Doctors against torture

Doctors are often the first people to encounter survivors of torture. They have a vital role to play in the detection and prevention of abuse.

But in some cases health professionals come under immense pressure to comply with abusive practices.

The recent release of the US Senate Intelligence Committee’s report into CIA torture revealed that doctors and other health professionals had played a role in administering, supervising and inventing this abuse, a clear breach of their duty to ‘do no harm’.

Tackling torture

As part of our Stop Torture campaign, we're working with the healthcare community to strengthen the role of health professionals as they struggle to tackle the global burden of torture.

Together with Freedom from Torture, the British Medical Association (BMA) and the British Medical Journal (BMJ) we held a one-day event to bring together specialists on medical ethics, torture and forensic documentation.

The conference explored what can be done to support forensic physicians and to throw a spotlight on the ethical and practical challenges.

Watch the Doctors Against torture event