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PHR's work in the US addresses the involvement of US military and government personnel and of health professionals in the torture of detainees.

The doctor members of PHR's Asylum Network offer pro bono evaluations in support of the claims of people seeking asylum in the US, of torture and abuse in their home countries.

Human Rights Experts Urge US Not to Drop Sanctions (April 26, 2012)

The Irawaddy reports on PHR's participation in a letter to Barack Obama. Human rights organizations urge US to rethink easing sanctions on Burma.

Rights Groups Question Easing of US Sanctions on Burma (April 15, 2012)

PHR and other notable human rights groups sent a letter to President Obama questioning his decision to ease sanctions on Burma.

Fighting for the Forgotten (April 14, 2012)

As director of PHR's anti-torture program and as an attorney for Guantanamo Bay detainees, Kristine Huskey has been fighting for basic human rights and social justice since a few months after 9/11, when she took on her first clients. In a Yin Radio interview, Huskey talks about her work and how she manages to stay with it amid the worst of what human beings are capable of.

Columbia University Libraries Acquires The Physicians for Human Rights Archives (April 3, 2012)

Columbia University Libraries' Center for Human Rights Documentation & Research announced the acquisition of PHRs' Archives, a collection consisting of records, photographs, video, audio, case files of investigative data, and much more.

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ICE Struggles to Provide Humane Treatment to Transgender Detainees (May 21, 2012)

Despite the failure of the US to ensure equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens, LGBT people around the world still see it as a place where they can live their lives freely and openly, without fear of imprisonment or torture.

House Republicans Set the Wrong Priorities for Immigration Detention (May 9, 2012)

The House Appropriations Committee reverses sensible changes in immigration detention policy in the Obama Administration's budget and allocates over half of ICE's budget for detention and removal.

Death on the Border: Questions Raised About Border Patrol Oversight (April 25, 2012)

As onlookers watched from a nearby overpass, a dozen officers from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) beat and tasered Antastacio Hernandez Rojas until he had a heart attack.

Arizona v. United States: A Simple Supreme Court Case with Major Ramifications (April 24, 2012)

What would the US look like if each of the 50 states decided who they wanted to let in their borders? Or if state legislatures, motivated by racism and backed by profit-driven prison corporations, could enact laws that made living conditions for immigrants within their borders so onerous that immigrants fled in droves?

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PHR Applauds Administration Submission of UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to Senate (May 2012)

The Obama administration's decision to submit the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) to the US Senate for ratification was applauded by PHR today. Although the US signed the convention in 2009, Senate ratification is required for the US to become fully bound by the Convention

PHR Applauds Creation of Interagency Atrocities Prevention Board (April 2012)

President Obama today created a new interagency panel which can play a crucial role in preventing global mass atrocities. The Atrocities Prevention Board (ATB) will combat genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and ethnic cleansing.

Crucial Senate Hearing on Indefinite Detention Includes PHR Testimony by Dr. Scott Allen (March 2012)

PHR's testimony by Dr. Scott Allen based on important findings from the groundbreaking report, “Punishment Before Justice: Indefinite Detention in the US,” was submitted by Senator Dianne Feinstein at a crucial Senate hearing on indefinite detention.

PHR Applauds New Government Guidance on Sexual Orientation Asylum Claims (January 2012)

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) welcomes the release of a new training course for Asylum Officers charged with hearing claims from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex asylum applicants. Given the increasing volume of people who seek asylum in the US after facing persecution and torture in their home countries because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, this new training course is a sorely-needed resource for government officials who hold the fates of LGBTI asylum applicants in their hands.

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Featured Report

US doctors 'hid signs of torture' at Guantánamo

US government doctors who cared for the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay deliberately concealed or ignored evidence that their patients were being tortured, the first official study of its kind has found. Read More »

Featured Expert

Allen Keller, MD

Allen Keller, MD

Co-author of PHR’s ground-breaking report, Broken Laws, Broken Lives, Allen is internationally recognized as an expert in treatment and evaluation of torture. He is the Director of the NYU Center for Health and Human Rights. Read More »