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Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today released an emergency report which documents and decries systematic human rights abuses in Bahrain. For the first time, the report, “Do No Harm: A Call for Bahrain to End Systematic Attacks on Doctors and Patients,” provides forensic evidence of attacks on physicians, medical staff, patients and unarmed civilians with the use of bird shot, physical beatings, rubber bullets, tear gas and unidentified chemical agents. The report was featured on several major news outlets including the Associated Press, AFP, BBC, CNN, the Independent, New York Times, and Washington Post.

The report details systematic and coordinated attacks against medical personnel, as a result of their efforts to provide unbiased care for wounded protestors. These attacks violate the principle of “medical neutrality” and are grave breaches of international law which dictates noninterference with medical services in times of civil unrest. Included in the violations were targeted kidnappings, beatings, and threats of rape and killing by security officials. These attacks extended to the patients of medical personnel created an atmosphere of fear which dissuaded patients from seeking care.

The report concludes with policy recommendations for Bahrain, the Unites States and the international community. Among other calls for action, PHR demands for Bahrain to immediately cease and desist all attacks on medical personnel and facilities. PHR also calls on the Obama Administration to lead an international effort to appoint a Special Rapporteur on Violations of Medical Neutrality through the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The Obama Administration has initiated a comprehensive review of US landmines policy to decide whether or not the US will join the Mine Ban Treaty. President Obama needs to hear from you about how harmful landmines are to the health and human rights of people worldwide.

Email President Obama today and tell him to join the Mine Ban Treaty.

PHR shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for our work to ban landmines. Since then, 156 countries have signed onto the treaty, which bans the use, trade, production and stockpiling of antipersonnel mines.

However, the US has refused to join. President Obama now has the opportunity to partner with every member of NATO—and every country in the Western Hemisphere, save Cuba—in supporting this critical treaty. Tell him to take action today.

Landmines kill thousands of people a year, with millions more affected by the agricultural, economic and psychological impact of the device. While landmines are a weapon of war, most casualties are civilians: indeed, UNICEF estimates that 30-40% of landmine victims are children. And landmines don’t just kill in conflict zones: there are millions of landmines and unexploded ordinances in more than 80 countries worldwide.

These indiscriminate weapons maim and kill, and destroy families and communities. The US has not used landmines since the 1991 Gulf War; it is time for us to promise never to use them again. Tell Obama to join the Mine Ban Treaty today.

68 Senators co-signed a letter to President Obama in May, showing their support for the Mine Ban Treaty. Now Obama needs to hear from you. Email him today, and ask 6 friends to do the same. PHR members have been advocating to ban landmines for more than 15 years. This is our best chance to join the Mine Ban Treaty in years, and we need your support.

Take action today!

Want to do more? We are asking major US health professional associations to sign a letter to the Administration against the use of landmines. If you have any contacts at health professional associations who might be able to help, please email Gina at gcoplon-newfield[at]phrusa[dot]org.

As you read in our previous landmines blog post, the Obama Administration is reviewing current US landmine policy right now, and will soon decide whether or not the US will join the Mine Ban Treaty. Why should the US join? Check out these compelling facts and see why this is a critical health and human rights issue:

Injury and Death:

• The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) estimates that 15,000-20,000 people are maimed or killed by landmines yearly, with millions more affected by the agricultural, economic and psychological impact of the weapon.
• UNICEF estimates that 30-40% of mine victims are children under 15 years old.
• Landmines are responsible for the injury and death of thousands of US and allied troops in all US-fought conflicts since World War II, including dozens in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the 1991 Gulf War, landmines caused 34% of US casualties.
• At the beginning of the 20th century, nearly 80% of landmine victims were military personnel. Today, 90% of landmine victims are civilians.

The Economic and Social Cost:

• The ICBL estimates that there are millions of landmines and other unexploded ordnance in the ground in over 80 countries.
• Landmines cost as little as $3 to produce and up to $1,000 per mine to clear.
• Most kinds of landmines last forever. Mines laid during WWII are still killing and maiming civilians.
• It costs $100 to $3,000 to provide an artificial limb to a landmine survivor. Adults require a prosthesis replacement every two to three years and a child must have a new one every six months to a year.
• Landmines cause environmental damage in the forms of soil degradation, deforestation, and the pollution of water resources with heavy metals. Subsistence farmers are unable to work the land in mined areas.
• Landmines affect all aspects of human life, including the ability of refugees to return home. A report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) published in 1997 stated that 13.2 million refugees, 4.9 million internally displaced people and 3.3 million returnees were at risk from landmines.

The US and Landmines:

• The United States is one of only 39 countries that have not yet joined the Mine Ban Treaty; in the Western Hemisphere, only the U.S and Cuba are non-signatories.
• The US has the third largest mine arsenal in the world—a stockpile of 11 million Anti-Personnel Landmines (APLs)—despite not using landmines since 1991 or producing them since 1997. Enormous amounts of taxpayer money are used to maintain these weapons.
• The United States is one of only 13 countries that refuse to halt production of APLs.
• The Bush Administration’s landmine policy, announced in February 2004, represented a major rollback of US progress on the landmine issue. The policy increased funding for mines, permitted indefinite US use of self-destructing mines, and refused to phase out long-lived mines until 2010. The Obama Administration has yet to revise the Bush policy.

These indiscriminate weapons maim and kill, and destroy families and communities. President Obama is currently reviewing US landmine policy. We need your voice to tell the President to ban mines now! The US has not used landmines since the 1991 Gulf War. It is time for us to promise never to use them again.

Take action today: email Obama and tell him to join the Mine Ban Treaty!

The Obama Administration has initiated a comprehensive review of the US landmines policy to decide whether or not the US will join the Mine Ban Treaty. PHR has re-engaged in this campaign at the request of The US Campaign to Ban Landmines (USCBL) and members of the Administration, and we are hopeful that this will be an opportunity to show the world that the US respects health and human rights.

Over the next few months, we’ll be updating you on the treaty via a new blog series (this is blog #1) and asking for your help to urge President Obama to join the Mine Ban Treaty.

One immediate action item: We are asking the presidents of major US health professional associations to sign a letter to the Administration showing the unity of the medical, public health and nursing community against the use of landmines. If you have any contacts at major health professional associations who might be able to help, please email Gina Coplon-Newfield at gcoplon-newfield[at]phrusa[dot]org as soon as possible.

As you may know, PHR is a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), a grassroots movement that brought the international community together to form the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which bans the use, trade, production, and stockpiling of antipersonnel mines. PHR and the other ICBL founding groups were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work toward achieving the treaty, which 156 countries have signed.

As with many international human rights treaties, the US has refused to sign, arguing that US soldiers are exposed to risk if the country can’t use landmines as a deterrent weapon. The United States’ position sets us apart from most other countries: Indeed, all other member countries of NATO are signatories to the treaty (Poland plans to ratify the treaty in 2012). By refusing to sign, the US joins China, Russia, Cuba, India and Pakistan among the countries that have not committed to stop using landmines. The US has not used landmines since the 1991 Gulf War, yet previous administrations have chosen to keep the weapon available, just in case.

Early in his tenure, it appeared President Obama had made the same decision. In November 2009, a White House spokesman stated that after reviewing the matter, the Obama Administration had decided not to sign the Mine Ban Treaty. The announcement prompted public outcry among human rights groups, and the following day, the White House insisted the issue was still under review. The current review is headed by Samantha Power and Barry Pavel at the National Security Council.

We expect the Obama Administration to make a decision in the next few months, making it critically important that the President hear from health professionals and human rights activists about how harmful landmines are to humanity. We will soon send out an action alert, which will give you the chance to email Obama and urge him to sign onto the Mine Ban Treaty. Please take action, and urge friends and family to do the same.

Congress is joining in the advocacy too. On May 22, Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont sent a letter co-signed by 68 senators (including 10 Republicans) to President Obama, encouraging him to develop a plan to overcome any obstacles to joining the Convention. 68 is a magic number: international treaties must be approved by a 2/3 majority in the Senate, so if Obama decides to sign onto the treaty, 68 Senators would be enough to accede to it (of course, though this letter is a good indication of potential votes, it’s not a guarantee).

PHR members have been advocating to ban landmines for more than 15 years, and we need your help again at this critical juncture. Keep an eye out for more actions alerts and blogs. And spread the word—this is our best chance to join the Mine Ban Treaty in years, and we need your voice!

You are not the only one encouraging your Congressperson to co-sponsor the Global HEALTH Act. Representative Barbara Lee sent a letter to all her Congressional colleagues last week, urging them to support the bill. Check out her letter below. It outlines the four ways that the Global HEALTH Act will assist with the development and implementation of Obama’s landmark Global Health Initiative. The Act will provide strategy, consistency and a greater emphasis on health workforce and health systems — all key to making foreign health policy that supports the right to health.

Her letter includes a list of organizations from across the globe that support the Global HEALTH Act — including PHR. Organizations are continually being added to this list, and we encourage you all to contact your Congressperson and urge them to co-sponsor this bill, which will revolutionize foreign health aid and save lives.

We are just three weeks away from World Health Day (April 7) and the official launch of advocacy for the Global HEALTH Act of 2010. And we have now heard that Representative Barbara Lee will be introducing the bill in the coming days! Now more than ever we need you to be ready on April 7 to email or call your Congressperson urging him or her to co-sponsor this bill.

Since the beginning of March, though this blog you’ve learned about the purpose of the Global HEALTH Act , garnered some great facts about the health workforce crisis, seen one of the many ways in which health systems can be measured and watched four health workers at Mbagathi Hospital talk about the challenges they face on a daily basis.

Today’s post takes a closer look at some very important components of the Global HEALTH Act. But first, it is important to congratulate Representative Lee on the development of a bill that heralds a new way of working to strengthen and improve the health systems of developing countries, and the delivery of health services to the whole of the population in those countries. The bill calls on President Obama to develop a comprehensive US Global Health Strategy (the Strategy) that harmonizes and aligns all health-related US foreign assistance, and seeks to ensure that equity, non-discrimination, participation and accountability are embedded in the Strategy and, to the greatest extent possible, in the national health strategy of each country receiving direct assistance.

This is a comprehensive bill, and it is not possible to review it here completely. Hence we have selected a few specific examples for you of how the bill advances the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health:

Equity and non-discrimination: An objective of the Strategy is to ensure that there is access to quality health services for poor, vulnerable or marginalized populations. Equity and non-discrimination permeate the bill. These issues are to be principal considerations in the construction or rehabilitation of health facilities, in the distribution of health services and health workers, and in the provision and distribution of medical, pharmaceutical and laboratory supplies. The ability of women and youth to use health services without fear, violence, discrimination or other mistreatment is one of the many principles that the President is called upon to encourage countries to include in their national health strategies.

Participation: There is a concern with participation throughout the bill. First, the Strategy itself is to be developed in consultation with all manner of individuals, groups and organizationsfrom executive agencies administering US foreign assistance, to US embassies and country missions, to civil society and nongovernmental organizations in developing countries, to international organizationsand other donor nations. At the developing country level, the bill calls on the President to encourage countries receiving direct assistance to ensure meaningful participation in developing their national health strategies. This participation is to include the poor, vulnerable, or marginalized populations, as well as nongovernmental organizations, in program and budget decisions as well as in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the country’s national health strategy. Hence, the bill makes a direct link between equity, non-discrimination, participation and accountability.

Accountability: The accountability process enables the government to identify what is working and what is not – to explain what it has been done and why – and to provide to individuals and communities the opportunity to understand how the government has discharged its obligations. Where mistakes have been made, accountability requires redress. It is a process that includes monitoring, mechanisms, remedies, and participation. The bill makes clear that the Strategy should have each of these components. The Strategy itself is to be monitored and evaluated for effectiveness. To allow this to take place, the Administration is to establish indicators to monitor the Strategy and provide annual reports to Congress. The bill authorizes the President to provide assistance to developing countries to improve the delivery of health services in those countries. The activities that have been authorized include direct support to civil society and nongovernmental organizations to monitor and evaluate their country’s health system. The President is also called upon to encourage countries to include in their national health strategies the development and implementation of sustainable legal frameworks that engage the whole of the population to monitor and enforce policies related to health. Ensuring there is a legal requirement to enable people to participate in monitoring and to enforce policies is essential for government accountability.

The bill’s consistent focus on equity, non-discrimination, participation and accountability indirectly promotes the incorporation of a human rights approach to health into the Strategy. If the Strategy is developed and implemented, it will provide – in time – the proof that adoption of this approach improves health outcomes and the processes to achieve those health outcomes. This bill is to be applauded. It is essential that it obtain a large number of co-sponsors to demonstrate significant support for this legislation, which will help move this bill towards final passage. This is not only for the benefit of the populations in the countries receiving direct assistance but also for the benefit of the US. This bill has the potential to do more for the credibility of the US in the arena of human rights and global health than anything that has gone before.

On April 7 BE READY to email your representative – PLEASE!

During his campaign, President Obama promised to end the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange programs.

Call President Obama TODAY at (202) 456-1414 or (202) 456-1111 and tell him to keep his promise to save lives.

This summer, the House of Representatives took a historic step by removing the ban on federal funding for needle and syringe exchange programs (SEPs).  Now, the Senate must act, but they are not making this policy a priority.

Senators need to hear from President Obama that his Administration supports syringe exchange. Now is the time to urge President Obama to fulfill his campaign promise to end the ban and to urge the Senate to act.

SEPs promote health and human rights. More than a dozen scientific reviews of SEPs have shown that when implemented as part of a comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention strategy, SEPs help reduce HIV transmissions without increasing drug use.

Indeed, SEPs do more than provide clean syringes and properly dispose of used ones; they link people into the health care system and drug treatment programs that save lives.

President Obama’s leadership is key to moving this issue forward in the Senate. His support could help save the lives of thousands of people. 20 years is too long—help us end the ban today!

Call The White House Comment Line TODAY at (202) 456-1414 or (202) 456-1111 and tell Obama to fulfill his promise and END THE BAN.

Phone Script:

Tell the operator where you are from and if you are a health professional and/or have any specific expertise relevant to needle exchange, AIDS, and/or harm reduction. It is okay if you don’t have specific expertise—Obama needs to hear from everyone, in every state, about this issue!

Ask the operator to tell President Obama:

• The research is clear – syringe exchange programs work. The presence of syringe exchange programs in communities does not increase rates of drug use, nor does it lead to a rise in crime. What it does do: decrease transmission of HIV, Hepatitis C and other diseases.
• Now is the time for the President to make good on his promise to support lifting the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange. We are calling on President Obama to let key congressional members know that the White House supports Chairman Obey in fully revoking the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange.
• The President must also urge the Senate to refrain from adding any language or amendments to the Senate bill that would place undue restrictions on SEPs. The detrimental “1,000 Foot Rule” contained in the House bill may seem innocuous, but in reality it severely and unnecessarily limits the locations of SEPs. In some cases, the rule makes it impossible for urban communities to have needle exchange programs at all.