Health and Human Rights News
Week ending 27 September 2025
United Nations 80th anniversary: better together
At this week’s 80th UN General Assembly in New York City, UNGA President Annalena Baerbock said signing of the UN Charter in 1945 “was a promise from leaders to their peoples, and from nations to one another, that humanity had learned from its darkest chapters.” Yet, “the hours indeed feel dark once again”, with crises in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and Haiti, alongside “unfiltered hatred online”. We have to choose the right path; to show the world that we can be better together, she said, echoing the theme of the session.
See also:
EDITORIAL Human Rights for Health across the United Nations, Benjamin Mason Meier and Lawrence O. Gostin, 2019, Vol 21/2
UN principles under assault as never before
UN Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the importance in defending the organization’s ideals and principles as progress comes under threat. “Civilians are targeted, and international law trampled… poverty and hunger are rising as progress to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) falters, while the climate crisis rages. At the same time, we are moving towards a multipolar world,” he added. “To meet these challenges, we must not only defend the United Nations – but strengthen it.”
Funding cuts force fewer UN services
The UN is in a liquidity crisis, spurred on by the Trump administration’s withholding of millions in funding. As of May 2025, the budget crisis began to take a toll on the body’s functions, as unpaid dues left humanitarian crises, HIV/AIDS and reproductive health programs, and more, without funding. Recently, UN OHCHR (Human Rights Oofice) has been forced to only update its English-language website, warning that news in other official UN languages may be incomplete and out of date. The Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women has had its scheduled meetings reviewing country reports “cancelled due to the current liquidity situation of the United Nations Secretariat and associated cash conservation measures
Regroup, recommit, and refocus to achieve SDGS
UN Secretary-General António Guterres reminding participants at a Sustainable Development Goal event at the UNGA, that with only five years until the 2030 deadline, expanded effort and rapid progress are desperately needed. While listing the threats to the commitments, Guterres also noted areas of significant progress, from declining child mortality to record numbers of girls in school. “We must never forget that every percentage point, every fraction, every decimal, represents lives changed and lives saved. It’s time to intensify our efforts to achieve the SDGs.”
See also:
SDG SERIES: What Might the SDGs Mean for Health and Human Rights? An Introduction to the Series, Carmel Williams and Alison Blaiklock, September 2015
Mental health takes top billing at UN Meeting
For the first time, mental health was the focus of an official meeting of this year’s General Assembly. The World Health Organization said a political declaration grounded in human rights was expected to be adopted. The declaration ensures primary healthcare for all, guarantees essential medicines and health technologies, promotes sustainable financing and cross cultural cooperation, increases recognition of the shared risk factors and treatment needs between NCDs and mental health, and raises awareness worldwide.
Climate crisis on center stage
At the General Assembly, many world leaders sounded the alarm about the increasing dangers of climate change and appealed to the international community to take action. King Felipe VI of Spain pointed to the role of governments to ensure a just energy transition. Leaders of smaller island nations, such as the Marshall Islands and Comoros, highlighted the unique threats they face as sea levels rise. US President Donald Trump, however, took the opportunity to attack efforts to shift towards renewable energies and protect the climate, calling carbon footprints “a hoax.”
Leaders call for ceasefire
Calls for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza were widespread at the General Assembly with Secretary-General Guterres emphasizing the horrors faced by those who remain in Gaza. “Countless Palestinian civilians and the remaining hostages are trapped under relentless bombardment and deprived of food, water, electricity, and medicine. Famine is a reality.” Multiple nations formally recognized Palestinian statehood, including permanent security council members France and the United Kingdom.
Foreign ministers stress need for support in Haiti
In a meeting convened under the UN Economic and Social Council, foreign ministers from across the Americas discussed Haiti’s continuing humanitarian crisis. Armed gangs control large swathes of the territory, more than six million people are in urgent need of assistance, and 1.4 million have fled their homes, mainly women and children. Killings and abductions are rampant, while cases of sexual and gender-based violence have significantly increased. The Security Council is considering a proposal by the Secretary-General to establish a new UN Support Office in Haiti.
End impunity over attacks on healthcare
International humanitarian law is being steadily undermined by attacks on healthcare facilities, write Leonard Rubenstein, Rohini Haar and Joseph Amon in this week’s BMJ. They list atrocities in Gaza, including the deaths of 680 health workers and the destruction of 34 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals, leaving only half of them even partially functional. “The pervasive violence inflicted on healthcare, and deprivation of care from people already suffering the ravages of war, contributed to the recent conclusion by a United Nations (UN) commission that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.” They urge the international health community to help protect their colleagues by joining civil society and advocacy organizations, many of which are increasing pressure on their governments to act.
See also:
Free Speech, the Right to Health, and Genocide, Editorial, Joseph J. Amon Vol 27/1, 2025
Health rights accountability from below
In a letter to The Lancet, Paul Hunt, the first Special Rapporteur on the right to health, describes current human rights accountability mechanisms as ‘seriously deficient and not fit for purpose.’ Instead, he proposes that a global health coalition of robustly independent organisations establish a panel to hold states, corporations, or multi-stakeholder initiatives to account for right to health obligations. “The panel’s follow-up recommendations would include activism and advocacy, such as boycotts.”
See also:
Forthcoming Special Section: Exploring Innovative and Effective Accountability Arrangements and the Right to Health, December 2025, Guest editors: Paul Hunt and Anuj Kapilashrami
EPA: scientists told to stop publishing studies
US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water staff were summoned to a town hall meeting this week and instructed to halt work on most ongoing research papers. The researchers were told their manuscripts would be subject to a new review process involving political appointees, according to the Washington Post. The article said the move to halt the agency’s scientific research has prompted concern from scientists and environmental groups that findings could be altered to conform to the Trump administration’s political agenda.
See also:
Free Speech, the Right to Health, and Genocide, Editorial, Joseph J. Amon Vol 27/1, 2025
Events and Courses
- Countering misinformation module
The Digital Health and Rights Project has announced a new self-led module to help users counter misinformation online. The module has been developed for the Digital Empowerment Hub in collaboration with civil society and community advisors across Columbia, Ghana, and Vietnam.
- Webinar: Modeling Re-emerging Vaccine-eliminated diseases
The University of Southern California Institute on Inequalities in Global Health is hosting a virtual seminar to discuss infectious disease research and using mathematical modeling, epidemiology, and more to predict the return of once-eliminated diseases.
Date: September 30 at 12pm PST
- Professional Training Program, Child Protection
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.
Date: 1-5 June, 2026
Applications close: 1 December 2025
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