TY - JOUR
T1 - The Role of Physicians in Conflicts and Humanitarian Crises
T2 - Case Studies From the Field Missions of Physicians for Human Rights, 1988 to 1993
AU - Geiger, H. Jack
AU - Cook Deegan, Robert M.
PY - 1993/8/4
Y1 - 1993/8/4
N2 - Violations of human rights in wars, civil conflicts, and brutal repression mounted by governments against their own citizens often have profound consequences to individual and public health and may, in turn, produce humanitarian crises. The skills of physicians, medical and forensic scientists, and other health workers are uniquely valuable in human rights investigations and documentation, producing evidence of abuse more credible and less vulnerable to challenge than traditional methods of case reporting. Only in recent decades, however, have physicians organized specifically to meet this responsibility. This article presents case studies from the field missions of Physicians for Human Rights to illustrate the investigation and documentation of violations of medical neutrality, refugee health crises, the use of indiscriminate weapons, torture, deliberate injury and rape, and mass executions. Participation of health workers in the defense of human rights now includes investigation and documentation of health effects in threatened populations as well as individual victims.
AB - Violations of human rights in wars, civil conflicts, and brutal repression mounted by governments against their own citizens often have profound consequences to individual and public health and may, in turn, produce humanitarian crises. The skills of physicians, medical and forensic scientists, and other health workers are uniquely valuable in human rights investigations and documentation, producing evidence of abuse more credible and less vulnerable to challenge than traditional methods of case reporting. Only in recent decades, however, have physicians organized specifically to meet this responsibility. This article presents case studies from the field missions of Physicians for Human Rights to illustrate the investigation and documentation of violations of medical neutrality, refugee health crises, the use of indiscriminate weapons, torture, deliberate injury and rape, and mass executions. Participation of health workers in the defense of human rights now includes investigation and documentation of health effects in threatened populations as well as individual victims.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0027171479&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0027171479&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1001/jama.1993.03510050082032
DO - 10.1001/jama.1993.03510050082032
M3 - Article
C2 - 8331762
AN - SCOPUS:0027171479
SN - 0098-7484
VL - 270
SP - 616
EP - 620
JO - JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association
JF - JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association
IS - 5
ER -