This study sought to understand the experiences of survivors of sexual violence in Kenya as they accessed mental health services. Survivors’ experiences are vital to document and have important advocacy and policy implications related to the provision of mental health services and survivor-centered care within their communities. Context Sexual violence affects millions of people of […]

As we mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, we continue to challenge ourselves to understand what works and what doesn’t, using rigorous, scientific, and trauma-informed approaches.  

The UN estimates that one in three women around the world will suffer sexual violence during their lifetime. Particularly in conflict-affected areas, the vast majority of survivors’ cases never get to court; and those that do often fail due to lack of evidence.   To support the reliable and secure documentation of forensic evidence needed to […]

Ahead of Kenya’s general election on August 9, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) warns of potential election-related violence, including sexual violence, and calls on the Government of Kenya to proactively enact policies and plans to both prevent and respond to any violence perpetrated around the upcoming vote.   At least since the 1990s, elections in Kenya […]

As Russian artillery shells fall indiscriminately in Ukraine, efforts are under way by the international community to document the resulting human rights violations, including a range of attacks that likely constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. These efforts may indeed be the most robust in recent history. But as the International Criminal Court (ICC) […]

Today 11human rights organizations that champion the right to be free from all forms of sexual and gender-based violence welcomed the signing into law of the Mental Health (Amendment) Act, 2022 by H.E. President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya. This comes after the Kenyan Senate unanimously passed the Mental Health Amendment Bill on June 21, 2022. […]

In response to reports that the United States Supreme Court has prepared an initial majority draft decision which would overturn abortion rights, the following statement is attributable to Payal Shah, J.D., director of PHR’s Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones:  “If confirmed, the Supreme Court’s move to overturn Roe v. Wade would represent one […]

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 […]

For professionals who work in sexual violence research and monitoring and evaluation (M&E), engaging with survivors of sexual violence can be a powerful tool for combatting impunity and securing justice. But it can be a double-edged sword, particularly if done in a manner that puts survivors at risk of being re-traumatized. Physicians for Human Rights’ […]

NAIROBI — A group of survivors of 2007-2008 election-related sexual violence in Kenya and civil society organizations today filed a partial appeal at the Court of Appeal at Nairobi, asserting that a High Court decision delivered on December 10, 2020 failed to recognize the Government of Kenya’s responsibility to survivors previously denied redress for the state’s failure to […]

Justin Nyatete Nyakundi is a senior investigations officer working with Kenya’s Independent Policing Oversight Authority based at the Nakuru Regional Office, where he conducts investigations into crimes committed by members of the National Police Service. He is retired from Kenya’s National Police Service, where he served for 14 years as a police officer and worked […]

Polycarp Kweyu Lutta serves as a gazetted government forensic analyst at the Government Forensic Crime Laboratory in Kenya. He works with forensic investigations requiring DNA and serological analyses of samples as part of technical support to national investigative agencies, including the National Police Service and Directorate of Criminal Investigation Organization as well as human rights […]

NOTE: The photographs included in this report were taken during the course of a research project for a PHR report entitled “’If I went back, I would not survive.’ Asylum Seekers Fleeing Violence in Mexico and Central America,” which was based on medical evaluations conducted by some of the same researchers who wrote this report. […]

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) welcomes the International Criminal Court (ICC) Appeals Chamber decision to uphold the conviction of Bosco Ntaganda for 18 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) between 2002 and 2003. Significantly, the Appeals Chamber also confirmed Ntaganda’s 30-year sentence, rejecting every […]

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) welcomes the Iraqi Parliament’s adoption of the Yazidi Women Survivors’ Law and considers it a significant step towards recognition of the crimes committed by ISIS and the establishment of reparation programs for those who were subjected to sexual violence and slavery by ISIS. The law, passed on March 1, 2021, […]

NAIROBI — In a landmark judgement, the High Court in Nairobi today ruled in favor of four survivors of post-election sexual violence in Kenya. In Constitutional Petition No. 122 of 2013, the Court found that the Government of Kenya was responsible for a “failure to conduct independent and effective investigations and prosecutions of SGBV [sexual […]

Originally published on Citizen Digital On December 10, the High Court in Nairobi is scheduled to finally deliver a decision on Petition 122 of 2013, which seeks to secure justice for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence during the 2007/2008 post-election violence. This is a dramatic development in a case that has languished in the […]

Originally published by Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI). Also available in French and Spanish. Researchers often grapple with a major challenge when researching sexual violence or evaluating programs focused on sexual violence—how to collect information without retraumatizing survivors. Gathering accurate data from survivors of sexual violence is essential to document or develop programs for their […]

A new report from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) documents widespread sexual violence committed by the Tatmadaw, the armed forces of Myanmar, and Myanmar security forces against the Rohingya during a massive campaign of violence in August 2017 that drove more than 720,000 Rohingya into neighboring Bangladesh. Doctors, nurses, mental health experts, and other health […]

Executive Summary In August 2017, the armed forces of Myanmar (Tatmadaw) unleashed a campaign of widespread and systematic attacks on the country’s Rohingya communities, escalating previous episodes of violent human rights abuses committed against the Rohingya population. The United Nations (UN) and multiple human rights groups documented that Myanmar security forces committed rape, gang rape, […]

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has a long, documented, and disturbing track record of medical neglect, human rights violations, and deaths in detention. For years, ICE has systemically failed to provide proper medical care and oversight in detention facilities. If confirmed, the allegations of involuntary hysterectomies at Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia represent […]

Two years ago, the government of Myanmar unleashed a scorched-earth campaign against the Rohingya Muslims. Impunity prevails for these atrocities, which are only the most recent in the long story of the Rohingya’s persecution in Myanmar. When will the Rohingya see justice done?

Read English version here. En tant que partenaire de longue date du Dr Denis Mukwege, chirurgien congolais renommé, co-lauréat du prix Nobel de la paix 2018,  fondateur et directeur médical de l’hôpital de Panzi, dans la province du Sud-Kivu en République démocratique du Congo (RDC), Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) appelle de toute urgence à […]

Read French version here. As a longstanding partner of Dr. Denis Mukwege – the renowned Congolese surgeon, 2018 Nobel Prize for Peace co-laureate, and Founder and Medical Director of Panzi Hospital, South Kivu of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is urgently appealing for immediate action to protect […]

Lire en francais. For many years, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been combatting gender-based violence and particularly sexual violence related to the armed conflicts that have afflicted the country for more than two decades. While political forces and members of civil society have together made strides on this issue in recent years, the […]