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Leonard Rubenstein is a lawyer who has spent his career in human rights and now focuses particularly on health and human rights, especially the protection of health in armed conflict and the roles of health professionals in human rights. He is core faculty of the Center for Public Health and Human Rights and the Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins University. Prior to that he served as executive director and then president of Physicians for Human Rights, as a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, and as executive director of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law.
Mr. Rubenstein’s current work includes advancing protection of health facilities, patients, and health workers in situations of conflict, developing a screening tool to identify survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in refugee settings, and exploring ethical responsibilities of health professionals to advance human rights. Mr. Rubenstein founded and chairs the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition.
Responding to Assaults on Health Care in the Middle East
The conflicts and political crises in the Middle East have brought anguish, suffering, and severe declines in health to people throughout the region. The most catastrophic case by far is Syria, where more than a million people have experienced traumatic injuries, once-rare infectious diseases have returned, chronic disease goes untreated, and the health system has collapsed. In Yemen, Libya, Gaza, and Iraq as well, violence has limited access to health care and grievously harmed the population.
