Health and Human Rights News
Week ending 9 August 2025
UN accuses Trump administration of leaving the poorest to die…
In a letter to the US government, UN experts Olivier De Schutter and Mihael Fakhri claim the abrupt suspension of US aid has fuelled a global humanitarian catastrophe. They are seeking an urgent response following reports that close to 100 people are dying every hour since President Trump suspended foreign aid. The funding cuts are estimated to have resulted in more than 350,000 deaths – including 200,000 children. “The poorest people in the world are dying by the minute as a result of opaque decision-making by some of the richest people to have ever walked our planet…There is no transparency, no accountability, and no clear justification for a decision that will ultimately cost millions of lives,” the experts said.
… and date nears for closure of all USAID offices
The UN experts also expressed alarm at a recent directive instructing all US embassies to implement the State Department’s plan to abolish all USAID overseas positions by 30 September 2025, further dismantling the infrastructure needed to deliver essential services in poverty-stricken regions. In June, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered the abolishment of the agency’s entire international workforce, transferring control of foreign assistance programs directly to the state department.
See also:
Enforceable Commitments to Global Health Needed to Fulfill Rights, Fight for Rights Viewpoint, Moses Mulumba, Jessica Oga, Juliana Nantaba, and Ana Lorena Ruano, Vol 27/1, 2025
Türk: Gaza is an affront to our humanity
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has again urged for Israel to immediately allow and facilitate unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza and condemned Israel’s denial of food to civilians in Gaza. “That we have reached this stage is an affront to our collective humanity,” he said of the mass starvation in the Gaza Strip. He also called for the immediate release of Israeli hostages, noting that “the videos of emaciated Israeli hostages published by Palestinian armed groups are shocking, and I am appalled by their humiliating treatment.”
UN Experts: Dismantle Gaza Humanitarian Fund, impose arms embargo
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s (GHF) operations in the Gaza Strip are exploiting aid and violating international law, and must be dismantled, said Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right to health and other special rapporteurs this week. They condemned the frequent killings of individuals seeking food at GHF’s distribution sites and Israel’s use of the ‘humanitarian’ organization to weaponize aid, as well as expressing horror at the widespread and deliberate starvation of Palestinians. They also urged UN member states to impose an arms embargo on Israel and suspend all trade and investment agreements with the nation, due to its violations of international law.
Environmental Protection Agency abandons fight against climate change
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced it is revoking its ability to fight climate change, abandoning the ‘endangerment’ principle of 2009 which established that greenhouse gas emissions pose of threat to public health. Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the EPA, speaking at a truck dealership this week, said the agency would also rescind Biden-era regulations to reduce emissions from tailpipes, reported the NY Times. In May, President Trump proposed to stop collecting key measurements of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as part of his 2026 budget plan.
See also:
A Healthy Environment Becomes a Human Right, News, October 2021
A Breath of Fresh Air: Indian Supreme Court Declares Protection from Climate Change a Fundamental Right, Parth Chhapolia, 20 April 2025
US wildfires take serious physical and psychological tolls
Wildfires in the United States have had severe consequences for psychological and physical health. Three studies published this week reveal the wide ranging impacts wildfires have had on communities in Maui and Los Angeles, and emphasize that even greater economic and health consequences of these extreme climate events are felt by marginalized communities. “Some of the new research found that the Maui fire left one in five people with lung damage, and as many as half with symptoms of depression,” the Guardian reported.
mRNA vaccine development loses funding
US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has cancelled almost $500 million in grants and contracts for mRNA vaccine research and development. The termination of 22 Federal contracts follow a series of controversial moves that have undermined science and immunization efforts in the United States. RFK Jr claimed mRNA vaccines ‘fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu’, but did not offer scientific evidence.
Global Plastics Treaty negotiations resume
Negotiations on a global plastics treaty recommenced this week at the UN, having previously stalled over deep divisions, reports Human Rights Watch (HRW). “The treaty should include safeguards to protect human rights and health from production through disposal, and recognize that waste management alone will not solve plastic pollution,” says HRW, adding, “To make the treaty meaningful, countries need to tackle plastic pollution at its source by limiting production, including by phasing out fossil fuels and subsidies.”
Economic sanctions are deadly for children
Unilateral economic sanctions have taken a devastating toll on healthcare systems and are undermining the right to health. A study published in the Lancet finds that economic sanctions, primarily imposed by the United States and its European allies, have caused an estimated 564,258 deaths each year between 2010 and 2021, and that deaths of children younger than five years represented 51% of total deaths caused by sanctions between 1970 and 2021. Economic sanctions restrict a country’s “ability to import essential goods like food, medicine, and medical supplies, and by slashing public budgets, sanctions systematically undermine healthcare systems and other vital services”.
UN Tax Convention: Submissions reveal sharp divides
Ahead of the forthcoming UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (UN Tax Convention), advance submissions reveal divides between the LMICs and OECD countries. An analysis of submissions by the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) found that nearly all submissions recognized the need for fairer allocation of taxing rights and the limitations of the current rules in capturing value from modern – especially digital – business models, but the definition of “fairness” remains contested. Many civil society submissions positioned progressive taxation as central to achieving substantive equality within and between countries. Organizations such as Oxfam and CESR called for the Convention to explicitly recognize the redistributive function of tax systems, and to embed commitments to tax progressivity, particularly through the effective taxation of High-Net-Worth Individuals and multinational corporations.
See also:
A Tax on the World’s Ultra-Rich to Fight Hunger and Disease, Fight for Rights Viewpoint, Eric A. Friedman and Lawrence O. Gostin, Vol 27/1, 2025
Myanmar must end torture and death in prisons
Systematic denial of healthcare in Myanmar’s prisons has resulted in the deaths of over 1,800 people since the military coup in 2021, reports Amnesty International. Amnesty and other human rights organizations have called for the end to practices of torture and ill-treatment in Myanmar’s prisons, the release of all arbitrarily detained prisoners, and the provision of adequate and timely health care access and treatment for detainees.
Small steps toward equal rights for LGBTQ in Hong Kong
Nearly two years after a court ruling mandating equal rights for LGBTQ people, the Hong Kong government finally introduced the Registration of Same‑Sex Partnerships Ordinance to the Legislative Council in July. However, the register is not a straightforward civil registration system, or marriage, and same‑sex couples can only enter the register if they have a legal marriage or civil partnership from overseas – thus it discriminates against those unable to marry outside the country.
Systematic sexual and reproductive violence in Ethiopia
Conflict-related sexual violence in the Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions of Ethiopia is systematic, widespread, deliberate, and ongoing, amounting to crimes against humanity, says Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). Using medical evidence, survey data, and interviews with health professionals, and the Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa, PHR has documented these patterns in a report that identifies widespread forced pregnancies and transmission of STIs and intent to destroy reproductive capacity. It finds “Ethiopian and Eritrean armed forces aimed to prevent future Tigrayan births and exterminate the ethnic group.”
See also:
Interpreting International Humanitarian Law to Guarantee Abortion and Other Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Armed Conflict, Christina Zampas, Rebecca Brown, and Onyema Afulukwe, Vol 26/1, 2024
UNICEF calls for humanitarian access to Darfur
Cholera is ripping through North Darfur, Sudan, threatening thousands of children already weakened by hunger and displacement, warns UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), as aid convoys struggle to reach cut-off communities amid escalating conflict. “More than 640,000 children under five in North Darfur alone are now at risk” and “limited access to clean water, poor sanitation and overcrowded camps have created ideal conditions for the disease to spread,” reported UN News on 3 August, emphasizing UNICEF’s calls for unimpeded humanitarian access to provide lifesaving medical supplies and aid.
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