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For Immediate Release

Kristine Huskey Joins PHR as Director of Anti-Torture Program

Media Contact

Megan Prock

Senior Press Officer
Tel: 617-301-4237
Cell: 617-510-3417

07/18/2011

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today announced that Kristine Huskey has joined the organization as Director of the Anti-Torture Program. In this role, Huskey will be responsible for leading PHR’s investigations and reporting on the devastating consequences of torture on individuals, institutions, and society. Huskey will be based in PHR’s Washington, D.C. office.

To this position, Huskey brings more than 10 years of experience in torture, human rights and national security. In 2004, Huskey was one of the first attorneys to represent Guantánamo detainees in the seminal case, Rasul v. Bush, and in 1999 she litigated and won a political asylum claim on behalf of a Tibetan man who had been persecuted by China.

Prior to joining PHR, Huskey was an attorney and a consultant in matters of national security and international human rights and humanitarian law. Over the last nine years, she represented several Guantánamo detainees pro bono and most recently, served as a law professor and the Director of the National Security Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law. While at the University of Texas, Huskey taught national security law and international human rights and humanitarian law and supervised students on casework including Guantánamo, military commissions, torture and illegal rendition.

“Kristine’s intimate familiarity with the legal issues surrounding international and domestic torture will make her a valuable addition to the PHR team as we continue to advocate for accountability,” said Hans Hogrefe, Chief Policy Officer and Director of PHR’s Washington D.C. office.

Huskey also brings extensive experience in advocacy of national security and human rights. She has worked with domestic and international officials, such as UN special working groups and rapporteurs, regarding torture and detention in armed conflict. 

“I have known about PHR and admired its work for some time. I am thrilled to be joining the team and to help PHR investigate and document the devastating consequences of torture nationally and internationally,” said Huskey.

Huskey received her JD from The University of Texas School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Columbia University.  

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is an independent organization that uses medicine and science to stop mass atrocities and severe human rights violations against individuals. We are supported by the expertise and passion of health professionals and concerned citizens alike.

Since 1986, PHR has conducted investigations in more than 40 countries around the world, including Afghanistan, Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, the United States, the former Yugoslavia, and Zimbabwe.

  • 1988 — First to document Iraq’s use of chemical weapons against Kurds
  • 1996 — Exhumed mass graves in the Balkans
  • 1996 — Produced critical forensic evidence of genocide in Rwanda
  • 1997 — Shared the Nobel Peace Prize for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines
  • 2003 — Warned of health and human rights catastrophe prior to the invasion of Iraq
  • 2004 — Documented and analyzed the genocide in Darfur
  • 2005 — Detailed the story of tortured detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo Bay
  • 2010 — Showed how CIA medical personnel sought to improve waterboarding and
                  other interrogation techniques that amount to torture
  • 2011 — Championed the principle of noninterference with medical services
                  in times of armed conflict and civil unrest during the Arab Spring

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