Artsen voor mensenrechten; een buitenlandse waarnemer bij 3 processen tegen artsen in Turkije

- Physicians have a professional obligation to be among the first to defend human rights. Accordingly they have established organisations in many countries to that aim, which are united in the International Federation of Health and Human Rights Organisations (IFHHRO). The author was invited by this federation to attend several trials against members of the Turkish sister organisation. In one of them the doctor's duty to protect his patients’ privacy was at stake. This physician has since been acquitted because of insufficient evidence. In Turkish society there are opposed conservative and liberal democratic forces: on the one hand people try to maintain the democratic and constitutional state, on the other some circles hold the opinion that undemocratic and inhuman measures are necessary to counter the dangers of terrorist movements. Even in the Netherlands the right of physicians not to reveal confidential information regarding ‘illegal immigrants’ has recently been challenged, and until now the medical organisations have not protested.