Health and Human Rights News
News to 13 March 2026
Calls to protect health care as Middle East conflict spirals…
As war between the United States, Israel, and Iran continues, Physicians for Human Rights is raising the alarm about the dangerous disregard for the protection of medical workers and facilities during conflict. “What is essential now is unimpeded access to health care for all, full protection for health care workers and facilities, and genuine accountability for these violations.” They highlighted multiple reports of strikes conducted on hospitals, Red Crescent facilities, and paramedic operations across Iran and Lebanon.
…WHO calls for de-escalation to protect health
The World Health Organization has highlighted concerns about public health as conflict continues in the Middle East, including the consequences of mass displacement in Lebanon and Iran, along with growing environmental hazards, and the impacts of restricted movement on emergency medical services. “The escalation comes at a time when humanitarian needs in the Eastern Mediterranean Region were already among the highest in the world. Across the Region, 115 million people require humanitarian assistance – almost half of all people in need globally – while humanitarian health emergency appeals remain 70% underfunded.”
… Türk warns of dire consequences globally
UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Türk is alarmed by the deepening impact of the Middle East crisis on civilians, deploring extensive attacks in residential areas, as well as other essential services, including health facilities, educational institutions, cultural property, and water and energy infrastructure. Strikes on desalination plants and fuel facilities in Iran have given rise to concerns of chemical burns, acidic rainfall, and a general lack of access to water for the civilian population. The plunge in commercial shipping activity across the Strait of Hormuz is having a severe impact on access to energy, food and fertilizer for people in the region and beyond – particularly for the world’s most vulnerable, he added.
UN experts: Israel mirroring colonial action of past centuries
UN experts including Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right to health, are warning that Israel is accelerating measures to discriminate against Palestinians in the West Bank. They highlighted the dramatic rise of extrajudicial killings, large-scale demolitions, and forced displacement, as well as a growing number of checkpoints across occupied East Jerusalem. “These acts must be understood in their totality: the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, by whatever means, whatever the cost and whatever crimes it takes. This environment is coercing Palestinians to leave their homes and life in a city where their roots run deep.”
Türk horrified by intensified violence in South Sudan
Reports from South Sudan reveal disturbing escalations in the conflict that is threatening a return to all-out civil war. UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk called attention to this intensified violence, noting that in many cases, parties to the conflict may be committing war crimes. “The South Sudanese armed forces have also reportedly destroyed or intentionally contaminated community water sources. Civilians who spoke to the UN Human Rights Office said approximately 99 wells were destroyed or poisoned with unidentified substances during government airstrikes.”
Inaction on air pollution is an expensive human rights failing
The Special Rapporteur on the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, Astrid Puentes Riaño urges states to consider the public health and human rights consequences of air pollution in her report to the Human Rights Council. “Air pollution is not merely an environmental concern, it is a critical issue that is already costing millions of lives and trillions of dollars in economic loss…Protecting people from air pollution is not only possible – it is required. Clean air is a fundamental human right, not a privilege.”
Weakening pollutant regulations will wreak havoc
Weakening Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations are endangering the health across the United States, warns the Environmental Protection Network, a nonprofit composed of former EPA scientists. Their report details the impact of the Trump Administration’s weakened environmental regulations which are increasing the public’s exposure to dangerous air pollutants. The EPA has repealed emissions standards for power plants, delayed requirements for the oil and gas industry to cut pollution, and is ending its longstanding policy of considering health costs when determining pollutant limits.
Prenatal care declines in the US
A CDC report shows fewer pregnant people are accessing prenatal care in the United States, risking a maternal health emergency. “When prenatal care is delayed or not received, medical problems could go undetected or untreated and develop into emergencies during labor, delivery, or the postpartum period,” explains the Georgetown Center for Children and Families. Babies of mothers who do not get prenatal care are three times more likely to be born with a low birth weight and five times more likely to die, and by 2024, at least one in 10 mothers in Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, New Mexico, Texas, and the District of Columbia received late or no prenatal care at all.
ICE told to end inhumane conditions
A US District Court Judge has issued a preliminary injunction ordering US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to put an end to inhumane and unconstitutional conditions in Baltimore detention centers. “Due to extreme overcrowding in detention facilities nationwide and arbitrary arrest quotas, ICE has begun keeping people in cage-like holding cells for multiple days, despite its own binding policies,” the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights explained.
Top US vaccine official at FDA departs again
Dr Vinay Prasad, top vaccine official at the US Food and Drug Administration, has announced he will leave the agency for the second time this year. In February, the FDA, on Prasad’s urging, refused to review an mRNA flu vaccine and then quickly reversed course after extensive backlash. The Guardian reports his departure follows controversies involving the FDA’s review of vaccines, gene therapies and biotech drugs in which companies have criticized the agency for reversing itself, in some cases calling for new trials of products previously greenlighted by regulators.
Secure units fail to protect people in mental health crises
Research from Slovenia finds that secure units tends to exacerbate, rather than reduce, risk to people experiencing mental health crises. The research reported in HHR found secure units function primarily as institutional containers, protecting staff rather than the person needing help. They conclude, “As such, they are not only in violation of human rights but also ineffective in fulfilling their intended purpose due to inherent institutional limitations. We argue that secure units should be abolished and replaced by community-based services.”
See: Intentions to Care, Structures That Restrain: The Reality of Secure Units in Residential Social Care Institutions in Slovenia, Juš Škraban and Andraž Kapus, 11 March 2026.
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