Links - Organisations & Portals

• Action Group for Health, Human Rights and HIV/AIDS (AGHA), Uganda   [ IFHHRO Member ]
  The Action Group for Health, Human Rights and HIV/AIDS (AGHA) is a Ugandan NGO founded in July 2003 to mobilize health professionals and health consumers to address issues of human rights as they relate to health, with a specific focus on HIV/AIDS. AGHA brings together doctors, nurses and other professionals with NGOs interested in promoting human rights in the health sector to create local and national networks dedicated to health advocacy.

• Amnesty International Health Professionals Network   [ IFHHRO Observer ]
  This site presents information on Amnesty International's work on health and human rights as well as access to resources and to other relevant websites.

• British Medical Association (BMA)   [ IFHHRO Observer ]
  The British Medical Association is a professional organisation of doctors in the UK. The BMA produces reports, codes of practice and discussion documents on ethical and human rights issues.

• CEHAT (Center for Enquiry Into Health and Allied Themes), India   [ IFHHRO Member ]
  CEHAT, Hindi for 'health', is involved in research, action, service and advocacy on health and related themes. The organisation is a member of IFHHRO and serves as its the Asian Regional Focal Point.

• Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR)
  The Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) was established in 1993 to promote the universal right of every human being to housing, education, health and a healthy environment, food, work, and an adequate standard of living. CESR positions these rights as enforceable human rights, which can be used to mobilise communities, organisations and activists in demanding accountability and policy change from state and non-state actors.

• Commonwealth Medical Trust (Commat)   [ IFHHRO Member ]
  Commat is a UK-based organisation, which aims to promote health, prevent disease and disability and advance human rights and medical ethics, particularly for poor and marginalized groups in developing countries. Commat acknowledges the role that should be played by health professionals and their associations in carrying out its programme, especially in Commonwealth countries.

• Doctors for Global Health (DGH), USA
  Doctors for Global Health is a development organisation with an explicit policy to deal with human rights violations in the communities it serves.

• Doctors for Human Rights (DHG), UK   [ IFHHRO Member ]
  Doctors for Human Rights is a health and human rights organisation in the UK with a global sphere of activity. It aims to channel the influence and skills of the medical profession into securing worldwide observance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other internationally recognised human rights standards.

• Educacion en Derechos Humanos con Applicacion en Salud (Edhucasalud), Peru   [ IFHHRO Member ]
  Edhucasalud is a Peruvian IFHHRO member, which also serves as the Regional Focal Point for Latin America. The NGO is run by a group of volunteer medical students and health professionals interested in health and human rights issues.

• European Observatory on Access to Health Care
  The European Observatory is a networking project of Medecins du Monde International (Doctors of the World). Among others, it published a survey in 2009, based on 1,218 interviews in 11 European countries on the living conditions, state of health and access to health care of undocumented migrants.

• ESCR-Net (International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights)
  ESCR-Net is a network aimed at strengthening economic, social and cultural rights. It works with organisations and activists worldwide to facilitate mutual learning and strategy sharing, develop new tools and resources, engage in advocacy, and provide information-sharing and networking. The network Secretariat facilitates an online discussion group on the human right to health.

• François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, USA
  The François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights is the first academic centre to focus exclusively on health and human rights. Among other activities, the Center conducts research, offers education and publishes the international journal Health and Human Rights.

• Global Initiative on Psychiatry (GIP)
  The mission of the Global Initiative on Psychiatry is to promote humane, ethical, and effective mental health care throughout the world and to support a global network of individuals and organisations to develop, advocate for, and carry out the necessary reforms.

• Global Initiative on Psychiatry (GIP) - Tbilisi
  GIP-Tbilisi assists governments, international agencies, NGOs and other development institutions in the Caucasus and Central Asia to improve mental health care, with the following emphasis:
  Improving care for people with mental health problems and illnesses.
  Addressing the need for attention to people dealing with mental disability and social disability, including behavioral disorders.
  Fighting stigma and building opportunities for reintegration and inclusion.

• Global Lawyers and Physicians for Human Rights (GLP), USA
  Global Lawyers and Physicians is a non-profit organisation that focuses on health and human rights issues. It was formed in 1996 to reinvigorate the collaboration of the legal and medical/public health professions to protect the human rights and dignity of all persons.

• Health and Human Rights Info - Thematic pages (HHRI)
  This health and human rights portal aims at making professional experiences and resources more easily accessible to health professionals working with people exposed to human rights abuses, armed conflict, forced migration and other human rights violations.

• Healthrights, Armenia
  HealthRights.am is developed by Antidrugs Civil Union NGO, a non-profit organization committed to advancing the health, basic rights, social equality, and self-determination of disadvantaged persons and groups, especially, injecting drug users. We believe that health for all people is only possible in a global society where the guiding principles are sharing, mutual assistance, and respect for cultural and individual differences.

• Human Right to Health Program, USA
  The Human Right to Health Program, an initiative of NESRI (National Economic & Social Rights Initiative) and NHeLP (National Health Law Program) works with health advocates to develop a human rights approach to protecting health and ensuring access to adequate health care for all people in the United States. The Program currently focuses on advancing a human rights approach for reforming the systems for financing and delivering health care. 

• Human Rights Impact Resource Centre (HRIRC)
  The Human Rights Impact Resource Centre provides centralised access to a broad range of information and expertise on human rights impact assessment. The Centre is an initiative of Aim for Human Rights.

• Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU), Kenya   [ IFHHRO Member ]
  IMLU was founded in 1995 as a project to provided medical attention to victims of tribal clashes in Kenya. Now, the organisation seeks to promote the rights of torture victims and protect Kenyans from all forms of state-perpetrated torture by advocating for legal and policy reforms, monitoring government adherence to human rights, rehabilitating victims of torture, and building the capacity of key stakeholders.

• International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)   
  The ICRC is an independent, neutral organisation ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of war and armed violence. It has a permanent mandate under international law to take impartial action for prisoners, the wounded and sick, and civilians affected by conflict. The ICRC is at the origin of both the International Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement and of international humanitarian law, notably the Geneva Conventions.

• International Council of Nurses (ICN)   [ IFHHRO Observer ]
  The International Council of Nurses is a federation of national nurses’ associations, representing nurses in more than 128 countries. ICN works to ensure quality nursing care, sound health policies, the advancement of nursing knowledge, and the presence worldwide of a respected nursing profession and a competent and satisfied nursing workforce. One of its activities is to issue position statements on various nursing-related issues, including human rights infringements.

• International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA)   [ IFHHRO Observer ]
  IFMSA currently comprises National Member Organisations from 88 countries and represents more than 1 million medical students worldwide. It is run for and by medical students on a non-profit basis. IFMSA offers a forum for medical students throughout the world to discuss topics related to health, education and medicine, and to promote humanitarian ideals and medical ethics amongst medical students.

• International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT)   [ IFHHRO Observer ]
  The IRCT is an international organisation of health professionals that promotes and supports the rehabilitation of torture victims and works for the prevention of torture worldwide.

• International Society for Health and Human Rights (ISHHR)
  ISHHR is a membership organisation for health workers engaged in work with survivors of human rights violations. Its aim is to contribute to the promotion and improvement of aid to persons who have experienced gross violations of human rights, and to contribute to the world-wide eradication of gross violations of human rights.

• Ipas, USA   [ IFHHRO Observer ]
  Ipas is an international non-profit organization that works around the world to increase women's ability to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights, and to reduce abortion-related deaths and injuries. Headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina (USA), Ipas has local and regional offices in 11 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

• Johannes Wier Foundation, The Netherlands   [ IFHHRO Member ] 
  The Johannes Wier Foundation is one of the founding members of IFHHRO. It is a Dutch health and human rights organisation which focuses on human rights education, the right to health, health care for undocumented people, dealing with hunger strikes, and medical-ethical dilemma’s for medical staff involved in humanitarian aid abroad.

• Learning Network for Health and Human Rights, South Africa
  The Learning Network for Health and Human Rights draws together six civil society groups (The Women's Circle, Ikamva Labantu, Epilepsy South Africa, The Women on Farms Project, Ihkaya Labantu, and the Cape Metro Health Forums) and four higher education institutions (Universities of Cape Town, Western Cape, Maastricht and Warwick), collaborating to explore how collective action and reflection can identify best practice with regard to using human rights to advance health. 

• Medact
  Medact is a UK-based charity taking action on global health issues. such as the war on Iraq, collapsing health systems in Africa, and global climate change. It undertakes education, research and advocacy on the health implications of conflict, development and environmental change, with a special focus on the developing world. Medact is actively involved in the Global Health Watch movement.

• Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, UK
  The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture provides care and rehabilitation to survivors of torture and other forms of organised violence in the United Kingdom and plays an active role in the documentation of torture by taking testimonies and forensically documenting injuries.

• Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
  Médecins Sans Frontières is an international humanitarian aid organisation that provides emergency medical assistance to populations in danger. It is part of MSF's work to address any violations of basic human rights encountered by field teams. It does so by confronting the responsible actors themselves, by putting pressure on them through mobilisation of the international community and by issuing information publicly. 

• Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI)
  Mental Disability Rights International is an advocacy organisation dedicated to promoting the international recognition and enforcement of the rights of people with mental disabilities. MDRI documents human rights abuses, supports the development of mental disability advocacy abroad, and assists advocates seeking legal and service system reforms.

• Michael Kirby Centre for Public Health and Human Rights
  The Michael Kirby Centre for Public Health and Human Rights is a collaboration of interdisciplinary scholars in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University, Australia. The Kirby Centre was created to consolidate and strengthen the existing capacities, developed over 20 years in the study of public health and human rights within the School.

• People's Health Movement (PHM)
  The People's Health Movement is a global movement of organisations concerned by the growing inequities in health over the last 25 years. The PHM calls for a revitalisation of the principles of the Alma-Ata Declaration which promised Health for All by the year 2000 and complete revision of international and domestic policy that has shown to impact negatively on health status and systems. One of PHM’s campaigns is a global Right to Health and Health Care Campaign which involves coordinated national and international level action.

• Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), USA   [ IFHHRO Member ]
  PHR USA is the leading organisation in the US on health and human rights. It is one of the founding members of IFHHRO. Established in 1986,
  Physicians for Human Rights mobilizes health professionals to advance health, dignity, and justice and promotes the right to health for all. PHR runs campaigns, conducts research and has an international forensic programme, which provides evidence of human rights violations, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

• Physicians for Human Rights-Israel   [ IFHHRO Member ]
  Physicians for Human Rights-Israel was founded in 1988 with the goal of struggling for human rights, in particular the right to health, in Israel and the Occupied Territories. The organisation uses advocacy and action to change harmful policies and provides health care to vulnerable groups in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

• Preventing Torture (IRCT)
  On this website managed by IRCT information and guidance can be found on the investigation and documentation of torture as a means to combat impunity, ensure reparation for survivors and prevent torture.

• Program on International Health and Human Rights (PIHHR), USA   [ IFHHRO Member ]
  The Program on International Health and Human Rights of the Harvard School of Public Health promotes practical and effective responses to global public health challenges through the application of human rights. This is done through a combination of research, capacity building, policy development and health programming in a variety of areas focusing on HIV/AIDS, reproductive and sexual health, and child and adolescent health.

• Realizing Rights - The Ethical Globalization Initiative
  Realizing Rights was founded in October 2002 by Mary Robinson, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002). It facilitates dialogues and relationships between decision makers and key stakeholders, particularly those most marginalized, to arrive at more transparent, ethical and responsible policies and joint actions to achieve change. One of its five critical global challenges to address is the realization of the right to health.

• Save Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo   [ IFHHRO Member ]
  Since its founding in 2000 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Save Congo has provided legal assistance, financial assistance, accessible, preventative and curative health services to individuals and communities affected by violence, torture, social injustice and poverty.

• Turkish Medical Association (TTB)   [ IFHHRO Observer ]
  The Turkish Medical Association is a professional organisation of doctors in Turkey. Some of its activities are to ensure that qualified, cost-effective health care is accessible to everyone in Turkey and to fight against all kinds of human rights violations and torture in the country.

• University of Aberdeen School of Law - Health and Human Rights research
  The School of Law of the University of Aberdeen offers an Honours Course on health and human rights. It is also involved in two research projects, one entitled ‘The Right to Health in the Middle East’ and the other ‘Taking a human rights approach to health care privatisation’.

• University of Cape Town Health and Human Rights Programme, South Africa
  The Health and Human Rights Programme of the University of Cape Town is a division of the School of Public Health and Family Medicine. The programme focuses on human rights teaching, research and advocacy on health and human rights in South African and beyond. The website offers an extensive list of links.

• University of Essex Human Rights Center - Right to Health Unit, United Kingdom 
  The Right to Health Unit  supports the work of Professor Paul Hunt, who was appointed to the post of United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health in 2002. The website provides information on the work of the Special Rapporteur, as well as of other staff at the Right to Health Unit.

• UNSW Initiative for Health and Human Rights (IHHR), Australia   [ IFHHRO Member ]
  The University of New South Wales Initiative for Health and Human Rights, an IFHHRO member in Australia, is a multidisciplinary research, teaching, service and advocacy initiative. The IHHR advances health and human rights as both an area of study and a new, composite method of research. The results will be used to strengthen the capacity of governmental, non-governmental and academic institutions to apply health and human rights principles to policy, programmes and practice, build the evidence of the interactions between health and human rights, support teaching and orient further research.

• WHO Health and Human Rights 
  This website offers access to WHO pages on health and human rights, a cross-cutting issue in WHO. The main objectives of the health and human rights team are to strengthen WHO's capacity to integrate a human rights-based approach in its work, to support governments to integrate a human rights-based approach in health development, and to advance the right to health in international law and international development processes.

• World Medical Association (WMA)   [ IFHHRO Observer ]
  The World Medical Association is an international organisation representing physicians. It was created in 1947 to ensure the independence of physicians, and to work for the highest possible standards of ethical behaviour and care by physicians. The WMA provides ethical guidance to physicians, their National Medical Associations, governments and international organisations. The declarations, resolutions and statements cover a wide range of subjects, including an International Code of Medical Ethics, the rights of patients, research on human subjects, torture of prisoners, drug use, etc.