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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

Global Medical and Human Rights Groups Call on Türkiye to End Persecution of Doctors

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 […]

April 6, 2023
Persecution of Health Workers
Press Release

Global Medical and Human Rights Groups Call on Türkiye to End Persecution of Doctors

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 […]

February 27, 2023
Persecution of Health Workers
Press Release

PHR Denounces Turkish Court’s Conviction of Leading Physician and Human Rights Defender

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 […]

January 11, 2023
Persecution of Health Workers
Press Release

International Human Rights Groups Call for the Immediate Release and Acquittal of Turkish Physician

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 […]

December 28, 2022
Persecution of Health Workers
Press Release

PHR: Tũrkiye’s Failure to Release Renowned Physician is an “Abhorrent Assault on Human Rights”

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 Turkey, who has been unlawfully detained since October 26, 2022, the following quote is attributed […]

December 23, 2022
Persecution of Health Workers
Press Release

International Human Rights Groups call for Release of leading Turkish Human Rights Defender and Physician

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, […]

December 22, 2022
Persecution of Health Workers
Press Release

MEDIA ADVISORY: Experts to Call for Release of Renowned Forensic Physician Ahead of Critical Hearing Friday

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 […]

December 20, 2022
Persecution of Health Workers
Press Release

Uluslararası Örgütler, Türk Hükümeti’nin keyfi olarak önde gelen bir doktoru tutuklama kararını kınıyor ve serbest bırakılmasını talep ediyor

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 […]

October 31, 2022
Chemical Weapons, Persecution of Health Workers
Press Release

Global Organizations Condemn Turkish Government’s Arbitrary Detention of Leading Doctor, Demand Release

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 Turkey.   The organizations demand Dr. Fincancı’s immediate, unconditional release and that Turkish authorities cease their crackdown […]

October 27, 2022
Persecution of Health Workers
Multimedia

The Disappeared Doctors of Syria

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

January 27, 2022
Attacks on Health Care, Mass Atrocities, Persecution of Health Workers, Torture
Blog

Protecting the Right to Health in 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 […]

July 8, 2021
Attacks on Health Care, Persecution of Health Workers
Blog

“This is My Second Revolution”: A Q&A with Scientist-Activist Sandra Mon, on What’s Happening in Myanmar

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 […]

June 8, 2021
Attacks on Health Care, Mass Atrocities, Persecution of Health Workers, Rohingya
Blog

Syria’s Medical Workers Are Still Fighting for Justice

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 […]

March 23, 2021
Attacks on Health Care, Mass Atrocities, Persecution of Health Workers, Torture
Webinar

Syrian Health and Human Rights: 10 Years of Conflict

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 […]

March 11, 2021
Attacks on Health Care, COVID-19, Mass Atrocities, Persecution of Health Workers, Torture
Other

Advocacy Brief: Key Actions Governments Must Take Now to Uphold Human Rights After 10 Years of Conflict in Syria

Introduction After 10 years of war and untold suffering in Syria, the landscape for human rights, justice, and accountability looks bleak. In the spring of 2011, peaceful protesters took to the streets across Syria, demanding basic human rights and dignity. They were met with a fierce crackdown by the Syrian government. That violence has since […]

March 11, 2021
Attacks on Health Care, COVID-19, Mass Atrocities, Persecution of Health Workers, Torture
Multimedia

A Decade of Death, Destruction, and Denial

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.

March 11, 2021
Attacks on Health Care, Mass Atrocities, Persecution of Health Workers, Torture
Press Release

Myanmar Military Must End Excessive Use of Force against Protestors, Detention of Health Care Workers

In the midst of a violent military coup threatening democracy and the rule of law, the Myanmar military is reported to be engaging in excessive use of force against protestors and attacking health care workers, exacerbating a fragile human rights situation. In response, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) issued the following statement: “We are appalled […]

February 18, 2021
Persecution of Health Workers
Blog

COVID-19 Amidst Syria’s Conflict: Neglect and Suppression

Nine months into the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Syria’s public health conditions continue to worsen by the day. The Syrian government has been heavily criticized for its inadequate response to the spread of the disease and for suppressing information regarding the COVID-19 infection rate. After President Bashar al-Assad’s nine-year targeted assault on medical workers […]

January 13, 2021
COVID-19, Persecution of Health Workers