Health and Human Rights News
Week ending 7 March 2025
International Women’s Day 2025: For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment
As the world celebrates 30 years of achievement on the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, gender discrimination remains deeply embedded in the structures of economies and societies. “This sustains wide and unjust gaps in power and resources, imposing a chronic constraint on progress on women’s rights. The weakening of democratic institutions has gone hand in hand with backlash on gender equality,” according to a report from UNWomen, marking International Women’s Day, 8 March.
See also: Women’s Health and Rights: Time to Recommit, Flavia Bustreo and Rajat Khosla, 4 May 2023
UN Committee recommends increased resources for women’s health, Roma…
Concluding observations of the CESCR on country reports from Croatia, Peru, the Philippines, and Rwanda highlight the need for expanded financial support for healthcare systems (increasing numbers of staff, access to equipment and infrastructure, and bolstering coverage for more remote and rural areas). The committee also reiterated a need for guaranteed access to abortion services and bolstered sexual and reproductive care and education, addressing cultural taboos, provision of neonatal services to indigenous populations, and high rates of adolescent pregnancies. The recommendations for Croatia specifically referred to the poorer health of Roma, their lower rates of insurance coverage, and the need for to increase Roma health care coverage.
See also: Empowerment Initiatives: Improving the Health of Underserved Roma Communities in Eastern Europe, Marek Szilvasi and Maja Saitovic-Jovanovic, Volume 25/1, 2023
Anti-Roma Racism is Spiraling During COVID-19 Pandemic, Margareta Matache and Jacqueline Bhabha, April 2020
… Implement harm reduction drug use policies in UK
Concluding observations of the CESCR on the UK, in addition to expressing concern over inadequate funding for the health sector, long waiting times, and shortages in medical staff and equipment, noted the high rate of drug-related deaths, the punitive approach to drug use, and the limited availability and accessibility of harm reduction and rehabilitation programmes. It recommended a review of the legislation to adopt a human-rights based approach to drug use, and use of harm reduction programmes.
EDITORIAL The Case for International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Control,
Rick Lines, Richard Elliott, Julie Hannah, Rebecca Schleifer, Tenu Avafia, and Damon Barrett, June 2017
Tax policy obligations affirmed in landmark CESCR statement
The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has issued a statement affirming the duty of states to prioritize social justice and equality in tax policies. The Committee stressed states’ obligations to combat inequalities in their taxation policies, and emphasized the capacity of tax reform to help realize economic and social rights. At the international level, the Committee welcomed General Assembly Resolution 78/230, which lays the groundwork for a United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation to improve international coordination in tackling tax evasion, illicit financial flows, and corporate profit-shifting. “Low effective corporate tax rates, wasteful tax incentives, lax regulation of illicit financial flows, tax evasion and tax avoidance, and the permitting of tax havens and financial secrecy drive a race to the bottom, depriving other countries of significant resources for public services on health, education, housing, and for social security and environmental policies.”
See also: Ecuador Court Forces Tax Changes to Comply with the Right to Health, Berenice Cerra and Daniel Dorado, 11 September 2024
US ‘Health Freedom’ movement is a war on public health
Justin Feldman, a visiting scientist with Harvard FXB, writes on the state of public health in the United States, the notion of ‘health freedom’ in recent right-wing American politics, and argues that the return of President Trump is a further escalation in the war on public health. The article dives into conspiracies in the Make America Healthy Again movement and discusses anti-vaccine agendas and the movement’s political momentum. But Feldman says the movement can be defeated by exposing it for what it is: unpopular, morally hideous, and a losing cause. “We need to fight for a right to health which includes universal healthcare as well as strong public health measures.”
See also: The Equity Effect of Universal Health Care, Anja Rudiger, Vol 25/2, 2023
Claims of fraud in US health are wrong
Executive Director of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, Joan Alker, analyses President Trump’s proposed changes which will impact Medicaid and explores Medicaid fraud. Suggestions of fraud helped justify the House of Representatives’ recent vote on a budget resolution that would cut $880 billion in federal spending. But Alker found ‘Arguments that fraud justifies cuts in federal funds of that magnitude are simply false’.
US fails to respond to measles outbreak
As a measles outbreak expands in West Texas, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the US health and human services secretary promoted several unconventional treatments, including cod liver oil, and again did not urge all Americans to get vaccinated, instead said it was a personal choice reported the New York Times. Dr Mary Bassett addresses the insufficient response to measles outbreaks, and impacts of cuts to health funding in the United States.
Mental health risk for immigrant children in detention
Current US immigration policy prioritises concepts of ‘security’ above the right to health putting vulnerable immigrant children at high risk of long term medical and mental health crises. The authors of a paper published in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas claim there is a chasm between the care offered to detained migrant children in the United States and US minimum standards of healthcare. Shela Sridhar et al, find that the detention facilities are unequipped to provide appropriate pediatric medical and mental health care and there is a need for full accountability.
See also: Children Arriving in the United States Need Strong Safeguards, Michael Garcia Bochenek and Warren Binford, 19 April 2022
Characteristics and Guardianship Status of Children Undergoing Forensic Medical and Psychological Evaluation for Asylum in Miami, Marina Plesons, Haley Hullfish, Priyashma Joshi, Stephen Symes, and Anjali Saxena, Vol 26/2, 2024
A Multi-Level Approach to Promoting the Health Rights of Immigrant Children in the United States, Lars Lindgren and Karla Fredricks, Vol 26/2, 2024
Zambia allows lead mining despite poisoning children
A new report from Human Rights Watch finds that lead mining in Zambia has caused large-scale health consequences for residents, particularly children. The Zambian government has issued licenses to domestic and foreign mining companies, profiting off the highly toxic metal and knowingly exposing children to severe health risks. The report estimates that over 95 percent of children living near a former mine have elevated blood lead levels, and about half urgently require medical treatment.
Investigate Israeli attacks on Lebanon’s health sector as war crimes – Amnesty
Amnesty International studied four Israeli attacks on healthcare facilities and medical vehicles that killed 19 healthcare workers and wounded 11 more in a one-week period between 3 and 9 October 2024 and it now wants the attacks to be investigated as war crimes. “The Israeli military repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using ambulances to transport fighters and weapons, and of using the Islamic Health Association (IHA) as a ‘cover for terrorist activities.'” Amnesty found no evidence to support the accusations. The report says that between 8 October 2023 and late November 2024, at least 222 medical and civil defence personnel had been killed and hundreds more wounded in Lebanon, according to the Ministry of Public Health.
Uncertainty prevails with AIDS programs
UNAIDS Country Offices have continued to report on the immediate impacts of the mass-termination of USAID employees. PEPFAR-funded countries remain unsure as to how programs will transition to alternative sources of funding, and many sites are at reduced capacity, with some having entirely halted their provision of health and support services.
See also: AIDS 2024: HIV is Inherently Political, Joseph J. Amon, 26 July 2024
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