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.

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 unprecedented dismissal of 11 eminent Turkish physicians from their elected positions on the Central Council of the Turkish Medical Association (TMA), the country’s largest professional medical group, is a flagrant violation of international human rights law and ethical standards, said a global coalition of medical professional organizations.   On November 30, a civil court in […]

A civil court in Ankara today arbitrarily dismissed eleven of the most eminent physicians in Türkiye from their elected positions on the Central Council of the Turkish Medical Association

PHR joins the call for the immediate end to ongoing administrative harassment of eminent physician Ayşe Uğurlu and all attempts to silence and punish medical professionals and professional organizations in Türkiye for their defense of human 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.

In a letter issued today, four international medical and human rights organizations call on Turkish authorities to drop the baseless charges against the leadership of the Turkish Medical Association (TMA) at a time when doctors are urgently needed to tend to victims of the 6 February earthquake that have caused over 56,000 deaths in Türkiye […]

In a letter issued today, four international medical and human rights organisations call on Turkish authorities to drop the baseless charges against the leadership of the Turkish Medical Association (TMA) at a time when doctors are urgently needed to tend to victims of the 6 February earthquake that have caused over 50,000 deaths in Türkiye […]

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) condemns a Turkish court’s sentencing today of Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, a leader in Türkiye’s medical and human rights community, to two years, eight months and 15 days of imprisonment on baseless charges of “making terrorist propaganda.”   Dr. Fincancı was released pending the appeal. The conviction is the latest form […]

Tomorrow, renowned Turkish doctor and human rights defender Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı will undergo a second judicial hearing on baseless charges in Istanbul Heavy Penalty Court. Due process violations, lack of evidence, and ill-treatment of Dr. Korur Fincancı during her transfer suggest that her arrest is a gross miscarriage of justice. International medical and human […]

In response to today’s ruling by Turkish authorities to deny the petition for release of internationally renowned human rights defender Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, chairperson of the Turkish Medical Association and executive committee member of the Human Rights Foundation of Türkiye, who has been unlawfully detained since October 26, 2022, the following quote is attributed […]

Turkish authorities have an opportunity tomorrow to release from custody one of its most internationally respected human rights defenders, Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, who has been unlawfully detained since 26 October 2022. It is her second unlawful detention in six years in retaliation for her renowned medical and rights work. Today Amnesty International, DIGNITY, […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Local and international experts will host a press conference in Istanbul on Thursday to demand that President Erdoğan and Turkish authorities immediately release Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, a renowned human rights defender who has been arbitrarily detained since October. On Friday morning, Dr. Fincancı’s hearing will take place before the İstanbul 24th […]

To mark Human Rights Day, PHR hosted a conversation about how health professionals can use their skills and platforms to document and call attention to human rights violations.

English version here. Önde gelen dört uluslararası insan hakları ve sağlık STK’sı, Türk Tabipleri Birliği Başkanı ve Türkiye İnsan Hakları Vakfı Yönetım Kurulu üyesi Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı’nın 27 Ekim’de esaslara ve usullere dayanmayan tutuklanmasını kınadı.   Örgütler, Dr. Fincancı’nın derhal ve koşulsuz olarak serbest bırakılmasını ve Türk yetkililerinin ülkedeki insan hakları ve ifade özgürlüğüne yönelik baskılarını […]

Turkish version here. Four leading international human rights and medical NGOs condemn the arbitrary arrest on 27 October of Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, chairperson of the Turkish Medical Association and executive committee member of the Human Rights Foundation of Türkiye.   The organizations demand Dr. Fincancı’s immediate, unconditional release and that Turkish authorities cease their crackdown […]

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.

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

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

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.

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 […]

Sandra Mon is a senior researcher at the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at the Johns Hopkins Department of Epidemiology. As a Myanmar national, she is an active voice for health care workers in Myanmar since the beginning of the coup there on February 1. PHR’s digital communications manager Hannah Dunphy spoke with […]

Originally published by Al Jazeera, March 19, 2021 Every day when I wake up, I think about August 18, 2012 – the day I finally saw the sun after weeks in captivity. For the “crime” of providing healthcare to injured protesters, the Syrian government imprisoned and tortured me at the Military Intelligence Directorate in Aleppo for […]

On Thursday, March 11, 2021, Physicians for Human Rights hosted an online briefing call commemorating 10 years of the Syrian conflict, where experts reflected on the state of health and human rights in Syria. PHR Advisory Council member Jennifer Leaning, MD, SMH, senior research fellow at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at […]