Health and Human Rights News
Week ending 25 July 2025
Nightmare in Gaza continues…
The unending humanitarian crisis in Gaza has lead UN Human Rights chief Volker Türk to describe the misery perpetuated by Israeli displacement orders and attacks as, “It seemed the nightmare couldn’t possibly get worse. And yet it does.” The UN agency for Palestine refugees referred to the current situation as the “death phase”, quoting one of their workers, “everything around people at the moment is death, whether it’s bombs or strikes, or children wasting away in front of their eyes.” UN agencies, international aid organizations, human rights organizations, and civil society advocates are continuing to highlight the devastating conditions and unspeakable suffering in the Gaza Strip and calling for the immediate and unconditional entry of lifesaving aid.
… “Israeli-engineered mass starvation”
Palestinians are starving as a result of intentional Israeli policies, with children’s acute malnutrition reaching record rates, starvation spreading, frequent shootings at Israeli-backed aid distribution sites, and experts warning of famine. Thirty countries issued a joint statement with an urgent call to lift aid restrictions, and condemning “the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food.”
…Health workers also desperate for food
The weaponization of starvation in Gaza is also impacting health workers. “Doctors, nurses, journalists, humanitarians, among them UNRWA staff, are hungry…fainting due to hunger and exhaustion while performing their duties,” said UNRWA. Many health workers, reports the Guardian, are now being forced to “decide whether to remain at work and provide urgent medical care or go out on to the streets to search for food for their families.”
...WHO: “No safe place to go“
Israeli forces struck a building housing World Health Organization staff and their families in Deir al Balah, and the latest evacuation orders issued by Israel have affected WHO facilities, including storage warehouses holding lifesaving supplies. “WHO’s operational presence in Gaza is now compromised, crippling efforts to sustain a collapsing health system and pushing survival further out of reach for more than two million people. With 88% of Gaza now under evacuation orders or within Israeli-militarized zones, there is no safe place to go.”
UN Experts condemn enforced disappearances in Palestine
UN experts have denounced the pattern of enforced disappearances resulting from conflict in Gaza and urged Palestinian armed groups and Israeli Defence Forces to immediately investigate and prevent such disappearances. “We call for the immediate and unconditional release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza as well as the immediate disclosure of the fate, whereabouts, legal status and state of health of all Palestinians who have been forcibly disappeared.” It is estimated 4,000 Palestinians and 51 Israelis are missing.
Southern Syria faces humanitarian crisis
Armed clashes are continuing despite a truce in Syria’s Suweida governorate leading to the displacement of more than 145,000 people since 12 July, generating a humanitarian emergency. Sectarian violence has been compounded by government intervention and Israeli airstrikes, all of which has led to critical disruptions of services. Many aid convoys attempting to enter the region, which is now facing acute shortages of essential medical supplies, fuel, food and clean water, are still being refused entry and hospitals are overwhelmed with injured patients. Human Rights Watch reports conditions at the National Hospital in Suweida as catastrophic.
ICJ: Countries obligated and liable to protect the environment
In a landmark decision this week, the International Court of Justice ruled that states have an obligation to ensure protection of the environment from greenhouse gas emissions and if they breach these obligations, they incur legal responsibility and may be required to make full reparation. The request for an ICJ advisory opinion on the obligations of states in respect of climate change was first initiated by youth advocates in the Pacific Islands and supported by the state of Vanuatu in 2021. Amnesty International commented, “This unprecedented opinion will bolster the hundreds of ongoing and upcoming climate litigation cases around the world, where people seek justice for the livelihoods that have been snatched away.”
See also:
Children, Adolescents, and Youth Pioneering a Human Rights-Based Approach to Climate Change, Giulia Gasparri, et al, Volume 23/2, December 2021
Climate Justice, Humans Rights, and the Case for Reparations, Audrey R. Chapman and A. Karim Ahmed, Volume 23/2, December 2021
WHO releases environment scorecards for 2024
WHO released its 2024 health and environment scorecards, offering a glimpse of how countries are prioritizing climate and health action, and showing connections between the environment and health. This analysis uses 25 indicators to determine trends in countries’ efforts towards preventing and addressing six major environmental and health threats: air pollution; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); climate change; exposure to chemicals; radiation; and occupational health.
See also:
The Right to a Healthy Environment is a Powerful Sword for Climate Justice, Timothy Arvan, December 2021
Calls for Brazil’s President to veto “Devastation Bill”
Brazil’s proposed General Environmental Licensing Law (dubbed the Devastation Bill) will present serious threats to environmental protections and human rights if passed, says Human Rights Watch (HRW) and hundreds of civil society organizations. They are urging President Lula da Silva to veto it as it will empower oil and gas companies, encourage deforestation, and remove required environmental impact assessments. “The bill opens the door to very harmful effects not only on the environment, but on people’s health and livelihoods, particularly Indigenous and Afro-Brazilian communities,” says HRW.
Timor-Leste eliminates malaria
The World Health Organization has declared Timor-Leste malaria-free. The country prioritized the disease and embarked on its eliminations after its independence in 2002. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General said, “Timor-Leste’s success proves that malaria can be stopped in its tracks when strong political will, smart interventions, sustained domestic and external investment and dedicated health workers unite.” The nation is the third in the WHO South-East Asia region to achieve malaria elimination.
Mexico aims for health sovereignty
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced an initiative to localize the production of medicines and medical equipment to boost economic development and help the country move toward universal health care, and to health sovereignty. Sheinbaum said, “In a vulnerable situation like a future pandemic, we don’t want to depend on manufacturers the entire world will be competing for in order to ensure supplies.”
See also:
Breaking Barriers: Strengthening Health Equity in Sub-Saharan Africa Through Improved Local Pharmaceutical Production, Stuart Ssebibubbu, Denis Kibira, and Adriano Lubanga, Fight for Rights Viewpoint, June 2025, Vol 27/1.
Contaminated medicines killing children
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) are reporting increasing incidents of contaminated medicines and exposing the criminal roots of this public health crisis. “These incidents occur often due to systemic vulnerabilities in the global supply chain of pharmaceutical excipients, and they have disproportionately affected people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).” Since 2022, WHO has issued seven Medical Product Alerts concerning contaminated liquid oral medicines, marketed for paediatric use and exported widely to LMICs. At least 66 children died in the Gambia and similar incidents in Indonesia and Uzbekistan resulted in a further 268 deaths.
Grant for safe water in California withdrawn
The Trump Administration has clawed back a $20 million grant to provide clean water to residents of California’s agricultural heartland, where water sources are too contaminated with pesticides to be safely used. The Environmental Protection Agency described the initiative as a “wasteful DEI program.” Only $30 million in federal funding is being allocated to ensuring safe drinking water and wastewater management across all of rural America.
See also:
Local Advocates in the United States Make Slow but Steady Progress on Water Affordability, Martha F. Davis, Fight for Rights Viewpoint, 2025, Vol 27/1.
PEPFAR to move from AIDS to trade
The US State Department is reportedly proposing to redirect the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) away from AIDS and toward trade—establishing new markets for US pharmaceuticals and technology. The New York Times said planning documents call for PEPFAR to focus on “transitioning” countries away from US assistance, some in as little as two years. HealthGap, which lobbies for funding for global health described the proposal is a death warrant, saying countless people will die if this proceeds.
See also:
The Role of Civil Society in Mobilizing Human Rights Struggles for Essential Medicines: A Critique from HIV/AIDS to COVID-19, Sharifah Sekalala and Belinda Rawson, Volume 24/2, December 2022
AIDS 2024: HIV is Inherently Political Joseph J. Amon, July 2024
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