For Immediate Release
Cambridge, Mass. – PHR today announced that several prominent medical associations andhealth professionals, including the American Medical Association and theAmerican College of Physicians, have joined together to call for Bahrain tocease all attacks on hospitals, patients, and medical professionals. In a joint letter senttoday to Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Deputy Supreme Commanderof the Bahrain Defence Force, the groups urge Bahrain to respect itsinternational legal obligations and bring an end to all other violations ofmedical neutrality.
“We are pleased to be joined by so manyprestigious medical associations and health professionals as we call for theCrown Prince of Bahrain to end the government’s ongoing violations of medicalneutrality,” said Frank Davidoff, MD, MACP, Interim Chief Executive Officer of PHR. “The reports of the arrests and disappearances ofmedical professionals are particularly disturbing and are cause for animmediate international investigation.”
The letter will be hand-delivered today to the Bahrain Ambassador tothe United States. Additional copies will be sent to Hillary Clinton, US Secretaryof State; Navanethem Pillay, UN High Commissionerfor Human Rights; Amr Moussa, Secretary General, Arab League; Yves Daccord,Director-General, International Committee of the Red Cross; and Dr. MargaretChan, Director-General, World Health Organization.
Thedistinguished associations included in this appeal represent tens of thousandsof health professionals in the US and internationally. They join the many whohave already spoken out via PHR’s campaign, Bahrain Free the Docs.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a New York-based advocacy organization that uses science and medicine to prevent mass atrocities and severe human rights violations. Learn more here.