“If any of you worry about the issues that are going on in the world as you listen to the news every day and you feel somewhat powerless because the problems, the fractures, are too large and too many, I think you and I can take comfort that PHR is playing its part everywhere in […]

The 55th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva concluded last week. Headed by PHR’s Executive Director Sam Zarifi, JD, LLM, the PHR delegation included Christian De Vos, JD, PhD, director of research and investigations, and Uliana Poltavets, Ukraine emergency response coordinator. The team presented several interventions before the Council, partnered […]

Nearly 1,000 reported attacks on health care workers, facilities, and other infrastructure in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) since October 7 warrant immediate investigations and accountability, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said today.   The World Health Organization (WHO), a United Nations agency, reports 804 attacks on health care in OPT since October 7. Insecurity […]

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 […]

Since the beginning of the Syrian uprising in March 2011 – 13 years ago this week – the Syrian government and its Russian allies have systematically targeted health care in an attempt to break the resilience of the Syrian people and deprive them of their right to safely access medical care.  “As we mark 13 years since […]

Map of Attacks on Medical Personnel and Facilities in Syria When hospitals or health clinics are destroyed, the loss is far greater than the bricks and mortar of the buildings. Safe and protected spaces to seek routine and urgent medical attention are also lost. When medical workers are killed, the human toll is not just […]

After 10 years of war and untold suffering in Syria, the landscape for human rights, justice, and accountability looks bleak. Explore an interactive timeline of the conflict.

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

The horrific attacks on civilians during the war in Israel and Gaza since October 7, including the unprecedented attacks on health care workers and facilities, demand independent verification and accountability, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said today. Reports of an imminent deal between Hamas and Israel to release hostages in exchange for prisoners, along with […]

Targeted and indiscriminate attacks on hospitals, with devastating impact on civilians, are a defining element of the ongoing conflicts in the Gaza Strip, Syria, and Ukraine.

In response to reports by the Palestinian Health Ministry that a strike on Al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital in Gaza City has killed hundreds of civilians, the following quote is attributable to Sam Zarifi, JD, LLM, executive director at Physicians for Human Rights (PHR):  “The catastrophic strike on Al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital is among the deadliest attacks on […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.

A new report published by the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC) documents 1,989 attacks and threats against health care facilities and personnel across 32 countries and territories in armed conflict and situations of political violence throughout 2022. The reported figure represents the most severe year of attacks against health care in the last decade […]

Eight Sudanese and international health and human rights organizations condemn the continued attacks on hospitals and health care in Sudan amid the escalating conflict in the country. The organizations – including the Sudanese American Physicians Association (SAPA), Sudan Doctors Union – Canada (SDU Canada), Sudan Doctors Union – UK (SDU-UK), Sudanese Doctors Union of Ireland […]

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 […]

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 […]

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

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 […]