Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a US-based not-for-profit human rights NGO that uses medicine and science to document and advocate against mass atrocities and severe human rights violations around the world. PHR headquarters are in New York City, with offices in Boston, Washington, D.C., as well as Nairobi. It was established in 1986 to use the unique skills and credibility of health professionals to advocate for persecuted health workers, prevent torture, document mass atrocities, and hold those who violate human rights accountable.
History
In 1981, Dr. Jonathan Fine, a primary care physician in Boston, was asked to fly to Chile on short notice and lead a delegation seeking the release of three prominent physicians by General Augusto Pinochet's regime. The three Chilean doctors were released five weeks after Fine's visit.
In 1986, recognizing the impact physicians could have in the human rights field, Fine co-founded Physicians for Human Rights with Dr. Jane Green Schaller, Dr. Robert Lawrence, Dr. Jack Geiger, and Dr. Carola Eisenberg.
Since the organization's founding, PHR teams have exposed the use of chemical weapons against civilians in Iraq, exhumed mass graves in Bosnia and Rwanda for international tribunals, and provided evidence for criminal investigations into torture and extrajudicial executions in countries such as Colombia, Honduras, Libya, Mexico, Peru, and Sierra Leone. In 1997, the organization shared the Nobel Peace Prize for medically documenting landmine injuries and serving as a leader in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
PHR has also been at the forefront in developing standards for human rights abuse documentation: staff member Dr. Vincent Iacopino played a lead role in developing the Istanbul Protocol, the recognized international standard for documenting torture and ill treatment. Likewise, the Director of the International Forensics Program was involved in the revision process of the Minnesota Protocol, the international guidance on the investigation of potentially unlawful death. Governments, United Nations agencies, international and national courts, and other human rights organizations have all sought PHR's forensic and research expertise. The organization's work has contributed to landmark decisions such as the 2016 conviction of Radovan Karadžić.
Programs
International Forensics Program
Health professionals in PHR's International Forensics Program (IFP) use forensic investigations such as autopsies and medical and psychological evaluations, to determine the nature of abuse that victims have endured. These evaluations can then contribute to evidence for prosecutions or be used to bring attention to crimes. The IFP has performed forensic investigations for bodies such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
Experts in the IFP range from forensic pathologists to forensic anthropologists, as well as analytical scientists such as firearm examiners. They perform forensic investigations, evaluations, monitoring, or review of other parties' forensic work.
Forensic Training Institute
PHR launched the Forensic Training Institute (FTI) to strengthen local capacities for forensic investigations and documentation. The institute seeks to strengthen the ability of medical personnel to document torture, mass atrocities, sexual violence, and the persecution of health care workers. It also trains legal and law enforcement professionals who seek redress via local, national, and international justice mechanisms.
PHR's FTI program has partners in Afghanistan, Burma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Syria, Tajikistan, and the United States. The program has specifically helped clinicians strengthen their interviewing techniques, physical examinations, evidence collection, crime scene documentation, forensic photography, and grave exhumation.
Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones
PHR's Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones was launched in 2011. The program strengthens cross-sectoral responses to sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya through training workshops for health care, law enforcement, and legal professionals. While PHR itself has engaged in many forensic investigations and advocacy efforts around rape in armed conflict, the Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones builds local capacities for the collection of court-admissible evidence to support prosecutions for sexual violence crimes.