Search

Press Release

Maternity hospital bombing in Oscar-winning “20 Days in Mariupol” is one of 1350+ attacks on health care in Ukraine

The Academy Award best documentary film win tonight for “20 Days in Mariupol” highlights how Russian forces have attacked Ukrainian hospitals and health workers as a barbaric war strategy, said Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).  The documentary depicts the deadly aftermath of the Russian bombing of Maternity Hospital No 3 in Mariupol, Ukraine on March […]

March 10, 2024
Attacks on Health Care
Press Release

1,336 Attacks on Ukraine’s Health System Since Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion Demand Accountability: PHR

Ukraine’s health care workers, facilities, and other medical infrastructure have been attacked at least 1,336 times since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to new data from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and international and Ukrainian partner organizations. With Ukraine’s health system attacked an average of nearly two times per day since February 2022, PHR […]

February 20, 2024
Attacks on Health Care
Press Release

Russian Forces Target Health Care to Control Civilian Population in Ukraine’s Occupied Territories, New Evidence Suggests

Russian authorities have systematically sought to target Ukraine’s health care system as a way to cement their control over the civilian population in Ukrainian territories under occupation, a new case study by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and partner organizations shows. These violations of the laws of war and human rights demand proper investigation and […]

December 12, 2023
Attacks on Health Care
Press Release

Російські війська цілеспрямовано використовують систему охорони здоров’я для контролю над цивільним населенням на окупованих територіях України – нове дослідження

Дані свідчать про те, що російська влада систематично намагається атакувати систему охорони здоров’я України, щоб зміцнити свій контроль над цивільним населенням на тимчасово окупованих територіях України, як показує нове тематичне дослідження, проведене організацією Physicians for Human Rights (“Лікарі за права людини”) та партнерськими організаціями. Ці порушення законів і звичаїв війни та прав людини вимагають належного […]

December 12, 2023
Attacks on Health Care
Case Study

Coercion and Control: Ukraine’s Health Care System under Russian Occupation

Press release available in English and Ukrainian. Executive Summary This case study expands on existing documentation of Russia’s widespread and systematic attacks on Ukraine’s health care system. It explores ways in which Russia has sought to systematically target health care as an apparent means of degrading resistance and, in Ukraine’s occupied territories, as a means of enforcing control […]

December 12, 2023
Attacks on Health Care, Persecution of Health Workers
Press Release

A Horrific Milestone: More Than 1,000 Attacks on Health Care in Ukraine Since Russia’s Full-scale Invasion

Today Ukraine marks the grim milestone of more than 1,000 attacks on health care workers and infrastructure since Russia’s full-scale invasion began 17 months ago, according to documentation and monitoring by human rights and humanitarian organizations. So far, an estimated 148 health workers have been killed in these attacks and 414 attacks on hospitals and […]

August 10, 2023
Attacks on Health Care
Press Release

Понад 1 000 атак на систему охорони здоров’я в Україні від початку повномасштабного вторгнення Росії

Від початку повномасштабного вторгнення Росії зафіксовано понад 1000 атак на охорону здоров’я. Такі дані наводить коаліція українських та міжнародних організацій, які відстежують та документують атаки на охорону здоров’я, —  EyeWitness to Atrocities, Insecurity Insight, Медійна ініціатива за права людини, Physicians for Human Rights та Український центр охорони здоров’я. Система охорони здоров’я України — медичні працівники, […]

August 10, 2023
Attacks on Health Care
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
Statements

PHR Executive Director Saman Zia-Zarifi Delivers Statement on Ukraine at the 53rd session of UN Human Rights Council

UN Human Rights Council 53rd Session, Oral Statement on Ukraine (res. 47/22) and interim report of the Secretary General on human rights in Crimea (GA res. 77/229), 12 July 2023 Speaker: Saman Zia-Zarifi, Executive Director Oral Statement as Delivered: Physicians for Human Rights wishes to echo the High Commissioner’s concerns about Russian attacks on civilian […]

July 12, 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
Blog

PHR Delegation Brings Evidence and Advocacy to the 52nd Session of the UN Human Rights Council

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 […]

April 7, 2023
Attacks on Health Care, Mass Atrocities, Weapons
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
Multimedia

Map of Attacks on Health in Ukraine

The Russian Federation’s aggression-leading to both targeted and indiscriminate attacks on Ukraine’s health care facilities, amongst other civilian infrastructure-constitutes a gross violation of international law. This map documents these assaults which have a devastating impact on Ukraine’s health care system.  This map is a joint undertaking among eyeWitness to Atrocities (eyeWitness), Insecurity Insight, Media Initiative for Human Rights (MIHR), Physicians for […]

February 21, 2023
Attacks on Health Care
Press Release

At Least 707 Attacks on Health Care in Ukraine During One Year of Russia’s Assault on Civilians: Report

KYIV/NEW YORK– 707 violent attacks on hospitals, health workers, and other medical infrastructure devastated Ukraine’s health system during the first year since the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion, according to a new investigation published today by human rights investigators. An average of two attacks on health care – including the bombing of hospitals, torture of medics, […]

February 21, 2023
Attacks on Health Care
Press Release

Щонайменше 707 атак на систему охорони здоров’я в Україні за рік російської агресії проти цивільного населення: звіт

КИЇВ/НЬЮ-ЙОРК — 707 жорстоких атак на лікарні, іншу інфраструктуру охорони здоров’я та медичних працівників серйозно пошкодили систему охорони здоров’я України за рік повномасштабного вторгнення Російської Федерації. Про це йдеться у дослідженні, яке сьогодні опублікували організації eyeWitness to Atrocities, Insecurity Insight (II), Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), Медійна ініціатива за права людини (МІПЛ) та Український центр […]

February 21, 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

Громадські організації закликають комісію ООН розслідувати обстріли українських лікарень Росією

Систематичні атаки на медичні заклади, напади на швидкі та медиків, перешкоджання наданню медичної допомоги цивільним — це все свідомі дії Російської Федерації, яка використовує їх, як інструмент у війні. Саме тому розслідування випадків атак та притягнення винних до відповідальності є надзвичайно важливими для досягнення справедливості. Український центр охорони здоров’я (UHC), Лікарі за права людини (Physicians […]

September 23, 2022
Attacks on Health Care
Press Release

NGOs Call on New UN Commission to Investigate Russia’s Bombardment of Ukrainian Hospitals

In a new joint submission to the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine (IICIU), four independent NGOs call on the Commission to investigate the ongoing attacks on hospitals and health workers in Ukraine perpetrated by Russian forces, which are flagrant violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.   The four organizations – […]

September 22, 2022
Attacks on Health Care
Press Release

500 Reported Attacks on Health Care in Ukraine a “Colossal Tragedy that Calls for Accountability”: PHR 

At least 500 attacks on health care have been perpetrated during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine since February, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Surpassing this grim milestone in just over six months of conflict underscores how the Russian government has targeted Ukraine’s health system as a strategy of war, as it has done […]

September 2, 2022
Attacks on Health Care
Blog

As Putin Bombs Hospitals in Ukraine, I Hear Echoes from Syria

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 […]

April 13, 2022
Attacks on Health Care, Mass Atrocities
Open Letter

Ukraine Crisis: Statement of Civil Society Organizations on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights

The organizations listed below express our deepest concern for the ongoing and escalating conflict in Ukraine, and call on governments to guarantee the sexual and reproductive health and rights of all women, adolescents and girls, as well as gender-diverse people, in the context of the refugees crisis affecting the Ukrainian border and its neighboring countries. Of […]

April 5, 2022
Sexual Violence
Open Letter

Stop Attacks on Health in Ukraine: Open Letter to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

March 23, 2022 His Excellency Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization Your Excellency: The undersigned leaders of organizations active in global health in areas of conflict express our appreciation for the WHO’s rapid confirmation of attacks on health care in Ukraine through the Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA) […]

March 24, 2022
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

Russia Must Cease Hostilities, Violations of International Law in Ukraine: PHR 

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is gravely concerned by and condemns the wanton aggression, indiscriminate attacks, and violence against civilians perpetrated by the Russian Federation during its ongoing unlawful invasion of Ukraine. Russia must cease hostilities and abide by international law, including ensuring the protection of civilians, PHR said today.   Early reports of a ballistic […]

February 25, 2022
Attacks on Health Care

Get Updates from PHR