In the latest episode of C4JR’s “More Than Ink on Paper” podcast, Yusra Al Kailani from the Center for Victims of Torture speaks with two leading experts from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)— Maram Haddad, Deputy Director of Capacity Development and Evidence-Based Practice and Abdulrazzaq Al-Saied,i Technical Expert for Iraq .
PHR´s story is inspiring: born from a group of medical doctors turned human rights defenders, fighting tooth and nail for the lives of their colleagues imprisoned by the Pinochet regime in Chile. Since its official formation in 1986, the organization has become one of the leading human rights NGOs of our time, using medicine and science to prevent torture, document mass atrocities, and hold those who violate human rights accountable.
In this episode, Maram and Abdulrazzaq discuss how PHR is transforming Iraq’s approach to documenting sexual violence, torture, and other grave human rights violations. They highlight how PHR worked to build a national system for forensic medical documentation, including the development and implementation of a unified documentation form based on international standards — now formally adopted across Iraq. This advancement is enhancing the quality of evidence in court, strengthening cooperation between medical professionals and judicial authorities, and placing survivors’ dignity, consent, and rights at the core of accountability processes.
The conversation also delves into PHR’s recent training on survivor-centered justice held in Mosul for Iraqi judges and representatives of the General Directorate for Survivors Affairs, the main body responsible for outreach, coordination and service delivery under the Yazidi Survivors Law (YSL). This groundbreaking training focused on best practices for applying a survivor-centered approach to investigating cases of ISIL committed sexual crimes. They explained the prospective role of forensic documentation in strengthening survivors’ YSL applications, especially the replacement of harmful practices such as “virginity testing” with ethical, science-based approaches.
Finally, Yusra, Maram and Abdulrazzaq explore how Iraq’s YSL can serve as a model for survivor-centered justice beyond Iraq, while reflecting on the ongoing challenges of transitional justice as a foundation for lasting peace in the region.
📄 You can read the full transcript in
Arabic: https://c4jr.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/C4JR-podcast-with-PHR-Arabic-transcript.pdf
English: https://c4jr.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/C4JR-podcast-with-PHR-English-transcript.pdf
