9th – 10th January 2015
A physical and tele-conference jointly organised by MEDACT and CAPPE
We live in a world where people’s basic human rights are being denied on an extraordinary scale. This raises immediate questions: who should try to do what about it? These dilemmas can be particularly tangled for medical and health professionals.
This conference addressed students and scholars of war and peace, healthcare practitioners, human rights organisations and activists. It sought to:
- inform people about medical impacts of human rights violations around the world
- help health professionals to carry out their duties in difficult and dangerous situations
- advise civil society organisations on making best use of clinical assistance in campaigning
- reflect on moral and practical issues that arise.
The focus was on two central themes:
- Assisting survivors of conflict zones, prisons and forced migration
- Documenting and using the evidence – why, how, and at what risk?
Invited speakers included health workers helping survivors of abuses in conflict zones such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, Ukraine, Gaza, Iraq, Guantanamo; and leading clinical ethicists, medical journalists and health workers’ professional bodies.
Speakers:
Dr. Michael Weingarten, Hunger strikes and doctors of confidence
Mr. David Rhys-Jones, Medical evidence in protection, redress and prevention
Dr. David McCoy, Structural violence and human rights medicine
Dr. Nimisha Patel, Shattered minds
Dr. Hugh Davies, Consent and confidentiality
Dr. Coleen Kivlahan, Atlas of torture
Dr. Frank Arnold, “A dangerous profession?”
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