Health and Human Rights News
News to 27 June 2026
UN: Israeli targeting of Palestinian children called genocide
Israeli authorities have deliberately targeted Palestinian children resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip and war crimes in the West Bank, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel said in a report released this week. At least 20,179 children have been killed and 44,143 injured since October 2023. It emphasized Israel’s intentional attacks on the reproductive futures of Palestinians in the form of strikes on neonatal and maternity centers, attacks on health centers more generally, and restrictions on nutritional and medical aid.
See also:Psychological and Social Suffering of Another Generation of Palestinian Children Living Under Occupation: An Urgent Call to Advocate, VIEWPOINT, Tania Bosqui, Sawsan Abdulrahim, Rima A. Afifi, et al. Vol 26/1, 2024
Palestinian children suffer as NGO access restricted by Israel
Palestinian children are being left increasingly unprotected as human rights defenders and humanitarian organisations are labelled as terrorist groups and forced to halt their work in the occupied Palestinian territory, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has warned. The Committee said these tactics have been coupled with military raids, travel bans, personal financial sanctions, threats of arrest…making it increasingly impossible for these organisations to operate safely or protect the children and families who turn to them for help.
Political declaration adopted to eliminate AIDS by 2030
At the United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, Member States adopted a new Political Declaration that will serve as an important road map to help end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. It sets goals to improve access to testing, prevention, and treatment despite decreases in funding for HIV and anti-rights headwinds, stated UNAIDS.
See also: AIDS 2024: HIV is Inherently Political, Joseph J. Amon, July 2024
Millions of Americans have lost health coverage
Public subsidies for private health insurance, known as ‘enhanced premium tax credits’ were not extended by Congress into 2026, causing millions to lose health coverage while the wealthiest 0.1% of Americans received tax cuts. Human Rights Watch commented, “Lawmakers shouldn’t force ordinary people to sacrifice their health to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy.”
See also: Political Contestation of the Right to Health in the United States: Eighty Years of Conservative Opposition to Health and Human Rights, Benjamin Mason Meier and Darby McBride, Vol 28/1, 2026.
US is harming children methodically
Under the US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, childhood health is underprioritized and increasingly threatened, writes Robert B. Shpiner in the Guardian. He explained that from reducing the vaccine schedule to cutting nutrition benefits for small children, the Trump Administration has stripped back protections for children’s wellbeing. “I have spent more than 40 years in pulmonary and critical care medicine…I have seen children harmed by disease, poverty, by bad luck. I had not, until now, seen them harmed so methodically by their own government.”
See also: US High-Level Office for Children is Critical for Children’s Rights, Miriam Abaya, Nandita Bajaj, Warren Binford, et al, March 2022
UN Experts: Taliban decree further discriminates against women and girls
A decree issued by the Taliban Ministry of Justice on the ‘separation of spouses’ lists conditions whereby a woman can seek separation from her husband, which in actuality will endanger the rights of women and girls, warned UN Experts this week. “The decree increases the potential for abuse of power by guardians, including in marriage arrangements, rendering it almost impossible for girls to report or act on domestic abuse…Several provisions allow a child to seek separation upon reaching puberty, indicating a failure to protect them from being subjected to marriage in the first place. This leaves girls exposed to years of physical, psychological, sexual and economic harm before they can seek relief.”
UN Expert: Mothers exploited and harmed globally
“Mothers around the world face widespread and systemic violence because of their status as mothers, including economic exploitation, reproductive abuse, physical harm and psychological trauma,” said Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls. In her latest report to the Human Rights Council, the UN Expert urged states to recognize mothers as a distinct category and provide them with comprehensive legal protections, such as guaranteed free and accessible maternal healthcare.
Violence against women calls for outrage
UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Awa Dabo said at the annual discussion on women’s rights that the unacceptable injustice of gender-based violence against women must be met with outrage and action. She added that nearly one in three women globally experiences intimate partner or sexual violence in her lifetime, with almost no progress made in two decades. “Today, an organized backlash against gender equality is reinforcing these patterns. And as technology, including AI, is increasingly misused to spread hatred anonymously, we are heading down a very dangerous path.”
See also: Women’s Rights and Gender Equality: A Global Index to Monitor Government Action, Janani Shanthosh, Georgia White, Emma Feeny, et al. Vol 28/1, 2026.
Lesbian and queer women face distinct violence and discrimination
The absence of lesbian, bisexual and queer women from data and lack of inclusion in public policy reinforces exclusion, said Graeme Reid, the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in his latest report to the Human Rights Council. “The rights of lesbian, bisexual and queer women are often mediated through patriarchal institutions and conditioned upon their relationships with men…This particularly constrains their freedom of movement, housing, land and property rights, access to healthcare and other public services and their rights as parents.”
Türk: Do not forget Myanmar
Shrinking aid to Myanmar is compounding civilian suffering across the country, reports the UN Human Rights Office. “Funding for localised protection efforts was in many areas the only solace from the suffering caused by constant targeting and indiscriminate attacks by the military,” said UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk. “International financial support is critical for the success of local protection organizations, which are best-positioned to be highly effective for early warning, emergency healthcare, and aid coordination efforts.”
Uneven progress toward electrification
More 655 million people still have no access to electricity and two billion people continue to use fuels in cooking that are detrimental to health, according to Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus commented, “Amid an unprecedented crisis in energy security, a transition to clean cooking is essential to promote health, gender equality, mitigate climate change and to reduce costs for households and governments.”
See also: Energizing Health: Electricity Access and the Right to Health in Nigeria, STUDENT ESSAY Oshokha Caleb Ilegogie, Vol 27/2, 2025
WHO promotes yoga for healthy aging
On the 12th International Day of Yoga, 21 June, the World Health Organization emphasized the benefits of the practice. “As people live longer, our goal is not just more years, but better years…Yoga supports this through gentle movement, breathing and mindfulness.”
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