In response to news that U.S. President Joe Biden will not extend the August 31 deadline for evacuating U.S. citizens and at-risk Afghans from Afghanistan, the following statement is attributable to Susannah Sirkin, director of policy at Physicians for Human Rights: “By publicly refusing to move back his August 31 deadline and committing only to […]

The COVID-19 pandemic has left no community unscathed. In some countries, health workers face personal protective equipment shortages; in others, governments actively exploit the pandemic to restrict rights to freedom of speech or assembly and suppress access to information about COVID-19. But even in this challenging context, the pursuit of justice for some of the […]

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) welcomes the decision today by the International Criminal Court (ICC) Appeals Chamber to authorize an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, including abuses committed by the U.S. armed forces and intelligence personnel, the Taliban, Afghan National Security Forces, and other combatants in the country. The […]

So-called virginity testing – the examination of a woman’s hymen –  is used in many countries to determine a woman’s sexual status or history. “Virginity testing” has no clinical or scientific value, and conducting hymen examinations for this purpose violates basic medical and legal standards. Often performed without consent or in a context of threat or force, […]

PHR builds capacity on topics including crime scene documentation and photography, evidence collection, exhumation of graves and forensic anthropology/archeology and pathology, and the use of various forensic specialties. The purpose of training is both to develop forensic capabilities and awareness, and to address the long-term sustainability of forensic investigations at an international level.

In November 2001, as many as 2,000 surrendered Taliban fighters and others are believed to have been suffocated to death or shot in container trucks by U.S.-allied Afghan troops of the “Northern Alliance,” and buried in a mass grave in Dasht-e-Leili, near the town of Sheberghan in northern Afghanistan. PHR forensic investigators discovered a mass […]

Decades of conflict have blanketed Afghanistan with mass graves. The vast majority have never been exhumed, leaving families without the knowledge of how their loved ones died, and the country unable to move forward with a process of national healing. PHR’s work around the globe has shown us that the objectivity and transparency of forensic […]

Even in a world inured to violence, the U.S. airstrike on a Doctors without Borders (MSF) hospital in Kunduz, which killed both staff and patients, was shocking. While the U.S. government acknowledged that it was responsible for the attack, General John Campbell, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has referred to the attack as an […]

2014 was a distressing year for health care workers in conflict areas around the world, as attacks on medical professionals and facilities were carried out in numerous countries. As these attacks continue, they must be appropriately documented in order to increase available information, raise awareness, and find appropriate solutions that facilitate accountability and ultimately prevent […]

Afghans have endured injustice for decades. Victims languish in an environment where abuses are committed with impunity, fueling resentment and the country’s conflict itself. Amnesty International recently published a report examining accountability for civilian deaths caused by international military operations in Afghanistan. The report focused on 10 incidents involving the U.S. military between 2009 and […]

American psychologists designed and oversaw the brutal regime of interrogation used on detainees in U.S. military custody at Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay, and elsewhere during the U.S. war on terror; but the profession has yet to punish any psychologist who participated in torture or to fully distance itself from this legacy. The ties between psychologists, […]

ThisDecember marks the 10-year anniversary of the “Convoy of Death.”  During Operation Enduring Freedom inAfghanistan, 2,000 prisoners who had surrendered to the US and the AfghanNorthern Alliance were shot or suffocated to death in sealed truck containerswhile being transferred by Northern Alliance forces. The dead prisoners – someof who had been tortured – were then […]

Recently the Obama Administration unveiled landmarklegislation which has the potential to strengthen how the US deals with theprevention of mass atrocities and serious human rights violations. The interagencyAtrocities Prevention Board (PSD-10) aims to close existing gaps in US law andprovide new economic, diplomatic, and political deterrents to ensure that the USresponds swiftly and unequivocally to […]

In October 2011, more than 120 representatives from Afghanistan's government and civil society joined members of the international community to discuss how Afghanistan can move from conflict to peace and stability. One of the first steps in the process of transitional justice involves using forensic science to create an accurate record of past atrocities.

Evidence of Human Subject Research and Experimentation in the "Enhanced" Interrogation Program.

In the wake of a major New York Times story revealing new evidence that the Bush Administration impeded at least three federal investigations into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan in 2002, President Obama told CNN in an interview broadcast July 13th that having now learned about the allegations he has instructed his national security team […]

We are now accepting applications for the PHR International Forensic Program's spring training program in Crime Scene and Evidence Documentation, which will be held from April 26-30, 2010?in Tallahassee, Florida. The course is led each spring by IFP Director Stefan Schmitt, who?has been providing forensic expertise to human rights investigations including work in Guatemala, Iraq, […]

Thousands of supporters like you have called for the Obama Administration to investigate torture and other detainee abuses. Our voices have been heard.Yesterday, the Obama Administration took actions that demonstrate a commitment to ending detainee abuse and beginning a process to hold accountable those responsible for the torture regime.Attorney General Holder's decision to appoint a […]

Nathaniel Raymond has been leading the investigation into the alleged 2001 Dasht-e-Leili massacre in Afghanistan. Dr. Jennifer Leaning discovered the mass grave of Taliban prisoners. (Photo: Ben Greenberg)   A Mass Grave In Afghanistan Raises Questions Fresh Air from WHYY, July 23, 2009 – In 2001, shortly after the American invasion of Afghanistan, hundreds or […]

Obama pledges review of alleged mass grave in AfghanistanSeven years ago, investigators for the Boston-based group Physicians for Human Rights discovered what appeared to be a mass grave in northern Afghanistan.The bodies, they were told, were those of Taliban fighters who had been rounded up by Northern Alliance forces shortly after the U.S. invasion in […]

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has issued a call for a criminal probe in the wake of a major New York Times story by James Risen with new evidence that the Bush Administration impeded at least three federal investigations into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan in 2002. PHR is calling for the Department of Justice […]

In an interview today with Anderson Cooper, President Obama announced that he has ordered his national security team to collect all the facts in the Dasht-e-Leili massacre and apparent US cover-up — a move that Deputy Director Susannah Sirkin has praised in a statement earlier today. President Obama's comments differ from statements made by Obama […]

New York Times reporter James Risen, who wrote the story published on Saturday, about the US cover-up of the Dasht-e-Leili massacre, and PHR Deputy Director Susannah Sirkin appeared today on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman. Towards the end of the interview, Risen and Sirkin each provide some interesting elaborations on the information that appeared in […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMedia Contact:Mark Russellmrussell [at] phrusa [dot] comCell: +1-617-909-9160Cambridge, MA – Obama Administration officials stated Friday, as reported by Lara Jakes of the Associated Press, that they had no grounds to investigate the 2001 deaths of Taliban prisoners of war who allegedly were killed by U.S.-backed forces. In their statement, these officials claim that […]

Physicians for Human Rights has issued a call for a criminal probe in the wake of a major New York Times story by James Risen with new evidence that the Bush Administration impeded at least three federal investigations into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan in 2002. PHR is calling for the Department of Justice to […]