PHR Library

June 17, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Pentagon's New Medical Guidelines for Detainees May Exacerbate the Problems They Are Designed to Solve

PHR Letter to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Winkenwerder

Physicans for Human Rights is concerned that the Pentagon's new medical guidelines for the treatment of detainess significantly deviate from internationally accepted standards. In a letter to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs William Winkenwerder, PHR Executive Director Leonard Rubenstein said that the new procedures "may exacerbate the very problems they are designed to solve, possibly harming detainees and violating the rights guaranteed them under international treaties and domestic criminal law." 

Related Links

Read Memo from Assistant Secretary Winkenwerder outlining Department of Defense policy [pdf format]

Read the PHR report on the use of psychological torture by US forces: "Break Them Down: The Systematic Use of Psychological Torture by US Forces" [pdf format]

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) mobilizes the health professions to advance the health and dignity of all people by protecting human rights. As a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, PHR shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.