“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 […]

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.

Executive Summary The United States maintains the world’s largest immigration detention system, detaining tens of thousands of people in a network of facilities, including those managed by private prison corporations, county jails, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). At the time of […]

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 June, world-leading anti-torture experts launched the Istanbul Protocol 2022, the updated United Nations-backed guidelines for effective investigation and documentation of torture to help health professionals, lawyers, and other human rights specialists to contribute to accountability for torture in countries and communities around the world. In September 2022, PHR convened experts to reflect on the […]

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) today published the 2022 edition of the Istanbul Protocol: Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment with contributions from more than 180 anti-torture experts from 51 countries. The new edition of the […]

Three to four years after being separated from their children by the U.S. government, deported asylum-seeking parents continue to endure severe psychological trauma.

In response to Syria’s passage of anti-torture legislation on March 30, the following statement is attributable to Houssam al-Nahhas, MD, MPH, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Researcher:   “Physicians for Human Rights would welcome any systemic measures that prevent the torture and ill-treatment of people in Syria, provide meaningful pathways […]

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

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) welcomes the landmark verdict against Syrian colonel Anwar Raslan, who was convicted today of crimes against humanity in a court in Koblenz, Germany, and sentenced to life in prison.   Raslan supervised the systematic and brutal torture of more than 4,000 Syrian prisoners in 2011-2012. His conviction today marks the first […]

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.

This year marks two decades since the deadly terror attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. On this occasion, PHR joins the world to remember the thousands who perished on that day and to honor the many first responders – including medics, physicians, nurses, firefighters, police officers, and so many others – who […]

A group of eminent mental health professionals and organizations today filed a brief of amici curiae at the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of U.S. v Abu Zubaydah. Led by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), the experts assert that the U.S. government cannot use the state secrets privilege to shield the egregious actions of […]

In U.S. v. Abu Zubaydah, the Supreme Court will consider if a detainee can obtain information about their torture while in the custody of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) at a so-called “black site” in Poland, or whether the U.S. government can claim that the “state secrets” privilege completely blocks from view key information about […]

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 […]

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 […]

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?

Psychologist Dr. James Mitchell – architect of the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” program and a key figure in health professionals’ shameful record of participation in torture – is testifying for the first time before a U.S. military court at Guantánamo Bay. His accounting of why and how the United States inflicted torture on detainees offers a […]

Grab your popcorn because the final countdown to the Oscars has begun: on Sunday, February 9, 2020 hundreds of millions of people around the world will tune in to watch the 92nd Academy Awards in Los Angeles, California. The annual culmination of the film awards cycle will hand out the industry’s top honors to nominees […]

Syrian doctor “Youssef” was treating a patient in the hospital when state security forces arrived and arrested him. He is one of countless health workers who provided care to the wounded, only to be arrested, detained, and tortured by the Assad regime. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) conducted an investigation into the purposeful, illegal, and […]

The Syrian government has systematically targeted health professionals for arrest, detention, and torture, according to a new investigation published today by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). “My Only Crime Was That I Was a Doctor” is the first-ever report to document the purposeful, illegal, and brutal strategy by the Syrian government to commit these targeted […]

This study’s findings indicate that the government of Syria has targeted health workers for arbitrary arrest, detention, and torture for the ostensible “crime” of honoring their professional codes of ethics, which require them to provide care to the sick and wounded without discrimination.

Below is an excerpt from a conversation between Vincent Iacopino, MD, PhD, PHR senior medical advisor, and Juan E. Méndez, former UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The discussion was moderated by Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU and PHR board member, in October 2019. In […]