Dr. Eyad El Sarraj

Outspoken Human Rights Doctor - standing up for human rights

A victim of torture and solitary confinement, Dr. Eyad Rajab El Sarraj runs a clinic in the Gaza Strip to provide support and rehabilitation to people affected by the upheaval of the Intifada and the violence of the Israeli occupation. His open criticism, including his condemnation of some actions of the Palestinian National Authority, has resulted in several arrests. An expert on the mental impact of the pervasive violence on children growing up in Gaza, he also heads the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights.

Invited to Sweden for a conference on the 50th anniversary of Israel, he met David Henley, a Jewish doctor from Brooklyn. "In his kitchen in Uppsala, we sketched the first design of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, which was established exactly two years later," Dr. El Sarraj writes. "David to this day is one of my best friends and a friend of justice in Palestine."

Standing up for the principles of the Universal Declaration
Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that everyone has the right to "a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including medical care and necessary social services "and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood" or old age.

Learn more:
>>Wikipedia: Eyad El Sarraj
>>Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights

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