Health and Human Rights News
News to 6 March 2026
Stand up for Science – US day of action 7 March
One year after the movement-defining Stand Up For Science protest, organizers are returning to streets across the United States on Saturday March 7 “to save science, protect health, and defend democracy!”
See also:“Politicized” Science and Attacks on Public Health, Joseph J. Amon, 18 September 2025
Civilians will pay the ultimate price in Iran conflict
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk immediately condemned the first strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran, as well as Iran’s retaliation. He urged all parties to de-escalate and protect civilians. “Bombs and missiles are not the way to resolve differences but only result in death, destruction and human misery… I remind all parties that international law with respect to armed conflict is very clear: the protection of civilians is paramount. Each and every actor involved must ensure compliance with these laws. Violations of them must lead to accountability for those responsible.
As hostilities in the Middle East expand, civilians must be protected …
Amnesty International is calling on all parties to the conflict in Iran to protect civilians and to prevent further escalation of the conflict which began on 28 February. On 3 March the Iranian Red Crescent Society, reported that 787 people had been killed since the attacks began. According to the head of the Medical Council of Iran, 10 medical centres have been damaged by the Israeli and US attacks. Throughout January hospitals in Iran had experienced militarized raids by Iran’s security forces who committed widespread human rights violations against injured protesters and medical workers during the protest massacres.
PHM denounces strikes on Iran
The People’s Health Movement has condemned the attacks on Iran by the United States and Israel. “We call on social movements, political parties, trade unions, health professionals and every person of conscience worldwide to rally against this unlawful violence,” the movement said. “Protecting the right of nations to determine their own futures is inseparable from safeguarding the health and lives of their peoples. Immediate, collective condemnation and action are critical to prevent a looming humanitarian and health catastrophe.”
UN experts condemn ‘Board of Peace’
The international community must ensure that any efforts to reconstruct Gaza are guided by international law and human rights norms and standards, rather than by neo-colonial interests that rest on impunity and avarice, UN experts said this week. They denounced the ‘Board of Peace’ endorsed by the UN Security Council, and called instead for a rights-based and reparative effort to oversee reconstruction in Gaza. The group also underscored the responsibility of Israel in guaranteeing a continued ceasefire and driving a rights-based reconstruction. They said Gaza’s residents must be given the means and opportunity to lead and benefit from its reconstruction.
Fund to improve abortion access across EU
The European Commission has announced that the European Social Fund can be directed toward funding improved access to safe abortions. The European Commission will assist women who need to travel across borders or from remote areas and women without financial means, explained the commissioner for equality.
Fifteen years fighting discrimination against women and girls
On the 15th anniversary of the working group on discrimination against women and girls, a new publication provides an overview of its work and calls for renewed action towards gender equality and the realization of rights. ‘Advancing women’s rights and gender equality’ offers a global overview of the health and safety of women and girls in 2025 as well as highlighting innovative practices to eliminate discrimination against women and strategies to safeguard their rights amidst global backlash.
See also: FIGHT FOR RIGHTS VIEWPOINT Are Women’s Rights Human Rights Once and for All? Flavia Bustreo, Revati Phalkey, Rajat Khosla, and Kate Gilmore, 7 July 2025
Gender-affirming ID under threat in the US
A new Kansas law invalidates already-issued birth certificates and drivers licenses that do not reflect an individual’s sex assigned at birth. “The driver’s license revocations are part of a larger legislative onslaught against transgender people that is playing out in states across the country,” writes Human Rights Watch. “According to the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union], more than 400 bills are pending before state legislatures that would target lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.”
WHO updates the Health Inequality Monitor
Updates to the World Health Organization’s Health Inequality Data Repository and Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT and HEAT Plus) provide new tools for improved health inequality monitoring across population groups and health topics. “Version 7 of the [HEAT] software introduces a “determinants” component that can generate scatterplots showing associations between health indicators and determinants of health across selected countries.” These associations can be explored across six domains of health determinants: economic security and equality; education; physical environment; social and community context; health behaviours; and health care.
Santiago de Chile Declaration on health equity and climate justice
Latin America and the Caribbean have advanced a declaration that ties together human health and environmental justice with regional and national action plans for advancing clean air. The Santiago Declaration on Clean Air and Environmental Justice, establishes a shared vision that recognizes clean air as a basic human right and places health at the centre of all policies. It underscores that air pollution is a major, preventable factor of noncommunicable disease and premature death, particularly impacting vulnerable populations and communities already facing social and environmental inequalities.
See also: The Right to a Healthy Environment is a Powerful Sword for Climate Justice, Timothy Arvan, December 2021
Australia’s offshore detention is cruel and costly
Australia’s offshore immigration detention and processing is not only expensive, but also abusive to refugees and asylum seekers, says Human Rights Watch. The privately run centers based in Nauru and Papua New Guinea have faced criticism on multiple occasions for mistreatment of migrants and insufficient health care provision. “People forcibly transferred by Australia to Nauru and Papua New Guinea have spent years, sometimes decades, living in uncertainty often with inadequate health care and safety risks,” explained HRW in a government submission.
UN Experts: Olympics sex testing plan violates rights
UN experts, including Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right to health, are concerned at the International Olympic Committee’s apparent plan to sex test all women athletes, despite sex texting having been debunked as unethical, unscientific, and unworkable. The IOC also appears to favor blanket bans on transgender women’s participation in the female category, and rigid biological criteria on athletes competing in the games. Such plans risk violating principles of equality and non-discrimination, undermining dignity, privacy and bodily integrity, and deterring individuals from exercising their right to participate in cultural life on an equal basis with others, the experts said.
International support needed for Sudan’s emergency response rooms…
As widespread famine, displacement, and violence are devastating Sudan’s population, local emergency response rooms are providing lifesaving assistance, said Cecilia M. Bailliet, the Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity. “While these solidarity networks have been crucial lifelines since the eruption of the war, more must be done by the international community and all relevant actors, to support them, and all parties to the conflict must do more to ensure access to critical humanitarian aid, including food, medicine, medical equipment, or other vital supplies, in line with international humanitarian law,” she said.
… and Türk insists ‘let aid in, keep weapons out’
As violence spreads to the Kordofan region of Sudan, Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Türk urged for intensified diplomatic and political pressure towards a humanitarian truce and ceasefire. Over three years of conflict, destruction of water treatment systems, systematic sexual violence, strikes on aid convoys and medical infrastructure, and more, have left Sudan’s civilian population facing a grave humanitarian crisis. He called on the international community to ‘let aid in, and keep weapons out’.
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