Physicians for Human Rights–Israel

Description

Physicians for Human Rights, Israel, is a non-governmental, non-profit human rights organization based in Jaffa. It was founded in 1988, at the start of the first intifada. Its medical and welfare teams, volunteers and non-medical staff work for a society where the right to health applies equally to everyone under Israel’s responsibility.

The organization combines medical work with action against human rights violations. It works in hospitals, at checkpoints, in prisons and in workplaces. It acts on behalf of citizens, people with no civil status, Palestinians, migrants and refugees. Its departments cover health rights in Israel, the rights of prisoners and detainees, and the right to health for Palestinians in the occupied territories.

Its mobile clinic has worked in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since the first intifada. Medical, nursing and pharmacy teams travel with interpreters and students to treat hundreds of people each week, plus several missions a year to Gaza. Its Open Clinic in Jaffa treats people with no civil status, including migrant workers, asylum seekers and stateless Palestinians, offering direct care and help reaching health and welfare services.

An ethics committee weighs human rights dilemmas that arise from the organization’s work, drawing on inquiries from medical staff and the public. The organization opposes the occupation, viewing it as a cause of human rights violations. It publishes reports and position papers and cooperates with other human rights organizations in Israel and abroad.