Health and Human Rights News
Week ending 11 October 2025
Amon: medical community can help end atrocities
HHR editor-in-chief Joseph J. Amon and Shatha Elnakib urge the medical community to play its part in ending atrocities in an editorial in the BMJ this week. Denial and intimidation, they write, have played a significant part in keeping the medical and public health community from speaking out about genocide in Gaza over the last two years. They cite the coordinated release in July of reports by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and B’Tselem, two Israeli human rights organisations, each of which concluded that a genocide was occurring, to illustrate how pairing medical testimony and health data with human rights analysis and advocacy can be a powerful tool to document conditions and drive political change.
See also:
Free Speech, the Right to Health, and Genocide, Editorial, Joseph J. Amon, Vol 27/1, 2025
A Doctor’s Resistance in Gaza: Academic Action, Abdulwhhab Abu Alamrain and Bilal Irfan, June 2025
Ceasefire declared in Gaza, health system rebuild urgent
On Thursday, 9 October, Hamas and Israel agreed to the initial stage of a ceasefire plan in Gaza. Now the focus must shift to the need for food, medicine, and other essential aid. World Health Organization Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Dr. Hanan Balkhy, emphasized, “When the fighting stops, a new struggle will begin – to rebuild Gaza’s health system and rescue an entire population from the edge of famine and despair.” Advocates and organizations have warned that ceasefire must be paired with lifting the aid blockade that has cut Gaza off from life-saving supplies, water, and fuel.
Aid restrictions cause severe malnutrition for 55,000 preschoolers in Gaza
A study published in the Lancet adds to the urgency of accountability and the end of Israel’s aid blockade, finding that almost 55,000 children in Gaza under the age of six are malnourished and face an increased risk of mortality. The study, led by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) draws a clear link between Israel’s imposition of aid restrictions and increased prevalence of acute child malnutrition.
A human rights guide to COP30
Ahead of the 30th UN climate change conference (COP30) taking place in Belém, Brazil, 10-21 November, Human Rights Watch offers a brief explainer on the role of human rights in climate action. It details next steps for a transition away from fossil fuels, explains the meaning of a ‘just transition’, and illustrates the role of COP30 in safeguarding the rights of vulnerable populations. The meeting marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, the landmark international treaty aiming to limit the rise of global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
See also:
Sudan military may have used chlorine gas
Human Rights Watch reports on an investigation by France 24, a French broadcaster, which appears to corroborate US allegations made in January, that Sudan’s military may have used chlorine in two incidents in September 2024. The use of chlorine as a weapon is prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention, to which Sudan is a party. The health consequences of the chemical are serious, as “Exposure to chlorine or its compounds can lead to diverse symptoms from reddening and itchiness to shortness of breath and even death.”
Türk welcomes ICC conviction as demonstration of accountability in Sudan
The International Criminal Court convicted Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al Rahman (Ali Kushayb), a former leader of the Janjaweed militia, for war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated in western Darfur, Sudan in 2003 and 2004. UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Türk welcomed the verdict, which found Kushayb guilty of rape, persecution on political, ethnic, and gender grounds, torture, and attacks on civilians. “It is my earnest hope that today’s verdicts will serve as a fresh reminder to the perpetrators of today’s crimes that there can be no impunity for mass crimes against civilians; a reminder that they too will be brought to justice one day for grave violations of the law.”
A Forgotten War: Sudan’s Humanitarian and Human Rights Crisis, Ketan Tamirisa, Lara Kendall, Faraan O. Rahim, Paul Kim, Esraa Usman Eltayeb, and Nhial T. Tutlam, July 2025
Thousands of nonprofits sign letter rejecting Trump attacks
The American Public Health Association, along with more than 3,700 other civil society organizations, have signed an open letter condemning President Trump’s attacks on nonprofit organizations in the United States. The letter stresses the importance of nonprofits, as providers of healthcare, housing, education, food, water, and more, and emphasizes that “weaponizing the executive branch to punish their speech or their views is illegal and wrong.” They condemned the “unjust and illegal” campaign by the Trump administration to intimidate and silence charitable groups.
See also:
FIGHT FOR RIGHTS: Trump’s Banned Words and Disastrous Health Policies, Joseph J. Amon, 3 February 2025
Trump administration threatens to expand ‘global gag rule’ to include DEI
The Trump administration is planning to force foreign governments, NGOs, and other international bodies to stop programs addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion or risk losing US funds, reports The Guardian. This is an expansion of the ‘global gag rule’ which stopped funding for organizations providing services or information about abortion services. Governments and major multilateral organisations such as UN agencies are likely to fall under the policy for the first time and will face ‘very hard choices’ over whether to stick with policies and programmes that fight discrimination, at the risk of losing a major source of funding, global health experts said.
See also:
FIGHT FOR RIGHTS: The US Administration’s Assault on Global Reproductive Health and Autonomy, Winona Xu, 13 February 2025
Singapore executes 10th person this year for drug-related offenses
Despite last minute efforts by the UN special rapporteur on extra-judicial summary or arbitrary executions, Singapore refused to halt the execution of the 10th person this year following a conviction of drug-related offenses. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch also raised the alarm at the nation’s use of the death penalty. “Singapore must end its use of the death penalty and instead offer effective protection from drug-related harm, such as by expanding access to health and social services for people who use drugs and addressing the underlying socio-economic causes that lead people to engage in the drug trade,” said Amnesty International.
See also:
VIRTUAL ROUNDTABLE Compulsory Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation, Health, and Human Rights in Asia, Quinten Lataire, Karen Peters, and Claudia Stoicescu, Volume 24/1, June 2022
Globally one in five adults smokes cigarettes
Tobacco use has decreased globally by around 120 million people from 2010, from 1.38 billion to 1.2 billion in 2024, which is nearly 20% of adults, says the World Health Organization (WHO). It also reports, for the first time, that at least 100 million people use e-cigarettes, which it describes as ‘alarming’. WHO is calling on governments to reinforce tobacco control by “raising tobacco taxes, banning advertising, and expanding cessation services so that millions more people can quit.”
New postpartum haemorrhage prevention guidelines
The World Health Organization, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, and the International Confederation of Midwives have issued new recommendations to prevent, diagnose, and treat postpartum haemorrhage (PPH). “Defined as excessive bleeding after childbirth, PPH affects millions of women annually and causes nearly 45,000 deaths, making it one of the leading causes of maternal mortality globally. Even when not fatal, it can lead to lifelong physical and mental health impacts, from major organ damage to hysterectomies, anxiety and trauma.” The guidelines emphasize the importance of good antenatal and postnatal care to mitigate critical risk factors such as anaemia.
See also:
Five Lessons for Advancing Maternal Health Rights in an Age of Neoliberal Globalization and Conservative Backlash, Alicia Ely Yamin, Vol 25/1, 2023
New Zealand disregards rights of climate-affected Pacific people
Aotearoa New Zealand’s immigration policy disregards the needs and human rights of individuals displaced by the climate crisis, finds Amnesty International. “Coastal erosion, king tides, floods, extreme heat, droughts, and cyclones threaten Pacific peoples’ rights to life, health, an adequate standard of living, and a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” forcing many into limited, complex, and discriminatory migration systems. ‘Navigating injustice’, published this week links climate change, displacement, and the right to health and explores migration pathways for those forced to leave their Pacific homelands.
Events and Courses
- Addressing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in a Time of Crisis: Intergenerational Solidarity and Cross-Sector Partnerships – USC Institute on Inequalities in Globah Health: October 22, 2025
- The G. Barrie Landry Child Protection Professional Training Program 2026 is now inviting applications for the course held at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. 1-5 June, 2026; Applications close: 1 December 2025
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