The United Nations Human Rights Council’s 52nd session in Geneva concluded this week with some meaningful advances for health and human rights. In addition to the adoption of the landmark resolution on the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment (A/HRC/51/L.7), the Human Rights Council (HRC) also renewed the mandates for several important […]

In Northwest Syria, 2.3 million women and girls do not have easy access to necessary medical care, including sexual and reproductive health.

In response to the earthquake Monday in Türkiye and Syria, the following statement is attributable to Houssam al-Nahhas, MD, MPH, Middle East & North Africa researcher at Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), who worked in the region until 2019 and now conducts research on human rights and public health in Syria:  “We express our profound […]

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 […]

PHR delivered strong statements to world leaders to stop illegal attacks on health care in places such as Myanmar, Syria, and Ukraine, and demand accountability for human rights abuses.

After a lengthy decision process, the UN Security Council (UNSC) voted today to renew Resolution 2585, which effectively reauthorizes the use of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing from Turkey into Idlib, Syria for six months. The compromise will require member states to hold another vote on a further six-month extension in January. The vote comes […]

On July 7, the UN Security Council (UNSC) will hold a vote on Resolution 2585, which authorizes the use of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, the only remaining available route for international aid into the besieged region of northern Syria. More than 4.2 million Syrians rely on aid supplied through the crossing, a number that […]

Medical professionals are often on the front lines in conflict situations, providing life-saving health care to civilian communities suffering from violence, abuse, and deprivation. Nowhere has this been truer than in Syria.

PHR urges UNSC Member States to renew the Bab al-Hawa border crossing authorization for at least 12 months.

This article was originally published by The New Humanitarian, a news agency specialised in reporting humanitarian crises. Many Syrians are experiencing heart-wrenching flashbacks as we watch the mounting devastation in Ukraine and the millions of refugees fleeing. As a Syrian physician who provided medical care amid the war in my country, it’s especially painful when […]

In response to Syria’s passage of anti-torture legislation on March 30, the following statement is attributable to Houssam al-Nahhas, MD, MPH, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Researcher:   “Physicians for Human Rights would welcome any systemic measures that prevent the torture and ill-treatment of people in Syria, provide meaningful pathways […]

The Syrian government has targeted health care workers with detention, abuse, and torture. Here are some of their stories.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) welcomes the landmark verdict against Syrian colonel Anwar Raslan, who was convicted today of crimes against humanity in a court in Koblenz, Germany, and sentenced to life in prison.   Raslan supervised the systematic and brutal torture of more than 4,000 Syrian prisoners in 2011-2012. His conviction today marks the first […]

In January 2011, peaceful protesters in Syria took to the streets, demanding basic human rights and dignity. They were met with a fierce crackdown by the Syrian government. That violence has since spiraled into a brutal civil war, devastating the country. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed in the conflict, and millions have […]

Destruction of the health sector is a signature of the conflict which continues to unfold in Syria. It has occurred in the context of one of the most severe humanitarian crises in the world. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and others have documented deliberate attacks on health care facilities and personnel during the past 10 […]

Arabic press release here Ahead of the United Nations Security Council’s January 2022 meeting to consider a planned six-month renewal of the July 2021 vote to reauthorize the last remaining border crossing in northern Syria for international humanitarian aid, a new report from PHR provides stark evidence of a massively deteriorated health system caused by […]

PHR report provides evidence of compounded health disparities and inequities across northern Syria in the wake of a decade-long assault on health care by the government

Health care workers in Syria were significantly more likely to be detained, die in detention facilities, or be forcibly disappeared if they had provided medical care to injured protesters compared to health care workers arrested for political reasons, a report from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) published today found. The findings underscore a government strategy […]

PHR’s analysis of patterns in the Syrian government’s forced disappearance, detention, and abuse of health care workers during the early years of the Syrian uprising.

“No Place Is Safe for Health Care”: The Attack on Syria’s al-Atareb Hospital is a Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) Case Study Overview On March 21, 2021, three artillery strikes hit al-Atareb hospital in the western countryside of Aleppo governorate. The missiles directly hit the hospital’s entrance and destroyed […]

In response to today’s UN Security Council vote on cross-border aid to Syria, the following statement is attributable to Susannah Sirkin, director of policy at Physicians for Human Rights: “The United Nations Security Council has reached a shameful compromise to allow just one international border crossing for lifesaving aid to the besieged people of Syria. […]

Syria remains one of the world’s most complex humanitarian emergencies. Ten years of violence have resulted in more than 500,000 casualties, triggered one of the worst displacement crises of our time, and led to the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure. Homes, schools, and health facilities have not been spared, and people have been deprived of […]

Dear Ambassador,    The United Nations Security Council will meet next week to vote on the authorization for renewal of the UN cross-border operation to allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid to northern Syria. It is up to all Security Council Member States to insist on the right of almost six million Syrians – four million in the northwest […]

June 3, 2021 Dr. Tedros Adhanom GhebreyesusDirector-GeneralWorld Health OrganizationAvenue Appia 201202 GenevaSwitzerland Dear Dr. Adhanom Ghebreyesus, We write to you today to express our deep concern regarding the recent election of Syria to a three-year term as a member of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Executive Board. We strongly oppose the seating of this government […]

An enormous humanitarian crisis may face the four million people in Syria’s northwest region, specifically the Idlib governorate, which currently relies on one lifeline to outside aid: the Bab al-Hawa border crossing from Turkey. In the months leading up to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019 and early 2020, Idlib faced heavy […]