Health and Human Rights News
Week ending 1 November 2025
RSF attack hospitals and health workers in Sudan
The World Health Organization (WHO) condemns the reported killing of more than 460 patients and their companions, as well as the abduction of six health workers, on 28 October from the Saudi Maternity Hospital in El Fasher, Sudan. Following their takeover of the city of El Fasher early this week, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have escalated violent attacks on the civilian population, including ethnically motivated executions, attacks on the health system, and worsening siege conditions. Since the conflict began, 46 health workers have been killed in El Fasher and another 48 injured.
A Forgotten War: Sudan’s Humanitarian and Human Rights Crisis, Ketan Tamirisa, Lara Kendall, Faraan O. Rahim, Paul Kim, Esraa Usman Eltayeb, and Nhial T. Tutlam, 1 July 2025
Israeli airstrikes on civilians are appalling, says Türk
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk condemned Israel’s retaliatory overnight airstrikes on residential buildings, IDP tents, and schools across the Gaza strip, that have killed 100 Palestinians this week. The airstrikes followed the death of an Israeli soldier. “The past two years have brought untold suffering and misery, and the near wholesale destruction of Gaza,” he said. “We must not allow this opportunity for peace and a path towards a more just and secure future to slip from our grasp.”
UN Expert warns of world disorder unless international finance is reformed
UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development, Surya Deva, warns of an emerging “world disorder” marked by economic, environmental and institutional disorder and he urges reform of international financial architecture. In his report to the UN the Special Rapporteur analysed the Sevilla Commitment adopted by States at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, and prepared a balance sheet of achievements and missed opportunities. Deva says States should leverage additional sources of financing, tame tax avoidance/evasion and illicit financial flows, deliver on debt relief, promote substantive gender equality, and pursue development within planetary boundaries.
See also:
Are Development Finance Institutions Meeting Their Human Rights Obligations in Health? Anna Marriott, Anjela Taneja, and Linda Oduor-Noah Vol 25/2, 2023
UHC2030’s Contributions to Global Health Governance that Advance the Right to Health Care: A Preliminary Assessment, Rachel Hammonds, Gorik Ooms, Moses Mulumba, and Allan Maleche, Vol 21/2, 2019
COVID-19 aid response reveals a need for transparent tracking systems
“Analysis of COVID-19 donor funding reveals a profound disconnect between the rhetoric of global solidarity and the reality: most official development assistance was issued as loans, and direct support to partner governments was minimal”, wrote Harvard FXB Executive Director Jehane Sedky et al. in The Lancet. When WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic it triggered a wave of aid commitments. However, no unified system existed to track pledges made by governments and philanthropic foundations. Publicly available estimates of COVID-19 funding varied widely, from US$136.5 billion to $21.7 trillion. The authors call for improved systems to track aid so it is transparent, predictable, and aligned with national priorities.
Enforceable Commitments to Global Health Needed to Fulfill Rights, FIGHT FOR RIGHTS VIEWPOINT SERIES, Moses Mulumba, Jessica Oga, Juliana Nantaba, and Ana Lorena Ruano Vol 27/1, 2025
Climate crisis already taking a devastating toll
Climate inaction is killing people now in all countries, according to the 2025 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, published this week in collaboration with the World Health Organization. The report details increases in rising-heat related deaths, worsening wildfire and drought impacts, and growing economic strain. WHO stated that Climate action is the greatest health opportunity of our time: “Cleaner air, healthier diets, and resilient health systems can save millions of lives now and protect current and future generations.”
See also:
Special Section on Ecological Justice and the Right to Health
Special Section on Health Rights and the Urgency of the Climate Crisis
Economic sanctions endanger public health
Communities in countries which have economic sanctions imposed on them face immense threats to stability, health security, and climate resistance. Professor Reza Majdzadeh of Essex University explains that “aid-related sanctions alone have been associated with average annual losses of US$213m in official development assistance and $16m in direct health aid, wiping out up to 30% of gains in child mortality and 64% in maternal mortality over five years.”
Legal US immigrants will lose affordable healthcare
An estimated 1.2 million people who are lawfully residing or working in the United States are predicted to lose coverage due to recent federal health care policy changes. Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms details the impact of Affordable Care Act marketplace changes on immigrants, stating “For many lawfully residing immigrants, recent federal changes effectively eliminate any affordable pathway to comprehensive health coverage, reducing their access to health care and financial security.”
See also:
Trump’s Banned Words and Disastrous Health Policies, Joseph J. Amon, Vol 27/1, 2025
US state laws limit abortion access for young people
Laws in six US states that mandate parental notification about a young person’s abortion decision are threatening their rights to abortion care. Human Rights Watch is urging the repeal of these laws noting that when healthcare providers are required to notify a parent, it causes dangerous delays and blocks access. “Most young people considering abortion involve a parent in their decision. Those who do not often have no access to a parent or fear that parental involvement will lead to severe consequences, such as physical abuse, loss of housing, family alienation, or forced continuation of a pregnancy against their wishes.”
The US Administration’s Assault on Global Reproductive Health and Autonomy, FIGHT FOR RIGHTS VIEWPOINT SERIES, Winona Xu, Vol 27/1 2025
US Clinicians Face a Dual Loyalty Crisis over Reproductive Health Care, VIEWPOINT, Ranit Mishori, Payal K. Shah, Karen Naimer, and Michele Heisler, Vol 26/1, 2024
France enshrines consent in new rape law
France has adopted a new law to redefine rape as any non-consensual sexual act, following similar updates made by multiple other European countries. This landmark provision places absence of consent at the center of sexual violence for the first time as well as emphasizing the role of autonomy in sexual relations. “It is also critical that French authorities refrain from cutting and undermining public funding and instead strengthen its support for associations dedicated to sexual and reproductive rights and support for rape survivors,” said Human Rights Watch.
Suspending US food aid will leave millions hungry
Following the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announcement that food assistance aid will be halted from 1 November if the federal government remains shut down, 25 states and the District of Columbia have sued the Trump Administration, calling the suspension “unlawful.” Human Rights Watch has condemned the move as it “would force tens of millions to cut back on food, undermining their human rights.” It explained that President Trump’s The One Big Beautiful Bill Act reduced federal funding for social protection programs like the food program, in large part to help finance tax cuts that mainly accrue to wealthy households and large corporations.
Summit to address Congo crisis
As leaders from Africa’s Great Lakes region and around the world meet in Paris this week to address the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) warns of an escalating humanitarian and health crisis, including immense violence, mass displacement, infectious disease, and acute malnutrition, and more than 7 million people are internally displaced. Conflict related sexual violence is also surging in the region, with more than 11,000 new cases of sexual violence since February 2025 reported, up 31% over last year. “Despite claims by President Trump that he has brought peace to DRC, the war continues and millions of civilians are suffering,” said Physicians for Human Rights.
Syrian health system near collapse
Collapsing infrastructure, shortages of medicine and supplies, dwindling qualified staff, and the closure of medical facilities are pushing Syria’s healthcare system to the brink, reports the People’s Dispatch. The government’s claims that free, public healthcare is available to all Syrians, fail to capture the full picture of a deteriorating system. According to World Health Organization data, about 70% of Syria’s healthcare workers have left the country.
Global impact of health worker migration
“Migration of health workers continues to shape health systems around the world, with the Global South still bearing the greatest burden of the brain drain, despite facing the most severe workforce shortages to begin with”, according to research by the People’s Health Movement. Health workers in the Asian region are migrating due to poor working conditions and pay in their own local health systems. Without decisive actions and meaningful reforms from governments, this imbalance will continue to drive migration and deepen global inequities in care.
Events and Courses
Institute for Universal Rights, Health & Justice Leadership Program: 1 June-10 July 2026, A virtual six-week program
The G. Barrie Landry Child Protection Professional Training Program 2026 is now inviting applications for the course held at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. 1-5 June, 2026; Applications close: 1 December 2025
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