Military actors in Tigray, Ethiopia have perpetrated brutal and widespread acts of conflict-related sexual violence, even after following the signing of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement.

Trapped in a system marked by mistreatment and abuse, medical neglect, and the denial of due process, hundreds of people in U.S. immigration detention engage in hunger strikes as a means of protest each year.

COVID-19 has taken a terrible toll on people in immigration detention. There have been devastating outbreaks in detention centers across the country, driven by authorities’ disregard for public health guidance and the human rights of detainees. A January report co-authored by our organization, Physicians for Human Rights, exposed widespread violations of basic protective protocols, with […]

With the indefinite postponement of U.S. immigration hearings due to COVID-19, asylum seekers face ever-lengthening periods of stay in Mexico, where many have experienced violence, trauma, and human rights abuses.

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, […]

Originally published on Medscape, on September 24, 2020 I am a family physician. If I withheld critical information from my patients, I would be sued for malpractice and stripped of my medical license. But that’s what the president did. He withheld information critical to the nation’s health. To me, that’s leadership malpractice. Revelations, including audio […]

Originally posted on The Medical Care Blog The U.S. government is reportedly harming people held in immigration detention centers with its excessive use of a common disinfectant. According to reports by immigrant advocacy groups, HDQ Neutral disinfectant is being sprayed dozens of times per day in enclosed environments. This is resulting in concerning health symptoms among […]

Originally published by Bloomberg Opinion The federal government’s response to Covid-19 has been haphazard, mismanaged and ultimately deadly. Yet the Trump administration is trumpeting the country’s “success” against the pandemic, with the vice president recently declaring that the U.S. response to Covid-19 is “cause for celebration.” As doctors, we are not celebrating. With more than […]

This post originally appeared in USA Today. American rapper and actor T.I. bragging on a podcast about subjecting his daughter to annual OB-GYN visits to determine whether her hymen is “still intact” has sparked widespread and deserved backlash. But as physicians, we know that T.I.’s outrageous actions are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to […]

When I was a second-year family medicine resident at Georgetown University an encounter with a young man from Rwanda changed my professional life forever.

For such a small piece of tissue, the hymen has gained outsized status as the arbiter of virginity. But can it really do that?

On the eve of the second anniversary of the August 2017 campaign of extreme violence by Myanmar security forces against Rohingya civilians in northern Rakhine state, the experiences of “Chesa” and Chit” (not their real names) recall the brutality of that campaign. “Chesa,” a 60-year-old Rohingya woman, and “Chit,” her 20-year-old daughter, were interviewed by […]

“And this is precisely why so many sexual abuse survivors remain silent,” we thought, as we watched the Senate Judiciary Committee tear into Dr. Christine Blasey Ford as she tried to explain why some details of the sexual assault she suffered were fuzzy while others were vividly etched into her brain. As the hearings following […]

This blog post is part of PHR’s Tech & Human Rights Blog Series. The series is meant to highlight the intersection between technology and human rights, and examine the increasing role that technology can play in advancing human rights around the world. The idea was intriguing – perhaps even a no-brainer: create a mobile application […]