Health and Human Rights News
Week ending 13 September 2025
No ministries of peace, laments Türk
“We need to safeguard 80 years of progress on freedom, equality, and justice,” Human Rights Chief Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council this week. He voiced concern at ongoing trends including a widespread erosion of international law, a crumbling rules-based order, a disregard for the Sustainable Development Goals, and inequalities in access to fundamental human rights, including the right to health. In the same week that President Trump renamed the Department of Defence, the Department of War, Türk said “Pro-war propaganda is everywhere, from military parades to ramped up rhetoric. Sadly, there are no Peace parades, or Ministries of Peace.”
US strike on vessel a dangerous precedent for drug crackdown
After the US military carried out a strike on a boat in the Caribbean, killing 11 people, President Trump said he had ordered the operation to target drug traffickers. Human Rights Watch condemned the administration’s attack in international waters. “This is a dangerous precedent,” she said, “and the administration should abandon any intentions of unleashing a wave of unlawful targeted killings against suspected drug traffickers.
Ex US health bosses concerned about CDC
Writing in USA Today three former surgeons general of the United States expressed ‘grave’ concerns about recent events at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They referred to the firing of the CDC director and forced departure of others, and appointment of Jim O’Neill who has neither a medical degree nor public health experience as the interim head. During COVID-19, O’Neill voiced support for unproven treatments. They said these moves by Robert F. Kennedy jeopardize CDC’s integrity and the health and well being of Americans.
UN experts: Protect Global Sumud Flotilla participants…
Prior to reported drone attacks on the flotilla of 50 boats and 350 activists carrying humanitarian aid moving toward Gaza, UN experts, including Tlaleng Mofokeng, the Special Rapporteur on the right to health, had raised the alarm over threats made by Israel to detain participants under harsh conditions. The experts expressed solidarity with the participants of the Global Sumud Flotilla. “States must make clear that they will not tolerate Israel blocking humanitarian aid to a population facing starvation and genocide.”
…Boats struck by an Israeli drone
The flotilla’s “Family Boat” was struck by an Israeli drone and caught fire on September 8 in Tunisian waters, and this was followed with another drone strike the following day. “Governments should ensure that participants are not obstructed, attacked, or wrongfully prosecuted and press Israel to end its unlawful blockade of Gaza,” urged Human Rights Watch, who called for sanctions against Israel.
Reparative climate finance needed
The Fifth African Conference on Debt and Development took place in Accra, Ghana, providing an opportunity to discuss reforms of the current model of climate finance. Using this year’s African Union theme of “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations” discussions included the role of financial frameworks and their colonial roots. “What Africa needs is reparative finance: grounded in historical responsibility, aligned with human rights standards, and designed to shift power and resources to where they are most needed,” explained the Center for Economic and Social Rights’ climate justice team.
Climate Justice, Humans Rights, and the Case for Reparations, Audrey R. Chapman and A. Karim Ahmed, Volume 23/2, December 2021
Hong Kong rejects LGBTI rights
Hong Kong has rejected a bill which would have provided a framework for same-sex partnerships to be recognised in law. Although the proposed register was limited to those couples who married outside of Hong Kong, it was a small important step for equal rights for the LGBTI community. Commenting on the rejection, Amnesty International said, “The failure of this bill must not be the end of efforts to improve the rights of same-sex couples in Hong Kong. On the contrary, it should be the catalyst for the authorities to produce a stronger bill that enables LGBTI people in Hong Kong to live with equality and dignity.
See also:
FIGHT FOR RIGHTS: The Uncertain Path to Legal Recognition and Health Equity for Sexual Minorities in Hong Kong, Patrick Tang, 6 August 2025
Cruel and unlawful: Mass displacement order of Gaza
The Israeli military issued a mass evacuation order to Gaza City earlier this week, announcing that it would begin an offensive to take over the city. Human rights and humanitarian organizations claim the forcible displacement of Palestinians, who have lived in horrific conditions for the last two years and many of whom have already been displaced, contravenes international law. A healthcare worker treating children with malnutrition told Amnesty International: “It’s like having to choose between two deaths: death by bombardment or the slow death of displacement, not knowing where to go.”
UN: Children in Gaza are enduring unimaginable suffering
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child decried Israel’s obstruction of humanitarian aid and use of starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza, highlighting the unique and catastrophic consequences on Gaza’s children. The Committee noted that safe drinking water, sanitation, and adequate health care are non-existent. “Civilian infrastructure has been essentially destroyed, leaving children deprived of the minimum conditions required for survival and development.”
See also:
Ghummeida: Outdoor Play in a Militarized Zone, Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian and Razzan Quran, 24/2, December 2022
Türk: Ceasefire needed urgently in DRC
“Few places on Earth face a crisis as severe and urgent as the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Human Rights Chief Volker Türk explained as he detailed reports from the in-country fact finding mission and called for a ceasefire. The mission identified widespread sexual violence in the DRC, the physical and psychological long-term health impacts of which, he said, demand international attention, especially in light of “inadequate and underfunded” health services.
Ebola outbreak declared in DRC
Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared an Ebola virus outbreak in the Kasai Province, prompting a rapid response from the nation’s government and the World Health Organization. WHO and national Rapid Response Team have intensified efforts, with emergency supplies and equipment provided and WHO contingency efforts being put in place in neighboring countries.
Brazil’s veto of “Devastation Bill” a win for human rights
In a move applauded by UN independent experts, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva vetoed most provisions in an environmental licensing law that threatened to facilitate environmental harm by the private sector. The experts said, “We welcome the Brazilian Government’s decision, as it shows that listening to the voices of those affected, including human rights holders and scientific communities, can … prevent long-term harm to everyone’s right to a healthy environment…”
US will support HIV prevention drug
Despite its extensive foreign aid cuts, the US State Department has announced it will support the provision of lenacapavir, a long-acting injectable medicine for HIV prevention, for 2 million people in countries with high burdens of HIV. USAID said more global work will be needed to increase scale and rapidly make lenacapavir available, affordable and accessible in all low and middle-income countries. It estimates that 20 million people need antiretroviral-based prevention to achieve the 2030 global HIV prevention targets.
See also:
AIDS 2024: HIV is Inherently Political, Joseph J. Amon, 26 July 2024
Preventing silicosis a human rights duty in India
Silicosis, India’s most under-reported occupational disease, was the subject of a Supreme Court ruling in 2024 that forced states to start prevention action and to be held to account. Last month, the Gujarat High Court reinforced these instructions and imposed a minimum compensation of about US $3300 per victim, acknowledged claims by widows and migrants, and demanded a long term system of rehabilitation. This signals a growing shift from human rights on paper to implementation in practice, pushing states to deliver justice for silicosis victims, writes Shambhavi Singh in an HHR blog.
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