Right to Health Toolkit
IFHHRO is developing an easy-to-use assessment instrument for health workers, the Right to Health Toolkit.
Training materials
IFHHRO’s online Human Rights for Health Workers training manual: training sessions in four languages
Steps for Change
How to use human rights to address problems in your own healthcare institution
News
Israel: Hamas attack on Kibbutz Re’im
A recently released position paper by Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) sheds light on a series of targeted attacks on medical personnel and facilities during the October 7 raid near Kibbutz Re’im. Several physicians, nurses, and paramedics were killed or seriously wounded while they were attending injured victims. The incidents suggest a deliberate effort to harm emergency medical personnel and infrastructure by Hamas. PHRI calls for local and international bodies to investigate these reported incidents as potential war crimes.
Download the position paper (PDF, English)
Find the report in Hebrew and Arabic here
Israel-Gaza war: protect healthcare in Gaza Strip
IFHHRO is one of the signatories of a statement published today by Physicians for Human Rights Israel. In this statement, we urgently call for an immediate ceasefire and the immediate release of all hostages held in Gaza. Meanwhile, healthcare and rescue workers, patients and medical facilities must receive protection and assistance in their mission to save lives.
Health and humanitarian organizations have witnessed a severe crisis in Gaza:
- Over 11,000 Palestinians, including 4,500 children, have been killed by Israel’s aerial attacks. An additional 2,000 people are reported missing, with roughly 1,500 of them being children. The conflict has also led to the internal displacement of 1.5 million individuals.
- At least 62 medical facilities, including 22 hospitals, have been damaged. Another 24 hospitals were forcibly evacuated due to the ongoing conflict.
- Gaza’s health system faces overwhelming challenges. Since October 7th, over 24,000 people have been wounded, and medical professionals are displaced. Hospitals suffer from critical shortages of anesthesia, antibiotics, and painkillers.
- The blackout enforced by Israel has caused one-third of Gaza’s hospitals and two-thirds of primary health clinics to shut down due to fuel shortages. As a result, critical patients, including premature babies in incubators, are unable to receive necessary treatment.
- Even though evacuation calls violate international law and medical ethics, Israel has ordered 24 hospitals in Northern Gaza to evacuate, affecting over 2,000 inpatients.
Read the full statement: Health and Humanitarian Organizations Call for a Ceasefire
2022 Update Istanbul Protocol published
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has published the 2022 edition of the Istanbul Protocol: Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment with contributions from more than 180 anti-torture experts from 51 countries.
Since the first edition of the Istanbul Protocol in 1999, in which IFHHRO was one of the participating organizations, the protocol has become the international standard of investigating and documenting torture.
Many thousands of training and implementation sessions have been held worldwide since 1999, which have also been sources of new knowledge and lessons learned.
IFHHRO’s Maartje Goudswaard and Adriaan van Es were members of the international revision team, and, with our international colleagues, we are proud and happy to publish the new revised 2022 edition of the Istanbul Protocol.
On 29 June 2022, The Lancet published the comment Istanbul Protocol 2022 empowers health professionals to end torture.