MIL-OSI Publisher – Page 20

August 19, 2026

Women risk their lives to reach healthcare in Port-au-Prince

Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

In Port-au-Prince, Haiti, every movement poses a risk. For thousands of women, seeing a doctor, obtaining contraceptives, attending prenatal check-ups, or receiving care after sexual assault has become fraught with obstacles.

In a capital where armed violence is undermining an already fragile health system, access to sexual and reproductive healthcare is increasingly limited. Yet such care remains essential at every stage of life.

A collapsing health system

One recent morning, a 29-year-old woman was admitted, barely conscious, to the Isaïe Jeanty Maternity hospital, which is supported by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). She had developed postpartum eclampsia – a serious complication that can be fatal without prompt treatment – after giving birth at home a few hours earlier.

Her stepfather accompanied her on a motorcycle from Cité Soleil, a commune of Port-au-Prince, with her newborn baby in his arms.

“I was shaking when I arrived; I thought it was a lost cause,” he says in the maternity ward, where about 15 women are being monitored by medical teams. “This morning, she looked as if she were dead. But now she’s almost smiling. It’s as if she had been brought back to life.”

Haiti has the highest maternal mortality ratio in the Americas. The World Health Organization estimates that it stood at 328 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023, compared to 197 globally and 58 in the Americas region.

These numbers illustrate the gradual collapse of a health system weakened by the expansion of armed groups, institutional instability and chronic underfunding of public services. In Port-au-Prince, many health facilities have closed their doors, thus severely reducing access to essential healthcare — especially for women and their sexual and reproductive healthcare.

Many pregnancies are not monitored by trained professionals, and births take place at home without medical assistance. Without timely access to healthcare, complications, such as eclampsia, haemorrhages, infections, or neonatal distress, may be detected too late.

“We had to refer a woman at eight months of pregnancy to give birth to her baby who died in utero,” says a midwife at an MSF mobile clinic. “She had never been able to receive prenatal check-ups. This should not be happening. These are preventable complications that become fatal without medical support.”

MSF staff see patients for sexual and reproductive health care consultations at a mobile clinic in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, December 2025.

Jelle Krings

Multiple obstacles to face

For many women, reaching a health facility has become an ordeal. Armed clashes, shifting frontlines, checkpoints, roads blocked by mountains of rubbish, transport costs and forced displacement complicate every consultation.

“Patient transfers are extremely difficult: transport is limited, and functional maternity and neonatal units are scarce,” says Naomi Lubin, an MSF supervising midwife.

Added to this is another challenge: some women are reluctant to leave their neighbourhood for fear of being identified with their place of residence. In a city divided between neighbourhoods controlled by armed groups and others by the authorities, an address can be enough to stigmatise a person or lead others to suspect them of having links to an armed group. Leaving one’s neighbourhood to go to hospital can then become life-threatening.

“My two-year-old child hasn’t been vaccinated for a year and a half because I can’t leave the area,” says a woman and MSF patient. “I don’t want to go out with my identity card with my address indicated. I’m scared. You could get killed.”

Like many other women living in Port-au-Prince, violence is disrupting many aspects of her life, including access to healthcare.

Maintaining healthcare despite the crisis

In response, MSF has set up mobile activities to bring care closer to the communities. Every week, medical teams provide general healthcare in former schools or churches, in multiple neighbourhoods, offering consultations for several hours. In the first half of 2026, they provided 4,500 sexual and reproductive health consultations.

To strengthen the continuity of care in the long term, MSF is also investing in the rehabilitation of the Isaïe Jeanty Maternity hospital in Cité Soleil, an existing public facility. Working alongside the Ministry of Public Health and Population, the teams provide emergency obstetric care, including caesarean sections, as well as contraception and care for victims and survivors of sexual violence.

In the first half of 2026, staff assisted with 929 deliveries, including 285 emergency caesarean sections. 257 patients were also referred, with their newborns, to other health facilities for the management of serious complications.

Naomie Lubin, an MSF midwife at the Isaïe Jeanty Maternity hospital in Port-au-Prince, smiles while holding a newborn in her arms. Haiti, August 2026.

Marx Stanley Léveillé/MSF

Despite these efforts, people’s needs remain immense. Insecurity continues to limit the movement of patients and medical staff.

“When clashes affect our medical facilities, we have to suspend our activities and evacuate the premises,” Diana Manilla Arroyo, MSF head of mission in Haiti. “This has happened twice in the last two months. These suspensions drastically reduce referral options and complicate the management of obstetric emergencies, as well as many other sexual and reproductive health needs.”

Ensuring continued access to this care remains essential to safeguarding the health and lives of thousands of women and girls in Port-au-Prince.

August 19, 2026

Argentina: Unchecked deployment of AI-driven surveillance reinforces a techno-authoritarian infrastructure of social control

Source: Amnesty International –

The expanded use of surveillance technologies in Argentina during the first two years of the Javier Milei’s administration has served to expand states surveillance capabilities, profiling and reprisals in the country, creating a chilling effect on rights to privacy and freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, Amnesty International said in a new report today.

The report, Sensing the Surveillance State, documents how the government implemented sweeping institutional reforms to expand its intelligence capabilities and therefore surveillance mechanisms, through executive decrees and resolutions. Between 2024-2025, it also acquired technologies worth at least US$1.2 million, including social media monitoring tools, facial recognition, and aerial surveillance tools. Together, these policies and technologies amount to a system of mass surveillance.

“Pervasive surveillance is being used against Argentinians in both physical and digital spaces, to devastating effect. These technologies have become an integral part of the infrastructure of state control, targeting dissent, deterring protest movements, and harassing marginalized groups, among other authoritarian practices,” said Paola Garcia Ray, Deputy Director, Amnesty International Argentina.

“When powerful people don’t want accountability, they attack those who ask questions and use whatever is at their disposal to monitor, control and repress.”

The report is based on interviews with 21 people including journalists, activists, pensioners, young people and human rights defenders; analysis of scores of procurement documents and data related to acquired surveillance technologies; and information obtained through freedom of information (FOI) requests.

August 18, 2026

Oxfam Reaction to the December European Council

Source: Oxfam –

Commenting at the close of the EU council meeting where leaders agreed on a new EU 2030 climate target and discussed the EU’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Evelien van Roemburg, head of Oxfam’s EU advocacy office said:

Climate

“The new, more ambitious, EU 2030 target still falls short of what is needed and what is fair. The EU must take urgent practical steps to deliver above and beyond this target.

“It won’t be possible to deliver on the new climate target if governments don’t cut the emissions of the richest 10% of Europeans who are responsible for more than a quarter of EU emissions. We need a fair European Green Deal that tackles luxury carbon emissions and confronts inequality. This means ending subsidies for fossil fuels, introducing taxes on aviation fuel, and banning SUVs. Revenues should be invested in housing renovation and public transport that will deliver millions of jobs, clean air, and warm homes for everyone.”

Covid-19

“EU leaders’ talk of a ‘shared spirit of global solidarity to defeat the pandemic’ rings hollow given that they are actively blocking proposals at the World Trade Organisation that would force big pharma to waive their monopolies and patents on vaccines – a move that could boost vaccine production and end this pandemic faster. We need a People’s Vaccine, not a profit vaccine.”

August 18, 2026

Oxfam safeguarding and culture improvement plan, April-Sept 2020

Source: Oxfam –

Oxfam reports every six months against its Safeguarding and Culture Improvement Plan. The latest report highlights Oxfam’s new Global Case Management System that allows for enhanced data analysis and oversight of safeguarding and other management compliances, along with improved mechanisms for reporting to donors and authorities. Oxfam is adapting its safeguarding guidance to teams to help them adjust to the realities of increased virtual working as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This included participating in a confederation–wide real time evaluation into how we are supporting countries to respond to the coronavirus emergency, identifying and socializing best practises. The report includes Oxfam’s latest safeguarding disclosure data over the period covered, that shows the organization managed 88 safeguarding cases, closing out half of them including 21 as being upheld with appropriate actions taken.

August 18, 2026

UNEP Emissions Gap Report – Reaction

Source: Oxfam –

Tim Gore, Head of Climate Policy at Oxfam, and a contributing author to the United Nations Environment Programme’s Emissions Gap Report 2020, said:

“The UNEP report shows that the over-consumption of a wealthy minority is fuelling the climate crisis, yet it is poor communities and young people who are paying the price.

“It will be practically and politically impossible to close the emissions gap if governments don’t cut the carbon footprint of the wealthy and end the inequalities which leave millions of people without access to power or unable to heat their homes.

“A fair and green recovery will help the world bounce back from the from COVID-19 pandemic by creating millions of decent jobs, and help build more sustainable, resilient, economies that work for everyone.”

Tim Gore, a contributing author to Chapter 6 of the UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2020 – Bridging the Gap: the role of low carbon equitable lifestyles, is available for interview.

Oxfam’s report, Confronting Carbon Inequality, revealed that the richest one percent of the world’s population are responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution as the 3.1 billion people who made up the poorest half of humanity during a critical 25-year period of unprecedented emissions growth. The report, which was released in September 2020, is based on research conducted with the Stockholm Environment Institute. Oxfam released new analysis on 8th December which showed that EU emissions cuts in the last 30 years were only achieved among poorer Europeans, while emissions of richest 10% have grown.

Anna Ratcliff, +447796993288 or anna.ratcliff@oxfam.org

For updates, please follow @Oxfam.

August 18, 2026

Campaigners warn that 9 out of 10 people in poor countries are set to miss out on COVID-19 vaccine next year

Source: Oxfam –

Nearly 70 poor countries will only be able to vaccinate one in ten people against COVID-19 next year unless urgent action is taken by governments and the pharmaceutical industry to make sure enough doses are produced, a group of campaigning organisations warned today.

By contrast, wealthier nations have bought up enough doses to vaccinate their entire populations nearly three times over by the end of 2021 if those currently in clinical trials are all approved for use. Canada tops the chart with enough vaccines to vaccinate each Canadian five times. Updated data shows that rich nations representing just 14 per cent of the world’s population have bought up 53 per cent of all the most promising vaccines so far.

The organizations, including Amnesty International, Frontline AIDS, Global Justice Now and Oxfam, who are part of an alliance calling for a People’s Vaccine, used data collected by science information and analytics company Airfinity to analyze the deals done between countries and the eight leading vaccine candidates. They found that 67 low and lower middle-income countries risk being left behind as rich countries move towards their escape route from this pandemic. Five of the 67 – Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan and Ukraine – have reported nearly 1.5 million cases between them.

Anna Marriott, Oxfam’s health policy Manager, said: “No one should be blocked from getting a life-saving vaccine because of the country they live in or the amount of money in their pocket. But unless something changes dramatically, billions of people around the world will not receive a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19 for years to come.”

Heidi Chow, from Global Justice Now, said: “All pharmaceutical corporations and research institutions working on a vaccine must share the science, technological know-how, and intellectual property behind their vaccine so enough safe and effective doses can be produced. Governments must also ensure the pharmaceutical industry puts people’s lives before profits.”

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has already received approval in the UK and vaccinations are beginning this week. It is likely to receive approval from other countries including the US within days. Two further potential vaccines, from Moderna and Oxford in partnership with AstraZeneca are expected to submit or are awaiting regulatory approval. The Russian vaccine, Sputnik, has announced positive trial results and four other candidates are in phase 3 clinical trials.

So far, all of Moderna’s doses and 96 percent of Pfizer/BioNTech’s have been acquired by rich countries. In welcome contrast Oxford/AstraZeneca has pledged to provide 64 percent of their doses to people in developing nations. Yet despite their actions to scale up supply they can still only reach 18 per cent of the world’s population next year at most. Oxford/AstraZeneca deals have also mostly been made with some of the big developing countries like China and India, while the majority of developing countries have not done deals and have to share the COVAX pool of vaccines between them.

This demonstrates that one company alone cannot hope to supply the whole world, and that only open sharing of technology between vaccine producers can make this possible.

The People’s Vaccine Alliance is calling on all pharmaceutical corporations working on COVID-19 vaccines to openly share their technology and intellectual property through the World Health Organization COVID-19 Technology Access Pool, so that billions more doses can be manufactured and safe and effective vaccines can be available to all who need them.

The Alliance is also calling on governments to do everything in their power to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are made a global public good—free of charge to the public, fairly distributed and based on need. A first step would be to support South Africa and India’s proposal to the World Trade Organisation Council this week to waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments until everyone is protected.

Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Economic and Social Justice, said: “The hoarding of vaccines actively undermines global efforts to ensure that everyone, everywhere can be protected from COVID-19. Rich countries have clear human rights obligations not only to refrain from actions that could harm access to vaccines elsewhere, but also to cooperate and provide assistance to countries that need it.

“By buying up the vast majority of the world’s vaccine supply, rich countries are in breach of their human rights obligations. Instead, by working with others to share knowledge and scale up supply, they could help bring an end to the global COVID-19 crisis.”

The vaccines developed by AstraZeneca/Oxford, Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech have received more than $5 billion dollars of public funding, which the alliance said placed a responsibility on them to act in the global public interest.

Dr. Mohga Kamal Yanni, from the People’s Vaccine Alliance, said: “Rich countries have enough doses to vaccinate everyone nearly three times over, whilst poor countries don’t have enough to even reach health workers and people at risk.

“The current system, where pharmaceutical corporations use government funding for research, retain exclusive rights and keep their technology secret to boost profits, could cost many lives.”

Lois Chingandu, Director of Frontline AIDS, said: “This pandemic is a global problem that requires a global solution. The global economy will continue to suffer so long as much of the world does not have access to a vaccine.

“We need to put pharmaceutical industry profit aside during this unprecedented pandemic, both to save humanity and the economy.”

Momentum is mounting for a People’s vaccine, which has already been backed by COVID survivors, health experts, activists, past and present world leaders, faith leaders and economists including: Cyril Ramaphosa, Imran Khan, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Gordon Brown, Helen Clark, Mary Robinson, Joseph Stiglitz, John Nkengasong and Thomas Piketty.

Last month in the US, more than 100 high-level leaders from public health, faith-based, racial justice, and labor organizations, joined former members of Congress, economists and artists to sign a public letter calling on President-elect Biden seize on this extraordinary moment and power of the US President to support a People’s Vaccine.

Concurrently in the EU, a broad coalition of health worker trade unions, NGOs, activist groups, students associations and health experts launched a European Citizens’ Initiative for a people’s vaccine. The Initiative would allow European citizens to introduce legislative proposals if they collect 1 million signatures.

All figures are based on the fact 2 doses are required apart from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine which is a single dose vaccine.

The People’s Vaccine Alliance is a coalition of global and national organizations and activists united under a common aim of campaigning for a ‘People’s Vaccine’. The call for a People’s Vaccine is backed by past and present world leaders, health experts, faith leaders and economists. For more information visit: https://peoplesvaccine.org

The figures have been calculated by analysing data from Airfinity for November 2020. The statistic ‘9 out of 10 people missing out on vaccines in 67 countries’ is based on the fact that 30 low-income countries and 37 lower-middle income countries currently will only have access to any vaccine through the COVAX Advanced Market Commitment (AMC). The 67 countries do not include middle-income countries such as Brazil, Indonesia and Vietnam, who have also made their own bilateral deals. So far, the COVAX AMC has managed to secure 700 million doses from the leading vaccine candidates, to be distributed between the 92 countries that have signed up. The figure was reached by dividing 700 million doses by the population of the 92 countries (3.6 billion), then dividing that by two, as two doses are required by the vaccines already secured by COVAX AMC to vaccinate each individual. Details of the COVAX AMC can be found here: https://www.gavi.org/news/media-room/92-low-middle-income-economies-eligible-access-covid-19-vaccines-gavi-covax-amc

The 67 countries are: Afghanistan, Angola, Algeria, Benin, Bhutan, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Gambia, Ghana, The Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kenya, Kiribati, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor Leste, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, Vanuatu, West Bank and Gaza, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Calculations of proportion of doses for rich and poor nations were based on analysing data on supply deals gathered by Airfinity. We examined the vaccine candidates that are in phase three trials that have done significant supply deals with countries across the world, cross-checking with original sources. There are currently eight of these: Astra Zeneca/Oxford, Novovax, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi/GSK, Pfizer/BioNTech, Gamaleya/Sputnik, Moderna and Sinovac.

According to data from Johns Hopkins, Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan and Ukraine have had over 1.46m cases between them: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Breakdown of 8 leading vaccine candidates in Phase 3 that have done substantial deals with countries worldwide is available on request.

Vaccine Candidate	Distribution of doses b/w rich and poorer countries (by end 2021)	Approx. Price	Public money received	Commitment to open sharing/ patents
Pfizer/ BioNTech	Total under contract: 1.128 billion doses Rich countries:1.082 billion (96%) Poorer countries: 54 million (4%)	$19.50 a dose in US, two dose regimen. Represents up to 80% profit margin.	Yes- $546 million to BioNTech from EU and German govt. $2 billion contract with US government.	BioNTech is the holder of the IP and neither BioNTech or Pfizer has made any commitment to sharing IP or joining the WHO C-TAP
Moderna	Total under contract: 777 million Rich countries: 100% Poorer countries: 0%	$12 to $32 a dose, two dose regimen. Considered to be ‘pandemic price only’	Yes- $2.48 billion from US government, if certain milestones are met.	Yes, but limited. Will not enforce patents during the pandemic and willing to license IP post pandemic. No commitment to open sharing or WHO C-TAP.
Astra Zeneca/ Oxford	Total under contract: 2.731billion Rich countries: 983 million (36%) Poorer countries: 1.747billion (64%)	$3-$5 a dose from the licensed Indian Serum Institute two dose regimen and no profit during pandemic. No profit to low income countries in perpetuity.	Yes – over $1.9 billion from US and UK governments, CEPI AND GAVI.	IP owned by Oxford University. AZ has an exclusive license to develop and manufacture globally, including tech transfer, to contract manufacturing organisations and sublicencees but contracts are not transparent. AZ CEO openly opposed to any public sharing of technology and IP . No commitment to open sharing or joining WHO C-TAP.
Novavax	Total under contract: 1.376 billion Rich countries: 376 million (27%) Poorer countries 1 billion (73%)	$16 a dose	$1.6 billion in US government funding	Potential Tech transfer between Novavax and Indian Serum company but not transparent. No commitment to open sharing of technology or IP or of joining WHO C-TAP.
Johnson and Johnson	Total under contract: 1.268 billion Rich countries: 768 million (61%) Poorer countries 500 million (39%)	$10 a dose, ‘non-profit’- one dose regimen	$1.5 billion from US govt	No commitment to open sharing of technology or IP or of joining WHO C-TAP
Sanofi/ GSK	Total under contract: 1.232 billion Rich countries: 1.032 billion doses (84%) Poorer countries: 200 million doses (16%)	$10.50 a dose ‘no-profit’ during pandemic.	$2.1 billion from US govt	Loose commitment to ‘sharing their technology’ but no firm position on sharing IP and technology, and no commitment to joining WHO C-TAP
Sinovac	Total under contract: 229 million Rich countries (0%) Developing countries (100%)	$13.50-$30 per dose	Sinovac 40% owned by Chinese Govt. Also has benefited from loans from Chinese govt.	Sinovac have shared technology with Indonesian and Brazilian producers but no commitment to WHO C-TAP. Xi Jinping has committed that all Chinese vaccines will be a ‘global public good’
Gamaleya/ Sputnik	Total under contract: 587 million Rich countries (0.3%) Poorer countries (99.7%)	$10 a dose	Gamaleya institute that is developing the vaccine is publicly owned and operates under the Ministry of Health.	Some commitment to share technology according to some news reports but nothing concrete and no commitment to joining the WHO C-TAP.

August 17, 2026

Russia: Anti-war politician Lev Shlosberg sentenced to 11 years and one month in prison amid mounting pressure on his Yabloko party

Source: Amnesty International –

Reacting to the sentencing of Lev Shlosberg, deputy chair of the Yabloko party — the only registered Russian political party which has consistently opposed Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and campaigned for a ceasefire and diplomacy — to 11 years and one month in prison, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said:

“For nothing more than taking part in an anti-war debate and sharing a social media post, Lev Shlosberg faces more than 11 years behind bars. His arbitrary prosecution and sentencing are blatant reprisals for exercising his right to freedom of expression to call for peace.”

“The Yabloko party’s disqualification from running in the September State Duma election is further proof that political pluralism and anti-war expression have no place in Russia today.

“The Russian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Lev Shlosberg and quash his conviction. They must repeal legislation criminalizing peaceful anti-war expression, end the persecution of Yabloko members and supporters, and respect the rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and political participation for all Russians.”

In his final statement in the trial, Lev Shlosberg described how “thousands and thousands” of individuals have been targeted in Russia for their “peaceful, non-violent, and humanistic” beliefs. He concluded: “In reality, in this courtroom I am the Russian Federation, which has been put in a cage and which they want to force into silence.”

Background

On 17 August, the Pskov City Court sentenced Lev Shlosberg, a veteran Russian politician, journalist and deputy chair of Yabloko party, to 11 years and one month in a penal colony. He was prosecuted under Article 280.3(1) of the Russian Criminal Code for “repeated discreditation of the Russian Armed Forces,” and Article 207.3(2)(d) for “dissemination of deliberately false information about the Russian Armed Forces.” The charges relate to his participation in an online debate about the war against Ukraine and sharing on social media of a publication featuring a Daily Mirror front page showing Vladimir Putin and a blood-covered Ukrainian woman.

Lev Shlosberg’s trial ended amid mounting pressure on Yabloko. On 10 August 2026, Russia’s Supreme Court barred the party from running in the next State Duma election. Yabloko appealed the decision, and at least 30 of its supporters were detained outside the Supreme Court in Moscow on the day of appeal hearing on 17 August.

August 17, 2026

Iraq: Government must chart a new course by ending impunity and upholding human rights

Source: Amnesty International –

Iraq’s government must deliver on its human rights commitments to end systemic impunity for human rights violations, uphold women’s and girls’ rights, and guarantee fundamental freedoms, Amnesty International said today in an open letter to Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi marking three months since the adoption of a new ministerial programme.

Three months after launching the government’s 2026–2029 Ministerial Programme on 14 May 2026, little progress has been made on delivering on promises to strengthen human rights, empower women, and bolster independent civil society.

Despite commitments to address the scourge of violence against women and girls, survivors are left with little redress and protection, including from femicides, as draft domestic violence legislation – introduced more than a decade ago – remains stalled in Iraqi parliament. Further, amendments to the Personal Status Code adopted in August 2025—based on Jaafari Shia jurisprudence— continue to undermine the equality of women and girls before the law.

Independent civil society activists, journalists, and human rights defenders face intimidation, judicial harassment, and physical violence for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly. Peaceful protesters demanding basic rights, including during demonstrations in June and July 2026 against electricity cuts in the southern city of al-Kut, continue to be met with unlawful force by security forces and detentions.

This Government must chart a new course for Iraq, in particular for those whose human rights have been violated with impunity for too long: women and girls, detainees, those forcibly disappeared and their relatives, human rights defenders, activists and media workers

Razaw Salihy, Amnesty International

“This Government must chart a new course for Iraq, in particular for those whose human rights have been violated with impunity for too long: women and girls, detainees, those forcibly disappeared and their relatives, human rights defenders, activists and media workers,” said Razaw Salihy, Iraq Researcher at Amnesty International.

“The Prime Minister must prioritize the adoption of comprehensive legislation against gender-based violence, ensure prompt and impartial investigations into attacks on activists, end the use of ‘public morality’ campaigns that undermine freedom of expression and peaceful dissent and remove restrictions and any form of interference on independent media.”

Human rights defenders, especially women’s rights defenders, journalists, and activists, continue to face persistent attacks, intimidation, and judicial harassment simply for doing their job. The first half of 2026 saw escalating attacks, including the 2 March assassination of activist Yanar Mohammed in the capital city of Baghdad. Investigations were announced, but no information has been publicly shared on their progress. Another activist survived an attempted killing on 21 April in Babel governorate. Instead of ensuring accountability for these targeted attacks, the Iraqi authorities are actively shrinking civic space by enforcing vague “indecent content” rules, imposing punitive restrictions on independent media, using “dormant arrest warrants” to instil fear, and deploying unlawful force against peaceful protesters.

In prisons across Iraq, overcrowding, inadequate sanitation, and a critical lack of access to healthcare make conditions cruel and inhuman. Families of detainees routinely report the ill-treatment of their loved ones as well as denial of or delays in accessing medical care. Furthermore, despite well-documented fair trial violations, thousands, primarily convicted of terrorism-related offences, remain at risk of execution.

“This Government must demonstrate unequivocal resolve in ending the long-standing denial of truth and justice to the anguished families of the thousands of victims of enforced disappearance by revealing their fate and providing adequate reparations for the harm suffered,” said Razaw Salihy.

“Iraq’s Prime Minister must also break with the past by immediately establishing an official moratorium on all executions and guaranteeing justice for survivors of torture, which must be stamped out without further delay.”

August 17, 2026

Oil and gas Activists paint giant climate warning to Burnham on mountainside scorched by wildfires Greenpeace has delivered a powerful message to Andy Burnham in a land artwork on the site of an extinguished wildfire in North Wales, urging the new PM to take serious… by Molly Robson August 17, 2026

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

Greenpeace has delivered a powerful message to Andy Burnham in a land artwork on the site of an extinguished wildfire in North Wales, urging the new PM to take serious action to address the climate impacts battering the country and reject more oil and gas drilling.

High-resolution images and video footage of the action are available here.

Activists installed the land art on Sychnant Pass (within Eryri National Park) in Conwy, Wales, where “terrifying” wildfires recently incinerated vast parts of the landscape. Greenpeace used the scorched earth as a canvas to send a message to the new PM: “Our house is on fire Andy”, accompanied by an illustration of Burnham poised to pour oil and gas over the flames.

The 1,120 m² artwork, made using eco-friendly, plastic-free paint, draws on Greta Thunberg’s famous speech in 2019, where she urged world leaders to take action to stop climate change.

The protest lands at the end of a summer defined by climate extremes. Following successive heatwaves throughout June, July and August, the UK is on track to record its warmest summer on record. Drought conditions now grip almost three-quarters of the country, with over 27 million facing water restrictions. These extreme conditions have proven deadly, with May and June’s heatwaves accounting for an estimated 2,700 excess deaths.

It also lands on the final day of a public consultation on whether to approve Rosebank, a controversial oil field branded a “carbon bomb” by campaigners and “climate vandalism” by Ed Miliband. Consultation for Jackdaw, another gas field in the North Sea, closed a week before.

Despite Labour’s stated climate commitments, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has left the door open to approving these licenses under the guise of a “pragmatic” approach to energy security.

“The PM wants to be pragmatic, but there is nothing pragmatic about watching communities be battered by climate chaos while the Prime Minister flirts with expanding the very industry driving it. This summer has been an endless showreel of fossil-fuelled disasters playing out across the country. As the Conwy community reels from their own, we’re urging Andy to see through the self-serving promises of Big Oil and take an honest look at the real world consequences of more North Sea drilling.

“More drilling means more heatwaves, more droughts, more wildfires, and more suffering for the communities Burnham represents. The climate crisis is already hitting working people hardest — firefighters on the front line, bus drivers exposed to inhumane conditions, nurses collapsing on the job.

“Does the Prime Minister really want to stand with the oil companies making billions, rather than the millions already paying the price? Our message is simple: be brave – say no.”

The environmental and moral consequences of more drilling in the North Sea are significant. Estimates show that the Rosebank project would generate a total of 254 million tonnes of CO₂ over its lifetime – equivalent to nearly 70% of the UK’s entire annual emissions in 2024.

Oxfam research suggests that if both the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields are approved, their combined lifetime emissions would contribute to an estimated 65,495 excess heat deaths globally – equivalent to wiping out the entire population of Clacton-on-Sea.

Evidence also shows that approving Rosebank would not lower energy bills, nor meaningfully impact the UK’s energy security – with 80% of Rosebank’s oil reserves destined for export and all of it sold at global market prices. The government’s own energy factsheet confirms this, saying: “We are price-takers, not price-makers.”

ENDS

Contact:

Molly Robson, Press Officer at Greenpeace UK

press@greenpeace.org or 020 7865 8255

August 17, 2026

Americas: Regional Conference on Population and Development must uphold international commitments on gender equality

Source: Amnesty International –

Representatives from Latin American and Caribbean states will meet in Montevideo (Uruguay) from 18 to 20 August 2026 to participate in the sixth session of the Regional Conference on Population and Development (CRPD).

This United Nations Conference is intended to follow up on the Montevideo Consensus, one of the region’s most significant agreements for guaranteeing the rights of different population groups, including women, girls, children and adolescents, older persons, migrants, Afro-descendant and Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities and LGBTQIA+ persons, among others. 

“Amid a relentless wave of attacks on the rights of women, girls and adolescents, the Montevideo Consensus must continue to be a roadmap for the protection of human rights and not a mere list of outstanding promises. Current challenges require concrete actions, adequate resources and effective accountability mechanisms”, said Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International.

Amid a relentless wave of attacks on the rights of women, girls and adolescents, the Montevideo Consensus must continue to be a roadmap for the protection of human rights and not a mere list of outstanding promises.”

Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International.

This Conference comes amidst growing rhetoric that seeks to discredit decades of progress in gender equality and restrict the work of those who defend such rights. In much of the region, the dismantling of public policies essential for guaranteeing sexual and reproductive rights, such as comprehensive sexuality education, access to contraception, information on sexual and reproductive health and access to legal abortion, has intensified, limiting the ability of women, girls and adolescents to make free and informed decisions regarding their bodies and their life projects. 

These measures disproportionately affect adolescent girls, who still suffer high unintended pregnancy rates that condition their life choices, their access to education and employment, and their right to equality. They also affect migrant women, who experience greater barriers in access to maternal, sexual and reproductive health as a result of discrimination associated with their origin and/or legal status. 

With regard to sexual violence against girls, Latin America and the Caribbean is the region in the world with the second highest pregnancy rates among girls. The Girls, Not Mothers (Niñas, No Madres) campaign has documented for years how justice, health and social protection systems systematically fail to guarantee the rights of girls who are victims of sexual violence, denying them timely access to information, comprehensive care, justice and reparations. In addition, girls face institutional neglect, stigmatization, educational barriers, permanent impacts on their physical and mental health and the imposition of motherhood in the midst of their childhood.  

“The region must stop normalizing an intolerable reality. No girl should be forced to become a mother. The prevention of sexual violence, comprehensive sexuality education, access to health services and justice, and the guarantee of comprehensive reparations must be centre stage in the Conference agenda”, said Lucía Pérez Chabaneau, executive director at Amnesty International Uruguay.

The prevention of sexual violence, comprehensive sexuality education, access to health services and justice, and the guarantee of comprehensive reparations must be centre stage in the Conference agenda”.

Lucía Pérez Chabaneau, executive director at Amnesty International Uruguay.

The Americas region is experiencing a worrying increase in rhetoric that seeks to discredit and criminalize the reporting of gender-based violence, and this extends in some countries to proposals for legislation. According to UN Women, the evidence indicates that false reports account for only a tiny fraction of all reports and do not constitute a widespread problem, much less one associated with sexual or gender-based violence. On the contrary, violence against women continues to be underreported.

Legal initiatives in this regard reinforce discriminatory stereotypes and have a chilling effect on those who already face more obstacles to reporting, greater difficulties in providing evidence and an increased fear of not being believed, which in turn results in silence and impunity. This trend is particularly serious when disappearances and feminicides continue to claim thousands of lives in the region.

“The Regional Conference on Population and Development must consolidate institutional progress aimed at guaranteeing the rights of women, girls and adolescents. This begins with making gender justice a priority for states and ensuring that the institutions tasked with safeguarding women’s rights are not dismantled, defunded, subordinated to or merged with other bodies”, said Jennie Dador, executive director at Amnesty International Peru.

The Conference must consolidate institutional progress aimed at guaranteeing the rights of women, girls and adolescents. This begins with making gender justice a priority for states and ensuring that the institutions tasked with safeguarding women’s rights are not dismantled, defunded, subordinated to or merged with other bodies”.

Jennie Dador, executive director at Amnesty International Peru.

In recent years, feminist organizations, women searching for disappeared persons, women human rights defenders and civil society organizations have faced increasing restrictions and attacks in carrying out their work. In various countries across the region, legislative reforms and initiatives, stigmatization campaigns and excessive administrative requirements have been implemented against organizations working to promote access to justice, gender equality, sexual and reproductive rights and support for victims of gender-based violence. 

Women defenders often face gender-specific risks. In addition to threats, surveillance or criminalization, they are frequently the target of smear campaigns against their work and their personal lives. In many cases, these assaults include sexist language, attacks on their reputation, and the calling into question of their legitimacy to participate in the public debate. In contexts of criminality, impunity and institutional ineffectiveness, this violence has become lethal.

Continued restrictions on civil society have direct consequences for the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus. Women’s organizations have played a decisive role in promoting legal reforms and access to sexual and reproductive health, supporting victims, searching for disappeared persons, producing evidence, monitoring public policies and demanding accountability. 

“The Montevideo Conference must send a clear message: every woman, girl and adolescent must be able to make free and informed decisions regarding their bodies, every woman survivor of violence must have support and protection from the state, and every woman defender must be able to demand justice and equality without fear of reprisals”, said Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International.

Every woman, girl and adolescent must be able to make free and informed decisions regarding their bodies, every woman survivor of violence must have support and protection from the state, and every woman defender must be able to demand justice and equality without fear of reprisals”.

Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International.

The Regional Conference on Population and Development can be followed online via the official channels of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). On 18 August, a civil society statement agreed by feminist networks will be delivered. Amnesty International will join advocacy, communication and mobilization actions to demand that states reaffirm and strengthen the Montevideo Consensus in favour of gender equality in the region.

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