Search

Press Release

Alexei Navalny’s Death in Custody Must Be Independently and Effectively Investigated: PHR

The death in custody of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny demands a rigorous, independent investigation in line with international standards, said Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today.   The 47-year-old Navalny died suddenly, according to the Federal Penitentiary Service, in the IK-3 penal colony of the subarctic Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District at 2:19 pm Moscow time […]

February 20, 2024
Death Investigations
Press Release

“A Mockery”: UN Member States Must Reject Russia’s Human Rights Council Bid

In response to reports that the Russian Federation is attempting to rejoin the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC), the following quote is attributable to Sam Zarifi, JD, LLM, executive director at PHR:  “Russian forces have routinely bombed hospitals, tortured civilians, abducted children, raped women, and destroyed critical infrastructure in Ukraine. Russia’s president is a […]

September 26, 2023
Mass Atrocities
Other

Submission to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of the Russian Federation

Summary eyeWitness to Atrocities, Insecurity Insight, Media Initiative for Human Rights, Physicians for Human Rights, and the Ukrainian Healthcare Center (together, the submitting organizations) jointly submit this report to inform the examination of the Russian Federation (Russia) during its Universal Periodic Review (UPR). This submission focuses on international humanitarian and human rights law concerns relating […]

August 7, 2023
Attacks on Health Care
Report

Mobilizing Health Workers to Safeguard Rights

For more than 35 years, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has worked at the intersection of medicine, science, and law to end human suffering, save lives, and secure justice and universal human rights for all. Read about our impact in our 2022 Annual Report.

June 22, 2023
Asylum, Attacks on Health Care, Mass Atrocities, Persecution of Health Workers, Reproductive Justice, Sexual Violence, Torture
Press Release

PHR Welcomes ICC Arrest Warrant for Putin, Calls for Enforcement

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today welcomes the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants against Vladmir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Maria Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President, for the war crimes of unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of children from occupied areas in Ukraine to the […]

March 17, 2023
Attacks on Health Care
Report

Destruction and Devastation: One Year of Russia’s Assault on Ukraine’s Health Care System

Press release available in English and Ukrainian. Executive Summary On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This act of aggression against a sovereign nation is a gross violation of international law, one that has been widely condemned by the international community. In the year that has followed, attacks on […]

February 21, 2023
Attacks on Health Care
Press Release

Russia’s Bombing of Ukrainian Hospitals Directly Violates Geneva Conventions: PHR

NEW YORK – Medical experts and human rights advocates condemn in the strongest terms Russia’s reported bombing of a hospital’s maternity ward and children’s clinic in Mariupol, Ukraine on Wednesday. The following statement is attributable to Christian De Vos, JD, PhD, director of research and investigations at Physicians for Human Rights (PHR): “Physicians for Human […]

March 9, 2022
Press Release

Chemical Weapons Expert’s Statement on Poisoning of Alexei Navalny

The German government announced Wednesday that testing of a poison used against Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny had revealed “proof without doubt of a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group,” a group of nerve agents developed in the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s.   In light of this evidence, Physicians for Human […]

September 2, 2020
Chemical Weapons
Statements

PHR Briefing to the United Nations Security Council on the Humanitarian Situation in Syria

Delivered by PHR Director of Policy and Senior Advisor Susannah Sirkin to the United Nations Security Council on June 29, 2020. Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you for the opportunity to provide this briefing to the Council on the humanitarian crisis in Syria.  It is a historic moment for the Council’s work, as you face […]

June 29, 2020
Attacks on Health Care, COVID-19, Mass Atrocities
Press Release

European Court of Human Rights Finds Russia Culpable for Death of Whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, Citing PHR Forensic Review

The European Court of Human Rights today unanimously ruled that Russia was at fault for the 2009 detention death of Sergei Magnitsky, a whistleblower who reported the embezzlement of $230 million by Russian officials. The landmark judgment cites a Physicians for Humans Rights (PHR) forensic review which analyzed the available evidence of Magnitsky’s treatment in […]

August 27, 2019
Death Investigations

Russia

In 2009,Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian anti-corruption crusader who had alleged large-scale theft by state officials, died after 11 months in police custody during which he was subjected to torture and medical neglect.  In 2011, a team of PHR forensic experts conducted the first independent evaluation of the Magnitsky case and concluded that his death was […]

August 5, 2018
Blog

Russia Fanning the Flames in Syria

After midnight on October 16, Russian forces carried out airstrikes on two hospitals in Syria. Al-Hader Hospital and al-‘Ais Hospital were both put out of service, leaving the southern Aleppo countryside without a functioning medical facility. With terror in their voices, staff from these hospitals gave impassioned testimonies: “There are zero hospitals [left], everyone, zero.” […]

October 30, 2015
Attacks on Health Care
Report

Forensic Review of Sergei Magnitsky documents

After reporting an alleged $230 million tax fraud perpetrated by a group of Russian government officials and senior police officers, Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer stationed in Russia for the UK‐based investment firm Hermitage Fund, was arrested and jailed on November 24, 2008. Magnitsky died following 358 days in prison under progressively worsening conditions. PHR’s International […]

June 28, 2011
Death Investigations

Get Updates from PHR