Health and Human Rights News
Week ending 25 October 2025
The practice of medicine is not a crime
The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, called for an end to widespread attacks against healthcare workers and systems and highlighted the centrality of the right to health in ensuring sustainable peace and development. “Health and care workers have been the target of violence, and perpetrators of these attacks are not held accountable…The practice of medicine is not a crime.” Mofokeng, speaking at the UN General Assembly this week, encouraged States to strengthen the participation of health workers in high-level political forums on peace, security and sustainable development.
Record numbers of aid and healthcare workers killed
The killing of civilians, aid workers, and health care personnel in conflict reached new heights in 2024, according to a report published by the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC). Civilian casualties, sexual violence, forced displacement, attacks on children and healthcare all increased in 2024.
See also:
“Politicized” Science and Attacks on Public Health, Viewpoint, Joseph J. Amon, September 2025
Drone Attacks on Health in 2023: International Humanitarian Law and the Right to Health, Viewpoint, Joseph J. Amon and Leonard Rubenstein Vol 26/1, 2024
Genocide in Gaza is ‘a collective crime’
A report from Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, refers to the complicity of many governments in the genocide in Gaza. “Framed by colonial narratives that dehumanize the Palestinians, this livestreamed atrocity has been facilitated through Third States’ direct support, material aid, diplomatic protection and, in some cases, active participation…Renewal is only possible if complicity is confronted, responsibilities are met and justice is upheld.”
Russian drone strikes UN aid trucks
Video evidence published by a Russian-military affiliated channel earlier this month shows Russian drones striking two clearly marked UN aid trucks. This attack on a World Food Program vehicle carrying life-saving aid to southern Ukraine is only one of many recorded attacks by Russian forces and drones on humanitarian aid workers, medical response teams, essential infrastructure, and civilians, reports Human Rights Watch. “This brazen, unlawful attack should remind governments of their responsibility to stand up for justice and the institutions that pursue it.”
International solidarity to defend international law
The People’s Health Movement and International Association of Democratic Lawyers are two of the first organizations to sign an open letter calling on people, civil society, and social movements to defend international law and human rights. The letter highlights the trajectory of the Trump administration to undermine principles foundational to multilateralism. “Not only has the United States withdrawn from key UN bodies and international agreements ‒ such as Human Rights Council, the World Health Organization, UNESCO ‒ and actively encouraged other States to abandon or undermine multilateral frameworks,” reads the letter, “but it has also ceased paying its assessed contributions, causing severe operational disruptions across the UN system.”
WHO, Japan, and World Bank launch health alliance
The World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank Group, and the Government of Japan have launched the Health Work Leaders Coalition, to bring health and finance spheres together for investment in health systems. “Our goal is ambitious: to help countries deliver quality, affordable health services to 1.5 billion people by 2030. No single institution, government, or philanthropist can achieve that alone,” said the World Bank Group President. “If we get this right, we can make real impact – improving health, transforming lives, strengthening economies – and creating jobs. This effort is as much an ingredient of our jobs agenda as it is a health initiative.”
Decline of neglected tropical diseases at risk
The World Health Organization’s report on neglected tropical diseases 2025 reflects progress in global efforts to address neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), as the burden of disease, and number of individuals needing interventions are in decline. But the report also acknowledges challenges, including “slow progress in reducing deaths from vector-borne diseases, expanding access to water, sanitation and hygiene, and protecting populations from catastrophic out-of-pocket expenditures”, and notes that “programmes for NTDs continue to be severely disrupted by reduced availability of funding”.
See also:
Embodying Law and Embedding Public Health with the Voices of Those Affected: Ending NTDs by 2030, Foreword, Alice Cruz, Vol 20/1, 2018
Welfare cuts fuel rise of far right
The rolling back of protections for people living in poverty has created fertile ground for far-right movements across the world, warned the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter, in a new report presented to the General Assembly. The report details how, rather than reducing poverty or cutting public expenditure, modern welfare systems stigmatise claimants, forcing them into unsuitable jobs under the threat of sanctions, subjecting them to algorithms that falsely flag fraud, and even penalising families by removing children when poverty is misclassified as ‘neglect’.
Use rights-based environmental impact assessments
The Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, highlighted the importance of environmental impact assessments and urged that they must be strengthened and cover social and human rights impacts. She urged a halt on further exemptions or deregulation of projects that would worsen climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, also called on states to carefully apply human rights whilst developing energy transition solutions. “A rapid energy transition is needed, but it should not be unchecked,” she said, noting that the rush to renewables has already had severe impacts on human rights to food, water, and a heathy environment for already-marginalized populations.
See also:
India Continues to Ignore Indigenous Rights as Uranium Mining Expands, Anubhuti Raje, 22 October 2025
UN experts seek treaty to protect food and workers
The Working Group on peasants and rural workers and the Special Rapporteur on the right to food warn that the growing dominance of transnational corporations and industrial agribusiness in global food systems poses an escalating threat to food security, rural livelihoods, and human rights. The UN experts condemned exploitative practices such as seed monopolisation and use of toxic chemicals that have jeopardised the right to food for rural communities, small-scale farmers, pastoralists, and agricultural workers worldwide. “The current model of agribusiness, supported by powerful States, prioritises profit over people and the planet — this must change.” They want voluntary commitments changed to binding laws and robust accountability mechanisms through a treaty.
Reintroducing death penalty violates international law
New legislation in Kyrgyzstan that would reinstate the death penalty is in violation of international law, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. “I urge the Kyrgyz authorities to drop proposals to reintroduce the death penalty, and instead to focus their efforts on ensuring the effective protection of the law and adequate access to justice and redress.”
Intersex Awareness Day: Surgeries on babies violate human rights
On October 26, Intersex Awareness Day will mark a reminder of the need for greater bodily autonomy for those people born with intersex variations. Human Rights Watch warned that surgeries performed on intersex newborns to enforce conformity with societal gender expectations are medically unnecessary and carry significant risk of trauma and lifelong harm. Over 50 evaluations by United Nations human rights treaty bodies have concluded that nonconsensual surgeries to alter the sex characteristics of children born with intersex traits are human rights violations.
Events and Courses
Treating violence against children as a disease, FXB Center, Harvard University, Barker Center, Thompson Room, 28 October 2025, 2-5pm
Webinar: Impact of Post-Covid Trends in Global Migration of Health Professionals
People’s Health Movement, Saturday October 25, 2025, 12pm UTC
Panel: ‘Public Health and Human Rights: New Tensions and Synergies.’
Joseph J. Amon and Payal Shah at International Law Society, October 25 @ 10:30 AM EST
Registration: https://www.ila-americanbranch.org/ilw-2025-registration/
Institute for Universal Rights, Health & Justice Leadership Program: 1 June-10 July 2026, A virtual six-week program
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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