Health and Human Rights News
News to 3 April 2026
World Health Day: Stand with science on 7 April
World Health Day 2026, 7 April, calls on people everywhere to stand with science. Under the theme “Together for health. Stand with science”, a year‑long campaign is being launched to celebrate the power of scientific collaboration to protect the health of people, animals, plants, and the planet. It aims to rebuild trust in science and public health.
Pediatricians celebrate return of science to US vaccine schedule
A lawsuit filed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and others in 2025 has succeeded in stopping changes to the childhood vaccine schedule made under the direction of Trump Administration Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. “This decision effectively means that a science-based process for developing immunization recommendations is not to be trifled with and represents a critical step to restoring scientific decision-making to federal vaccine policy that has kept children healthy for years,” said AAP President Andrew D. Racine.
See also: “Politicized” Science and Attacks on Public Health, Joseph J. Amon, 18 September 2025
HRC resolutions include mental health and homelessness
On 1 April, the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council closed, after the adoption of 38 resolutions. These included those country-specific mandates, approving cost-saving measures for the UN, examining the situation in the Middle East, monitoring of the negative health impacts of unilateral coercive measures, and commitments to study and protect mental health. A resolution was adopted on the human rights of persons in street situations, which called on States to take all measures necessary to eliminate legislation that criminalised homelessness.
See also: Right to Shelter Needed in California, Holly Wertman, January 2024
WHO members extend negotiations on PABS annex
Negotiations on a core component of the World Health Organization Pandemic Agreement, the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) annex, have been extended to late April, for consideration by the World Health Assembly (WHA) in May. The WHA adopted the Pandemic Agreement last year to address weaknesses exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and to strengthen global cooperation and equity in future pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. The PABS annex is intended to ensure the rapid sharing of pathogens with pandemic potential and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their use, including vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.
See also: Building Rights-Based Implementation After the Pandemic Agreement, Neiloy R. Sircar, Safura Abdool Karim, Roojin Habibi, and Benjamin Mason Meier, 25 June 2025
More national health policies include migrants’ health
More countries are now including refugees and migrants in their health policies and legislation, according to World Health Organization data. The World report on promoting the health of refugees and migrants finds that even in politically sensitive contexts, countries are increasingly relying on evidence, data, science, and established norms and standards to guide policies on migration and health. However, there remains a lack of migration-specific data collection, culturally responsive health care education, and campaigns to counter misinformation about refugee and migrant health.
See also: EDITORIAL Promises (Un)fulfilled: Navigating the Gap Between Law, Policy, and Practice to Secure Migrants’ Health Rights, Stefano Angeleri and Jacqueline Bhabha Vol 26/2, 2024
UN: Keep progressing sexual and reproductive health care
In light of turbulent times and the undermining of international cooperation, the Director of the UN’s Special Programme in Human Reproduction, Dr Pascale Allotey, has called for recommitment to continuing sexual and reproductive health progress. “In a time where the global environment is uncertain, what we see here is clarity of purpose… Our commitment is clear: to deepen partnerships, scale impactful research and strengthen translation into policy and practice so that SRHR remains central to health, rights and equity worldwide.”
See also: The State of International Human Rights Law on Sexual and Reproductive Health: An Overview, Christina Zampas and Åsa Nihlén Vol 27/2, 2025
Gold mine company liable in environmental lawsuit in Thailand
A class action lawsuit in Thailand has yielded a landmark ruling finding a multinational corporation accountable for contamination from its gold mine – the largest in the country. The court considered long-standing health consequences faced by children and adults living near the mine in 2014 and 2015, including unsafe levels of arsenic, manganese and cyanide in their blood. The corporation has been ordered to pay US$6,250 to each of the 382 villagers affected by land and water contamination and it must also clean up the affected areas.
India’s President approves law regressing transgender rights
India’s president Droupadi Murmu this week assented to the Transgender Persons Amendment Bill 2026, reversing rights of transgender people, including the right to self identify their gender. Amnesty International explained the law’s threats, saying it allows medical institutions to share details of gender-affirming procedures with authorities which opens the door to surveillance and misuse of deeply personal data. “It could also discourage people from seeking essential healthcare for fear of privacy infringements.”
See also: Proposed Legislation Removes Right to Self Identify One's Gender in India, Tejas Sateesha Hinder, April 2026
UN warns Israel to repeal death penalty targeting Palestinians
Israel reinstated the death penalty in Israel this week for Palestinians convicted in the occupied West Bank of lethal attacks against Israelis. UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk described the law as “patently inconsistent with Israel’s international law obligations, including in relation to the right to life. It raises serious concerns about due process violations, is deeply discriminatory, and must be promptly repealed.”
Türk: Clampdown on free speech deepens in Middle East
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said repression of civic space and freedom of expression in Iran and the Middle East is worsening. “Across the region and linked to the conflict, my Office is receiving disturbing reports of arbitrary detentions and other forms of State repression. We fear vague security claims related to this conflict are being used instead to further repress and violate people’s fundamental human rights – often members of minorities, and those already marginalised.”
UN Experts: Turkey must end criminalization of human rights defenders
UN Experts including Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right to health, released a statement calling on the Turkish Government to halt intimidation and other forms of retaliation against human rights defenders and lawyers. This follows a series of cases in which human rights lawyers, particularly staff of the Human Rights Association (İHD), have been jailed under anti-terrorism laws.
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