity in their countries. Local judges and prosecutors believe that if their domestic courts fail, the ICC – its imperfections notwithstanding – is there as a safety net. And, for the survivors, the ICC represents a promise: that, maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but, someday, those who have inflicted terrible pain and suffering upon them will be held accountable for their crimes.

This message came home to me three years ago, when we at Physicians for Human Rights and the Brandeis Institute for International Judges brought a group of jurists from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to The Hague to meet with their counterparts from international criminal courts and tribunals to discuss the challenges of dealing with sexual violence cases.

On the last day of meetings, we visited the ICC. On the one hand, these national judges deeply appreciated the ambitious example of the court, and they were astonished to see Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto in the dock, responding to charges of crimes against humanity for the post-election violence in his country in 2007-2008. On the other hand, the Congolese judges were devastated to hear the bleak outlooks of their ICC counterparts about the court’s future. If the ICC can fail – despite all of its resources and political power – they wondered how they might ever hope to succeed back in their own country.

A strong ICC is important far beyond the precincts of international justice. Victims of atrocities and those committed to reforming domestic justice processes also depend on a properly functioning international court. If the ICC is causing sitting state leaders to fear the consequences of their actions, then the court is doing its job. What is needed is not a diminished court but a stronger one, empowered and resourced to investigate cases everywhere.

This post originally appeared in Syria Deeply.

After more than three months under siege, residents of eastern Aleppo are clinging to life. The few remaining hospitals have been bombed repeatedly and put out of service, and food rations have run out. More than 31,000 people have been displaced as pro-government forces advance on the city. The lucky ones have made it to other neighborhoods and found shelter with friends and relatives or in abandoned buildings. The less fortunate have died or been detained by government forces.

The images coming out of Aleppo are numbing, gut-wrenching and devastatingly sad. But what they are not is unimaginable or unexpected. After all, we’ve watched catastrophe after catastrophe unfold in Aleppo and Syria for nearly six years. This latest catastrophe, as horrible as it is, is the predictable result of our collective inaction.

When we first heard of war crimes committed in Aleppo and across the country in late 2011 and throughout 2012, the world was understandably shocked by the Syrian government’s blatant disregard for civilian life and laws of war. Government forces and their allies besieged entire cities, leaving civilians without access to food or medical care. They repeatedly launched direct attacks on hospitals, destroying many. They detained or disappeared thousands of civilians and committed countless other war crimes.

These atrocities should have been enough for world leaders to understand that international norms were being shredded. And that understanding should have been enough for world leaders to unite to end these war crimes, for the sake of civilian protection and the defense of international law. But shock was only registered on paper, in public statements, and the response was not unified. In February 2012, the Russian Federation and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that condemned and demanded an end to human rights violations.

This initial inaction and disunity set the stage for the world leaders’ repeated failure to end war crimes in Syria. The few times the U.N. Security Council united, it was only to pass resolutions agreeing on the most fundamental principles of human rights and humanitarian law. But the council did not enforce these resolutions and instead chose to watch the very war crimes they condemned metastasize into crimes against humanity.

In the face of these growing atrocities, world leaders continued with the same inaction: issuing statements of shock and concern. At best, these statements acknowledged the unprecedented besiegement of entire towns, chemical weapons attacks and hospital bombings that have characterized the Syrian conflict. At worst (and most common), these statements and the failure to enforce resolutions taught Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies that their war crimes would go unpunished; they were essentially accepted as the reality of the Syrian conflict. In fact, on Monday, Russia and China once again vetoed a U.N. Security Council draft resolution calling for a brief cease-fire in Aleppo.

And now, nearly six years into this conflict, eastern Aleppo’s streets are littered with bodies and duffel bags. These are the remains of residents who ran from their government’s encroaching ground offensive, only to be killed as their government shelled and bombed the only escape route. They were parents who taught their kids to listen for the sound of approaching helicopters and look to the sky to run from barrel bombs. They were young adults who buried their family, friends and neighbors in communal graves after cemeteries ran out of space. They were children who spent their days searching their city for food in the hope that their siblings would have a meal that day.

When we look at the horror that Aleppo is today, we must stop issuing statements of shock and concern. Let’s not pretend that what we are witnessing now is anything but the result of years of inaction in the face of one of the worst human rights and humanitarian crises of our time. We must come to terms with the fact that war crimes continue in Syria because we have allowed them to persist. We must take responsibility for our inaction and then choose a different course.

Let’s start by experiencing not shock and concern, but actual outrage – outrage that will unite us and galvanize us to demand action from our governments to circumvent the paralyzed U.N. Security Council and stop these atrocities.

Eastern Aleppo’s streets are littered with the grotesque consequences of our inaction. Let us act now to ensure that the rest of Syria is not doomed to the same fate.

русский

PHR joins medical colleagues around the world in urging the Russian medical community to demand that its government ease the health care crisis in Syria. Health care continues to be used as a weapon of war: despite efforts to safeguard medical staff and patients, Syrians continue to be illegally targeted and killed as they provide or seek medical care. PHR has documented the deaths of 757 health workers and 382 attacks on medical facilities throughout the conflict. Every attack amounts to a war crime, and, as physicians, we cannot stand by and allow them to continue with impunity. We ask that the Russian medical community join us in urging the Russian government to allow humanitarian access and medical evacuation of those trapped in besieged cities in Syria, and to end both indiscriminate and targeted attacks on civilians and civilian and medical facilities across Syria.

Joint public letter from medical, human rights and relief organizations to:

Russian Medical Society  Российскому медицинскому обществу

Union Pediatricians of Russia    Союзу педиатров России

Russian Medical Association    Российской медицинской ассоциации

Russian Red Cross Society    Российскому Красному кресту

Union of Medical Workers of Russia    Профсоюзу работников здравоохранения Российской Федерации

December 09, 2016

Dear members of the Russian medical community,

We write to you today as fellow medical professionals from several humanitarian and human rights organizations providing healthcare or documenting violations in Syria. We appeal to you, our colleagues in medicine, to join us in urgently addressing the healthcare crisis in Syria, especially in Aleppo. Healthcare continues to be used as a weapon of war in Syria, and civilians are paying the price.

On November 13 and 14, four hospitals west of Aleppo city were hit by airstrikes. They all suffered damage and were forced to suspend services. All were within 20 miles of each other, thus the region was left without a single functioning hospital. That same week, the few hospitals remaining in besieged eastern Aleppo city were also hit by airstrikes and forced to close. The lack of accountability for attacks on healthcare in Syria has created a dangerous new normal, yet heroic medical personnel continue to risk their safety to save the lives of others. Two weeks ago, all remaining hospitals in besieged eastern Aleppo City were forced to either close or operate at very low capacity after days of intensive targeted bombing. One of these hospitals, the Children’s Hospital, was treating children suffocating from a nearby chemical attack, only to be bombed while patients were still inside. The targeting of these hospitals, which treat women, children, and families, has left nearly 300,000 people trapped, among them 100,000 children and 151,000 women, and without access to healthcare, a human right.

Despite efforts to fortify facilities to safeguard medical staff and patients, Syrians continue to be illegally targeted and killed where they are seeking care. Physicians for Human Rights has documented the deaths of 757 health workers and 382 attacks on medical facilities throughout the conflict in Syria. Each of these attacks is a war crime, and together they amount to crimes against humanity. More than 90% of these attacks were carried out by Syrian government and Russian forces. Our medical doctors and surgeons have witnessed and treated those victims in their medical mission to Aleppo. They have testified about their findings to the United Nations Security Council in the presence of your country representative.

Eastern Aleppo city has become the modern Stalingrad. Stalingrad was under siege by Nazis for 160 days. It was described as much worse than hell. The people in besieged eastern Aleppo city have been living in similar conditions. They have been under siege for 100 days, are running drastically low on baby formula, food, fuel, medical supplies, and essential items for survival. Children and patients are dying because of extreme cold. Their last remaining stockpile of UN food rations was completely exhausted on November 13, there is no fully functioning hospital and 31,000 people have been displaced from their homes in the past week. There is the potential that hostilities will significantly worsen due to aerial bombardments by Russia and the Syrian government, as well as ground attacks by the government and its allied militias. Yet aid convoys have been continually blocked from entering the city by the Syrian government. Eastern Aleppo city is only one of the nearly 40 communities under siege in Syria, where basic essentials, including medical care, are being denied to over one million Syrians. These sieges must end and immediate humanitarian access must be provided. In the past few weeks, due to the siege and intensified bombing, the humanitarian situation in eastern Aleppo city is beyond description.

The health workers who continue to prioritize the lives of others above their own must be protected. As physicians, we have taken an oath to protect and preserve life. We appeal to you as medical colleagues, who can understand the dire circumstances of living without healthcare. These attacks on civilians, healthcare, and civilian infrastructure must end. We cannot stand by while war crimes are allowed to continue with impunity.

We ask you to urge your government to allow humanitarian aid into besieged eastern Aleppo city, to allow medical evacuation of the sick and injured and secure humanitarian corridors from eastern Aleppo city under the oversight of ICRC and UN, to pressure the Syrian government to allow delivery of aid to other besieged cities in Syria, and to end both indiscriminate and targeted attacks on civilians, hospitals and schools across Syria.

We urge you to exert your moral influence and discharge your humanitarian duty.

Thank you.

Signatories:

Dr. Ahmad Tarakji, President, Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS)

Dr. Zaher Sahloul, Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago, Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS)

Dr. Majd Isreb, Foundation Chairman, Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS)

Dr. Samer Attar, Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS)

Dr. John Kahler, Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS)

Dr. Kerry J. Sulkowicz, Chair of the Board of Directors, Physicians for Human Rights

Donna McKay, Executive Director, Physicians for Human Rights

Ran Goldstein, Executive Director, Physicans for Human Rights – Israel

Dr. Holly Atkinson, Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Medical Education, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Satchit Balsari, Fellow, Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Chief, Weill Cornell Global Emergency Medicine Division

Darren Barber, Project Manager, A Light for Aleppo

Dr. Michele Barry, Professor of Medicine and Tropical Diseases, Director of Center for Innovation in Global Health, Stanford University

Dr. Frederick M. Burkle, Jr., Senior Fellow & Scientist, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

Dr. Gilbert Burnham, Professor of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University

Dr. Hilarie Cranmer, Harvard University

Dr. Patricia Davidson, Johns Hopkins University

Professor Francesco Della Corte, MD, Hon. Fellow EuSEM, Director, Dept. of Emergency Medicine, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Maggiore della Carità

Dr. Dabney P. Evans, Emory University Center for Humanitarian Emergencies

Dr. Conrad Fischer, Associate Chief of Medicine for Educational and Academic Activities at SUNY Downstate School of Medicine

Dr. Eric Goosby, Professor of Medicine at UCSF, UN SG Special Envoy for TB

Reverend Dr. Harriet Harris, University Chaplain, University of Edinburgh

Hon. Keith Martin, MD, PC, Executive Director, Consortium of Universities for Global Health

Dr. Hani Mowafi, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Chief, Section of Global Health & International Emergency Medicine, Director, GHIEM Fellowship, Department of Emergency Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine

Dr. Ronak B. Patel, Stanford University.

Dr. Annie Sparrow, Assistant Professor Global Health, Deputy Director Human Rights, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Paul Spiegel, Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health, Johns Hopkins University

Dr. Johan von Schreeb, Associate Professor, Specialist in General Surgery and Disaster Medicine, Centre for Research on Health Care in Disasters, Global Health, Health System and Policy, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet

Dr. Muhammad H. Zaman, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering and International Health, Boston University

Dr. Ketan Desai, President, World Medical Association

Dr. Ardis Hoven, Chair of Council, World Medical Association

Dr. Otmar Kloiber, Secretary General, World Medical Association

Imam Yahya Barry, Edinburgh Central Mosque

Professor Charlotte Clarke, University of Edinburgh

Dr. Kirsten Johnson, McGill University

Dr. Therese McGinn, Professor of Population and Family Health at CUMC, Director, RAISE

Dr. Rachel T. Moresky, Director of the sidHARTe Program, Population and Family Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Director of International Emergency Medicine Fellowship, Emergency Medicine Department, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons

Leonard S. Rubenstein, Director, Program on Human Rights, Health and Conflict, Center for Public Health and Human Rights, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health

Father Raphael Pavouris, Honorary Chaplain at the University of Edinburgh

Dr. Mark J. Sedler, Associate Dean and Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health, Stony Brook University

Alseeraj for Development and Healthcare

Independent Doctors Association (IDA)

Canadian International Medical Relief Organization (CIMRO)

Doctors Under Fire

Canadian International Medical Relief Organization (CIMRO)

Center for Public Health and Human Rights at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Medact

Syrian NGO Alliance:

Big Heart Foundation

Binaa Organization for Development

Ghiras Al Nahda

Ghiras Foundation for Child Care

Hand in Hand for Aid and Development

Ihsan for Relief and Development

Masrat – The Syrian Establishment for Human Care & Enhancement

Orient

Physicians Across Continents (PAC)

Social Development International (SDI)

Syrian Expatriate Medical Association (SEMA)

Sham Humanitarian Foundation

Syria Relief

Dr. Abdulsalam Daeif, Turkey Country Director, Syria Relief and Development (SRD)

Takaful Alsham Organization

Union of Relief and Medical Care Organizations (UOSSM)

The UN has failed to protect the Syrian people. Through its inaction – in large part due to the stalemate in the Security Council – the UN is allowing the siege of Aleppo and elsewhere to continue, unhindered, threatening the lives of millions of civilians still left in Syria and impeding life-saving aid from accessing them. Physicians for Human Rights stands with a global coalition of 223 civil society organizations who are urgently calling upon UN member states to request an Emergency Special Session of the UN General Assembly, demanding “timely and decisive action” and an end to these unlawful attacks.

Read the full statement here.

In July 2016, the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir erupted in protests against the killing of prominent militant leader Burhan Wani by security forces. In the violent clashes that ensued between Indian authorities and protesters, at least 87 people were killed and thousands injured. In this report, Physicians for Human Rights describes the excessive and indiscriminate use of force against protesters by Indian state police and Central Reserve Police Forces with weapons misleadingly represented as “less than lethal.” These included tear gas grenades, pepper gas shells, live ammunition, and 12-gauge shotguns loaded with metal pellets, which account for the majority of injuries. While Indian authorities claimed that the use of these weapons was meant to reduce the potential for injuries or fatalities, PHR researchers found that their use had in fact caused serious injury and death.

PHR also found that authorities actively impeded protestors’ access to urgent medical care, both by harassing medical workers attempting to treat protesters and by preventing doctors from reaching the hospitals where they work. PHR documented several instances where police were present at hospitals and monitored protesters being admitted for treatment. They were reported to have asked for the names and medical information of patients admitted at the end of the day in order to later arrest them for “unlawful assemblies.”

The excessive use of force and the intimidation tactics employed by authorities against medical workers attempting to treat the injured violate India’s obligation to protect the rights to life, health, and freedom of expression and assembly. The police response to these protests shows complete indifference to the international standards and principles guiding the use of force, and a lack of accountability leaves security forces free rein to further abuse their power.

This post originally appeared in The Huffington Post.

It was standing room only inside Europe’s largest courthouse, a fortress of a structure just north of Istanbul’s historic city center. I was crammed alongside human rights defenders and doctors from across Türkiye and around the world to support our colleague and friend, Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, a forensic physician and long-time torture investigator put on trial for exercising the very rights she has spent a career defending.

Accused of disseminating “terrorist propaganda” for taking part in a freedom of expression campaign, Dr. Fincancı is one of thousands of Turks who have faced punishment in recent months for criticizing a government that has increasingly flouted international law and human rights norms – and has shown a willingness to vilify anyone who opposes its actions.

Dr. Fincancı and her co-defendants presented their defense. Before the prosecutor could present his case, the three-judge panel chose to postpone the proceedings until January. This tactic, often used to sap the publicity surrounding a case, would effectively give the Turkish government more latitude in punishing Fincancı, and all those who dare speak out against it.

At a dinner that evening, rather than indulging in self-pity or fear, Dr. Fincancı – who also serves as president of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey – was upbeat. She thanked our delegation for supporting her, and said that if she were to face jail time, at least she’d gain access to prisons, which have long been off-limits to human rights investigators like her. It was a moment of both levity and courage that heartened everyone in the room.

Türkiye’s democratic backslide is merely a chapter in what is fast becoming a global story of burgeoning anti-democratic forces. Dark clouds are on the horizon not just in Türkiye, but in Russia, in Hungary, in Egypt, in France, and, yes, in the United States. The same day Dr. Fincancı stood trial, voters in the United States elected to the presidency Donald Trump, a man who has threatened to deport millions, re-introduce torture, and punish those who criticize him.

Türkiye is an example of what happens when such authoritarian forces have a free hand. Days before our arrival, the leaders of the country’s opposition Kurdish party were arrested and detained. Dozens of journalists at the opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet were locked up. Whereas a few weeks ago we were optimistic that charges against Dr. Fincancı would be dropped, our optimism has since faded in the face of widespread suppression with such blatant impunity.

What we see in Türkiye is the logical conclusion of threats like those Trump has made. He led chants of “lock her up” against his opponent Hillary Clinton. He pledged to bring back waterboarding “and a whole lot worse.” And he appears to be allying himself with the likes of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a man who has dropped bombs on hospitals across Syria, killing and violating international law with a shameless disregard for human life.

Together, leaders like Putin and Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan represent a threat to the global human rights movement and to human dignity everywhere.

For human rights defenders, it can feel as though we are moving from the golden years of human rights to the dark days. But at this moment, it’s more important than ever that human rights advocates show solidarity. It may seem like a small act, but rallying in person or online, volunteering or making a small donation, marching and protesting in the streets – these are all powerful gestures. Tyrants want to see us silenced. Our solidarity is proof that we cannot and will not be quiet in the face of repression.

For now, we can follow the lead of Dr. Fincancı, who is brave in the face of danger; funny and fearless in times of crisis; warm in a world that can seem cold to the needs and suffering of others. In each of us the flame of hope burns bright, and together we can light the way forward.

I just returned from Türkiye where I was proudly representing Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) in a show of solidarity for human rights leaders who were standing trial on trumped-up terrorism charges in Istanbul.

The next day – forever ago, it now seems – I was watching the election results unfold early in the morning. By 9:30 a.m., the news had announced Donald Trump the winner of the U.S. election.

It was hard not to be home to take in the news. I wished I were in New York with family and friends.

At the same time, I truly believe our work is more important than ever. For thirty years, we at PHR have used the voice of science and medicine to prevent human rights abuses globally, calling out violations no matter what political party or politician is in power. And we’ll continue to do that work without fear and without favor.

While there is no playbook for a President-elect Trump, we have already put together an assessment of where we believe PHR will be most needed in the months and years ahead.

To start, we know torture, ill treatment, and mental abuse around the world is on the rise – and Trump has threatened to reinstate torture as U.S. policy. So we see the need for increased trainings of medical professionals because we are committed to holding torturers accountable.

Trump has also threatened to deport millions, driving apart families and preventing those fleeing persecution from seeking refuge in the United States. Now more than ever, our asylum program that advocates for survivors of torture and sexual violence is crucial.

The President-elect has also outlined a strategy for sending more detainees to Guantánamo, unraveling the steady albeit slow progress made to ultimately shutter the prison under the Obama Administration. We’ll continue to call for the facility’s closure and defend the international laws and norms that outlaw indefinite detention.

When I was in Türkiye, I was repeatedly told that the U.S. election will have a global effect, and I was encouraged to gear up for the inevitable challenges ahead – challenges that would impact not only those of us in the United States but everyone, everywhere.

I am deeply worried about what a Trump presidency will mean for human rights, peace, and the safety and security of others around the world. If ever there were a time for an evidence-based human rights organization, it is now. Our unique work in the United States and abroad will, sadly, be in high demand and we’re mobilizing for the long fight ahead.

Photo: Zach Gibson/Getty Images

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has sent a letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan today urging his government to immediately drop all charges against Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, president of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, as well as charges against author Ahmet Nesin and Erol Önderoğlu of Reporters without Borders, both of whom were arrested and detained with Dr. Fincancı. Their arrests and subsequent detention, allegedly due to their involvement in “making terrorist propaganda,” are unwarranted and in direct violation of their rights to free expression and association in accordance with international human rights.

Dr. Fincancı is a longtime PHR partner and a respected leader in the international human rights community. She was instrumental, along with PHR and other international partners, in the drafting of the Istanbul Protocol, the global standard for carrying out torture-related investigations.

PHR has also called upon the Turkish government to cease the arbitrary harassment, intimidation, and detention of health professionals throughout the country.

A copy of the full letter can be found here.