“I will not use my medical knowledge to violate human rights and civil liberties, even under threat.” This is a line in The Physician’s Pledge adopted by the World Medical Association in 1948, which guides the work of doctors around the globe.
Unfortunately, as the practice of torture persists across the world, too often medical workers are at risk of becoming complicit. One country that has come under the spotlight recently regarding medical complicity in torture has been Israel.
For years, human rights organisations have reported “widespread and systematic” use of torture by Israeli security forces and prison authorities. The Israeli NGO Public Committee against Torture (PCATI) has filed over 1,400 torture complaints against Israeli authorities since 2001. ….more