As a program officer for PHR’s Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones (SVCZ), Léa Reus works with clinicians and partner organizations to strengthen capacities of local institutions to collect, preserve and present at trial forensic evidence of sexual violence using processes that respect and protect human rights. Currently, Reus focuses her work on collectively […]

Program Associate – Kenya Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), which shared in the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, is a U.S.-based international advocacy organization working at the intersection of medicine, science, and law. With a global network of thousands of medical, scientific, and legal experts, PHR uses the power of medical and scientific evidence to […]

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) condemns a Turkish court’s sentencing today of Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, a leader in Türkiye’s medical and human rights community, to two years, eight months and 15 days of imprisonment on baseless charges of “making terrorist propaganda.”   Dr. Fincancı was released pending the appeal. The conviction is the latest form […]

A United Nations Security Council (UNSC) vote to renew the cross-border resolution UNSC Resolution 2642, providing humanitarian aid for another six months through Bab al-Hawa into northwest Syria, keeps millions of Syrians trapped in a perilous limbo, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said today.  Syria’s humanitarian access has been stuck in a cycle of political […]

Staff Accountant Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), which shared in the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, is a U.S.-based international advocacy organization working at the intersection of medicine, science, and law. With a global network of thousands of medical, scientific, and legal experts, PHR uses the power of medical and scientific evidence to document human […]

Director of Finance Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), which shared in the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, is a U.S.-based international advocacy organization working at the intersection of medicine, science, and law. With a global network of thousands of medical, scientific, and legal experts, PHR uses the power of medical and scientific evidence to document […]

NEW YORK – In response to this afternoon’s announcement by United States President Joe Biden of new “border security” measures along the southern border, which would expand expedited removals under Title 42, the following statement is attributable to Michele Heisler, MD, MPA, medical director at Physicians for Human Rights and professor of internal medicine and […]

Tomorrow, renowned Turkish doctor and human rights defender Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı will undergo a second judicial hearing on baseless charges in Istanbul Heavy Penalty Court. Due process violations, lack of evidence, and ill-treatment of Dr. Korur Fincancı during her transfer suggest that her arrest is a gross miscarriage of justice. International medical and human […]

In response to today’s ruling by Turkish authorities to deny the petition for release of internationally renowned human rights defender Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, chairperson of the Turkish Medical Association and executive committee member of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, who has been unlawfully detained since October 26, 2022, the following quote is attributed […]

Turkish authorities have an opportunity tomorrow to release from custody one of its most internationally respected human rights defenders, Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, who has been unlawfully detained since 26 October 2022. It is her second unlawful detention in six years in retaliation for her renowned medical and rights work. Today Amnesty International, DIGNITY, […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Local and international experts will host a press conference in Istanbul on Thursday to demand that President Erdoğan and Turkish authorities immediately release Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, a renowned human rights defender who has been arbitrarily detained since October. On Friday morning, Dr. Fincancı’s hearing will take place before the İstanbul 24th […]

Senior Program Officer, Asylum Program  Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), which shared in the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, is a U.S.-based international advocacy organization working at the intersection of medicine, science, and law. With a global network of thousands of medical, scientific, and legal experts, PHR uses the power of medical and scientific evidence […]

Sexual Violence MediCapt Contractor Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), which shared in the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, is a U.S.-based international advocacy organization working at the intersection of medicine, science, and law. With a global network of thousands of medical, scientific, and legal experts, PHR uses the power of medical and scientific evidence to […]

For over three decades, Gerson H. Smoger, JD, PhD has worked both within the U.S. and internationally on behalf of people suffering from systemic, neurological, and cognitive injuries as a result of exposure to toxic chemicals, including various pesticides, herbicides, dioxin, lead, tobacco, and Agent Orange. He received the Public Justice Foundation’s national Trial Lawyer […]

In response to news that the Biden administration would appeal a federal court’s decision that invalidated the Title 42 border expulsion order, the following quote is attributed to Michele Heisler, MD, MPA, medical director at Physicians for Human Rights and professor of public health and internal medicine at the University of Michigan: “The Biden administration’s […]

To mark Human Rights Day, PHR hosted a conversation about how health professionals can use their skills and platforms to document and call attention to human rights violations.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today announces that Gerson H. Smoger, JD, PhD is becoming our interim executive director, effective as of December 1, 2022.  Smoger is a leading public interest and human rights advocate with decades of litigation and advocacy experience who will provide leadership and management for the organization and PHR’s global network […]

Austin Ratner is an M.D.-turned-writer who has authored four books of both fiction and non-fiction. Much of his non-fiction work has been devoted to mental health advocacy and includes a book-length study of the history of psychoanalysis and a public health proposal published in The Lancet. His work has appeared in many national publications, including The […]

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and Human Rights First welcome reports that the Biden administration will end a contract with the Berks Detention Center on January 31, 2023, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility with a long-documented history of abuse and medical neglect. The decision comes after years of relentless advocacy and community organizing […]

As we mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, we continue to challenge ourselves to understand what works and what doesn’t, using rigorous, scientific, and trauma-informed approaches.  

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) welcomes U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan’s decision to vacate Title 42, an order that was used to expel asylum seekers more than 2.4 million times with no due process into dangerous conditions in Mexico.   Title 42 – invoked in March 2020 by the Trump administration purportedly to defend against the […]

It is estimated that more than 400 million children – one in six –are living in conflict zones. Despite this, crimes against children, including sexual violence crimes, are vastly underreported. For over a decade, PHR’s Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones Program has forged partnerships with health, police, legal, and justice sector professionals to focus on […]

WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union and Physicians for Human Rights renewed calls today for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to end the practice of force-feeding detained people, and to end its reliance on mass immigration detention, after the Intercept obtained and released footage of the federal agency force-feeding a man engaged in a […]

Stephen J. Adler, former president and editor-in-chief of Reuters, is chairman of the Steering Committee of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. A global advocate for free speech, journalist safety, and media literacy, Adler also chairs the Journalist Assistance Committee of the Committee to Protect Journalists and is a board member and immediate […]

The UN estimates that one in three women around the world will suffer sexual violence during their lifetime. Particularly in conflict-affected areas, the vast majority of survivors’ cases never get to court; and those that do often fail due to lack of evidence.   To support the reliable and secure documentation of forensic evidence needed to […]