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The UN General Assembly (UNGA) must step in to fill the void left by the Security Council members' catastrophic failure to end relentless attacks targeting the civilian population in eastern Aleppo city, said Amnesty International ahead of a UNGA meeting later today.
The organization has released new satellite imagery illustrating the scale of destruction, as well as testimony from civilians trapped in the city, providing evidence that Syrian government forces, with Russian support, have callously attacked residential homes, medical facilities, schools, markets and mosques as part of a deliberate military strategy to empty the city of its inhabitants and seize control. In some cases there is evidence that Russian-made cluster munitions were used in attacks.
"The world's inaction in the face of the continuing carnage and blatant violations in Aleppo city must end. The UN General Assembly must show it can act where the Security Council has so catastrophically failed - the credibility of the UN is at stake," said Lynn Maalouf, Deputy Director for Research at Amnesty International's Beirut regional office.
"The scale of the bloodshed and destruction wrought on eastern Aleppo city over the past month is harrowing. Syrian government forces, with the support of Russia, have launched relentless attacks that have flagrantly disregarded fundamental rules of international humanitarian law.
The world's inaction in the face of the continuing carnage and blatant violations in Aleppo city must endLynn Maalouf, Deputy Director for Research in Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Regional Office
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"The woefully inadequate eight-hour pause in bombing announced by Russia is no substitute for unimpeded access for impartial humanitarian relief and an end to unlawful attacks. Member states must use today's meeting to demand a lifting of the siege, an end to unlawful attacks, and to push for concrete measures to bring those responsible for war crimes to justice."
Many of Aleppo's remaining civilians live in constant fear of daily attacks. Soha, a local activist, described to Amnesty International how she takes her seven-month-old baby with her everywhere she goes as she is terrified of losing him.
"Every time I see a woman or child injured, I think it could have been me and my son. Nowhere is safe in Aleppo city, every one of us is a target," she said.
Nowhere is safe in Aleppo city, every one of us is a targetSoha, resident of eastern Aleppo
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Siham, whose four-year-old daughter was killed in the recent bombardment, described the pain of her loss to Amnesty International. Her husband was detained by government forces in 2012 before their daughter was born.
"I have lived all my life in Aleppo city... I lost [my daughter] six days ago. A bomb fell in front of the building where she was playing. I can't remember the last words she told me... I lost her just like that for nothing...absolutely nothing. I wish I had died with her."
The diplomatic deadlock has seen the UN Security Council paralysed as the civilian death toll in Aleppo rises by the day.
Russia, with support from China, has repeatedly wielded its veto power to block any action that would see the Syrian government held accountable for grave violations, including war crimes. Less than two weeks ago a French UN draft resolution calling for an end to attacks on civilians in Aleppo failed after a Russian veto.
Seventy countries called for today's plenary meeting sending a clear message that inaction at the Security Council must be addressed. Member states must call for an emergency session on the crisis and support all initiatives at the UNGA to bring an end to the cycle of war crimes in Syria. Imposing targeted sanctions on Syrian officials and a comprehensive arms embargo are two measures that could also help pressure the Syrian government to end violations of international humanitarian law.
The bombing of eastern Aleppo has intensified drastically since the collapse of the latest ceasefire on 19 September. At least 600 aerial attacks were carried out in the space of three weeks in the period up until the 10 October, according to the Syrian Institute for Justice and Accountability, a local monitoring group. Aleppo's Health Directorate estimates around 400 civilians were killed in these attacks.
Satellite imagery analyzed by Amnesty International reveals that in just one week, 90 locations were damaged or destroyed in an area roughly the size of Manhattan, New York City. Overall more than 110 locations were damaged between 18 September and 1 October 2016.
Within an area of 65 km between 18 September and 1 October more than 110 areas of damage were detected in eastern Aleppo. In just one week between 18 September and 25 September 90 locations were damaged. (c) Digital Globe 2016
Amnesty International documented a series of attacks over the past three weeks which appear to be aimed at decimating civilian life in Aleppo city.
Researchers from the organization spoke to residents, medical workers and activists who are trapped and who described a drastic deterioration in the humanitarian situation, amidst daily air strikes targeting civilian homes and infrastructure, including medical facilities, a market, a school, electricity and water company. The areas struck were all located away from military targets such as the battle frontline, military checkpoints or vehicles.
"Syrian government forces claim to be attacking non-state armed groups but the real objective is clear: to inflict severe suffering on the civilian population in order to drive them out. The world continues to stand by as this pattern is repeated over and over throughout Syria," said Lynn Maalouf.
According to the Syrian American Medical Society, 14 medical facilities have been hit by air strikes since 21 September, putting many of them out of service. Doctors have been struggling to cope with an influx of large numbers of casualties in need of emergency medical treatment - at one point, 800 wounded patients needing care were recorded in one week.
One eyewitness described to Amnesty International an attack on al-Sakhour hospital on 3 October. A bomb fell at the hospital entrance leaving behind a large crater and partially destroying a nearby field hospital. It was the third attack on the hospital that day, he said:
"I arrived at al-Sakhour hospital three hours after the attack had happened... I saw 10 injured and four killed... The injured included two of the hospital's medical staff...The closest frontline is around 300 meters away."
A doctor in Aleppo city told Amnesty International that supplies, equipment and fuel were fast running out because of the siege.
"In Aleppo city, residents fear living or being in or around a hospital because we have become a target for the regime," he said.
"Deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects are serious violations of international humanitarian law and amount to war crimes. The pattern of attacks targeting the civilian population, buildings and infrastructure of eastern Aleppo provides clear evidence that this is part of a calculated military strategy to make life unbearable for civilians and to empty the city by force," said Lynn Maalouf
Several residents also told Amnesty International that they had witnessed attacks using internationally banned cluster munitions, bombs that scatter scores of submunitions over a wide area posing a major threat to civilians.
Amnesty International reviewed images showing remnants of cluster bombs and submunitions in civilian areas of eastern Aleppo over the past three weeks and consulted independent weapons experts who identified these as Russian made AO-2.5RT submunitions or the very similar AO-2.5RTM, along with remnants of the RBK-500 cluster bomb from which they are dispensed.
Cluster munition remnants in eastern Aleppo city (c)Private
Fadi, was getting into a car at a busy market in Zebdie district with his friend on 25 September when a warplane dropped two cluster bombs. He and his friend were both struck by shrapnel. "All I remember after that was the feeling of agonizing pain in my leg and hip. I kept hearing small explosions... People were lying on the ground. Some crawling and others not moving," he said.
Majed, another survivor was at the same market in Zebdie which is around 500 metres away from the nearest front line when the attack took place. He recalls hearing the sound of small explosions before he woke up on the ground in shock covered in blood and surrounded by wounded people. Two pieces of shrapnel were lodged in his leg.
Osama also witnessed a cluster bomb attack on the same day as he was driving an injured friend from al-Mashhad neighbourhood to the hospital.
"I heard the sound of a warplane and then the [car's] window pane shattered on top of us. I heard a series of small explosions that went on for almost a minute... More than 40 people were injured," he said.
"The use of cluster munitions is banned under international law because they are inherently indiscriminate and, due to their high dud-rate, pose a long-lasting threat to civilians. Their apparent use in eastern Aleppo city is just further evidence of how determined Syrian government forces and their
Russian allies are to create a hostile and deadly environment in the city, clearly aimed at driving civilians out at any cost," said Lynn Maalouf.
"The scale of the bloodshed and destruction wrought on eastern Aleppo city over the past month is harrowing. Syrian government forces, with the support of Russia, have launched relentless attacks that have flagrantly disregarded fundamental rules of international humanitarian law.
"The woefully inadequate eight-hour pause in bombing announced by Russia is no substitute for unimpeded access for impartial humanitarian relief and an end to unlawful attacks. Member states must use today's meeting to demand a lifting of the siege, an end to unlawful attacks, and to push for concrete measures to bring those responsible for war crimes to justice."
Many of Aleppo's remaining civilians live in constant fear of daily attacks. Soha, a local activist, described to Amnesty International how she takes her seven-month-old baby with her everywhere she goes as she is terrified of losing him.
"Every time I see a woman or child injured, I think it could have been me and my son. Nowhere is safe in Aleppo city, every one of us is a target," she said.
Siham, whose four-year-old daughter was killed in the recent bombardment, described the pain of her loss to Amnesty International. Her husband was detained by government forces in 2012 before their daughter was born.
"I have lived all my life in Aleppo city... I lost [my daughter] six days ago. A bomb fell in front of the building where she was playing. I can't remember the last words she told me... I lost her just like that for nothing...absolutely nothing. I wish I had died with her."
The diplomatic deadlock has seen the UN Security Council paralysed as the civilian death toll in Aleppo rises by the day.
Russia, with support from China, has repeatedly wielded its veto power to block any action that would see the Syrian government held accountable for grave violations, including war crimes. Less than two weeks ago a French UN draft resolution calling for an end to attacks on civilians in Aleppo failed after a Russian veto.
Seventy countries called for today's plenary meeting sending a clear message that inaction at the Security Council must be addressed. Member states must call for an emergency session on the crisis and support all initiatives at the UNGA to bring an end to the cycle of war crimes in Syria. Imposing targeted sanctions on Syrian officials and a comprehensive arms embargo are two measures that could also help pressure the Syrian government to end violations of international humanitarian law.
The bombing of eastern Aleppo has intensified drastically since the collapse of the latest ceasefire on 19 September. At least 600 aerial attacks were carried out in the space of three weeks in the period up until the 10 October, according to the Syrian Institute for Justice and Accountability, a local monitoring group. Aleppo's Health Directorate estimates around 400 civilians were killed in these attacks.
Satellite imagery analyzed by Amnesty International reveals that in just one week, 90 locations were damaged or destroyed in an area roughly the size of Manhattan, New York City. Overall more than 110 locations were damaged between 18 September and 1 October 2016.
Amnesty International documented a series of attacks over the past three weeks which appear to be aimed at decimating civilian life in Aleppo city.
Researchers from the organization spoke to residents, medical workers and activists who are trapped and who described a drastic deterioration in the humanitarian situation, amidst daily air strikes targeting civilian homes and infrastructure, including medical facilities, a market, a school, electricity and water company. The areas struck were all located away from military targets such as the battle frontline, military checkpoints or vehicles.
"Syrian government forces claim to be attacking non-state armed groups but the real objective is clear: to inflict severe suffering on the civilian population in order to drive them out. The world continues to stand by as this pattern is repeated over and over throughout Syria," said Lynn Maalouf.
According to the Syrian American Medical Society, 14 medical facilities have been hit by air strikes since 21 September, putting many of them out of service. Doctors have been struggling to cope with an influx of large numbers of casualties in need of emergency medical treatment - at one point, 800 wounded patients needing care were recorded in one week.
One eyewitness described to Amnesty International an attack on al-Sakhour hospital on 3 October. A bomb fell at the hospital entrance leaving behind a large crater and partially destroying a nearby field hospital. It was the third attack on the hospital that day, he said:
"I arrived at al-Sakhour hospital three hours after the attack had happened... I saw 10 injured and four killed... The injured included two of the hospital's medical staff...The closest frontline is around 300 meters away."
A doctor in Aleppo city told Amnesty International that supplies, equipment and fuel were fast running out because of the siege.
"In Aleppo city, residents fear living or being in or around a hospital because we have become a target for the regime," he said.
"Deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects are serious violations of international humanitarian law and amount to war crimes. The pattern of attacks targeting the civilian population, buildings and infrastructure of eastern Aleppo provides clear evidence that this is part of a calculated military strategy to make life unbearable for civilians and to empty the city by force," said Lynn Maalouf
Several residents also told Amnesty International that they had witnessed attacks using internationally banned cluster munitions, bombs that scatter scores of submunitions over a wide area posing a major threat to civilians.
Amnesty International reviewed images showing remnants of cluster bombs and submunitions in civilian areas of eastern Aleppo over the past three weeks and consulted independent weapons experts who identified these as Russian made AO-2.5RT submunitions or the very similar AO-2.5RTM, along with remnants of the RBK-500 cluster bomb from which they are dispensed.
Fadi, was getting into a car at a busy market in Zebdie district with his friend on 25 September when a warplane dropped two cluster bombs. He and his friend were both struck by shrapnel. "All I remember after that was the feeling of agonizing pain in my leg and hip. I kept hearing small explosions... People were lying on the ground. Some crawling and others not moving," he said.
Majed, another survivor was at the same market in Zebdie which is around 500 metres away from the nearest front line when the attack took place. He recalls hearing the sound of small explosions before he woke up on the ground in shock covered in blood and surrounded by wounded people. Two pieces of shrapnel were lodged in his leg.
Osama also witnessed a cluster bomb attack on the same day as he was driving an injured friend from al-Mashhad neighbourhood to the hospital.
"I heard the sound of a warplane and then the [car's] window pane shattered on top of us. I heard a series of small explosions that went on for almost a minute... More than 40 people were injured," he said.
"The use of cluster munitions is banned under international law because they are inherently indiscriminate and, due to their high dud-rate, pose a long-lasting threat to civilians. Their apparent use in eastern Aleppo city is just further evidence of how determined Syrian government forces and their
Russian allies are to create a hostile and deadly environment in the city, clearly aimed at driving civilians out at any cost," said Lynn Maalouf.
Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights for all. Our supporters are outraged by human rights abuses but inspired by hope for a better world - so we work to improve human rights through campaigning and international solidarity. We have more than 2.2 million members and subscribers in more than 150 countries and regions and we coordinate this support to act for justice on a wide range of issues.
"This is yet another move by a Trump-appointed judge in favor of wealthy corporations."
The National Labor Relations Board was prevented on Tuesday from moving forward with an unfair labor practices case against the social services tech company Findhelp, after a Trump-appointed judge granted the Texas-based firm's request for a temporary injunction.
In the Northern District of Texas, U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman ruledin favor of Findhelp's claim that administrative law judges at the NLRB have unconstitutional protections from being dismissed by the White House.
The argument has been used by other large companies including billionaire Elon Musk's aerospace firm SpaceX and a subsidiary of the fossil fuel giant Energy Transfer, which have both also obtained preliminary injunctions from Trump appointees in Texas, shielding them from labor rights cases.
In the SpaceX case, the NLRB argued that "granting an injunction would encourage any employer or labor union unhappy with scrutiny of their labor practices to seek preliminary injunctions against NLRB proceedings."
Starbucks, Amazon, and Trader Joe's have also joined the corporate effort to strip the NLRB of its ability to carry out its duties as a federal agency tasked with protecting workers from unfair labor practices. The companies have claimed that the agency's structure, which was established by the New Deal's National Labor Relations Act nearly a century ago, violates the president's "removal powers" under Article II of the U.S. Constitution.
"Prior to the New Deal, judges claimed things like overtime and child labor rules were unconstitutional," said journalist Ryan Grim.
Lawyers for the NLRB argued in the Findhelp case that the company is not entitled to relief from a court until the president tries to remove the administrative law judge assigned to Findhelp's case, but Pittman said he was "unpersuaded by the NLRB's arguments."
Pittman cited a precedent established by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which ruled in 2022 that removal protections for the Securities and Exchange Commission's judges were unconstitutional.
This month, two federal judges—one appointed by former President Barack Obama and one by President Joe Biden—have rejected other corporate challenges claiming the NLRB is unconstitutionally structured, teeing up a potential U.S. Supreme Court case to settle the matter in the future.
Tuesday's ruling comes 18 months after the Office and Professional Employees International Union filed a complaint with the NLRB, saying Findhelp had illegally fired and coerced workers who were involved in organizing their workplace. The employees had voted 95-52 in favor of joining the union.
With Pittman's injunction in place, an NLRB administrative hearing on whether Findhelp unlawfully fired organizers and surveilled employees will not move forward.
"The NLRB protects Americans' right to unionize, fight unjust firings, and collectively bargain for higher wages," said the U.S. Congressional Progressive Caucus. "Without it, employers can ignore labor laws and deprive workers of their rights. This is yet another move by a Trump-appointed judge in favor of wealthy corporations."
"Why? Excessive corporate greed," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders called out the pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk on Tuesday for charging American patients more than $900 a month for the increasingly popular diabetes drug Ozempic, even though generic manufacturers are willing to sell the medication for significantly less.
During a panel discussion with experts, Sanders (I-Vt.) said he and his staff have been in contact with the top executives of major drug makers who say they could sell a generic version of Ozempic for less than $100 a month—and still turn a profit. A recent study found that the drug can be manufactured for less than $5 a month.
"Novo Nordisk, which has made nearly $50 billion in sales off of Ozempic and Wegovy, charges Americans almost $1,000 a month—the highest prices in the world," Sanders, the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said Tuesday. "Why? Excessive corporate greed."
Ozempic and Wegovy are part of a class of treatments known as GLP-1s. Wegovy, a weight-loss drug that Novo Nordisk sells for $1,349 a month in the U.S., contains the same active ingredient as Ozempic, which is approved only for people with Type 2 diabetes.
The drugs' growing popularity in the U.S. has drawn greater scrutiny to Novo Nordisk's pricing. Sanders' office noted Tuesday that the company's price tag for Wegovy is $186 in Denmark, $140 in Germany, and $92 in the United Kingdom.
Novo Nordisk's high prices for the drugs in the U.S. could have far-reaching impacts on the nation's healthcare system. A group of economists wrote in a recent op-ed for The New York Times earlier this year that "under reasonable assumptions and at current prices, making this class of drugs available to all obese Americans could eventually cost over $1 trillion per year," which is "almost as much as the government spends on the entireMedicare program and almost one-fifth of the entire amount America spends on healthcare."
Sanders warned Tuesday that if the prices of Ozempic and Wegovy aren't reined in, Medicare premiums could surge.
"Our healthcare system, I think most people understand, is in crisis," Sanders said during the panel discussion. "The business model of the pharmaceutical industry is unsustainable."
Over the course of our investigation into the outrageous cost of Ozempic and Wegovy in the U.S., I spoke with the CEOs of major generic pharmaceutical companies who confirmed:
They can sell a generic version of Ozempic for $100/mo. https://t.co/XDHdBRPIcM
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) September 17, 2024
Peter Maybarduk, director of the Access to Medicines Program at Public Citizen, said in a statement Tuesday that "all we need to make Ozempic for $100 a reality is to overcome Novo's patent monopoly, which the government has the power to do any time."
"States and clinicians are asking the feds for help," said Maybarduk. "We estimate taking action on Novo's patents could save Medicare more than $14 billion in the first two years of competition, while making diabetes and obesity drugs affordable."
Last month, Public Citizen delivered a petition to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra urging him to use existing law to "authorize generic competitors to Ozempic and Wegovy."
"Novo Nordisk’s outrageous pricing of [Ozempic and Wegovy] threatens to break the coffers of federal health programs," the group wrote. "Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1498, the administration should authorize use of any and all patents necessary to allow manufacturers to produce generic alternatives to these treatments on behalf of the United States government, which can be used to supply Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health programs. This will facilitate competition and make the treatments more affordable and accessible for patients."
The CEO of Novo Nordisk, which has spent aggressively on lobbying this year, is scheduled to testify before the Senate HELP Committee next week.
For one patient, doctors "had to wait for her creatinine to bump and her kidneys to be about to fail" before they could even offer her abortion care.
As new reporting on Amber Nicole Thurman's death highlights the dangers of Georgia Republicans' six-week abortion ban, a human rights group on Tuesday released a research brief about how a similar policy in a neighboring state "harms the health and safety of Florida patients while obstructing clinicians from providing basic reproductive and maternal medical care."
The Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) report, Delayed and Denied: How Florida's Abortion Ban Criminalizes Medical Care, focuses on the prohibition that was signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis last year but didn't take effect until May, following a state Supreme Court ruling.
The PHR brief follows late May reporting on how wait times soared at abortion clinics in the states closest to Florida after its ban took effect and the Guttmacher Institute's findings from last week that the law led to a "substantial drop" in clinician-provided abortions across the state, in part because many people don't even know they are pregnant until after six weeks.
"Florida clinicians shared harrowing accounts of how routine medical care has been delayed, denied, and deviated from standards of care."
This summer, PHR interviewed 25 of Florida's reproductive healthcare providers about their experiences caring for pregnant patients under the six-week ban. Brief co-author Dr. Michele Heisler said in a Tuesday statement that "Florida clinicians shared harrowing accounts of how routine medical care has been delayed, denied, and deviated from standards of care."
"Not only abortion care but miscarriage and broader maternal healthcare have suffered gravely due to the state's ban," noted Heisler, PHR's medical director and a professor of internal medicine and public health at the University of Michigan.
"Our research brief sheds new light on the health and rights crisis fueled by Florida's abortion ban—on patients, providers, and the medical system as a whole," she said. "Under the state's abortion ban, Floridians have lost their reproductive autonomy."
One Florida doctor in private practice told PHR that "with the six-week ban, I would say it is more like the inability to really offer anything at all now. I mean, we see patients for their new obstetrician-gynecologist visits usually around eight weeks, and sometimes we see them earlier, if they are having bleeding or other issues where we end up scanning them earlier."
"But I do not think I have ever had a viable pregnancy that was less than six weeks that I could offer a termination," the OB-GYN said. "They are never less than six weeks, so it is essentially impossible. By the time we see them for their first visit, that option is already gone."
Florida's ban technically allows some abortions after six weeks—in cases of rape and incest, or to protect the health of the pregnant person—though medical professionals and reproductive rights advocates often point out that many patients are still denied legal care even with the limited "exceptions" in place.
Before the current law, Floridians were living under a 15-week ban, which took effect in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's right-wing supermajority reversingRoe v. Wade with its June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling.
One doctor who spoke with PHR recalled a story from that period: "I strongly remember a patient who had severe kidney disease and was admitted to the hospital and was teetering on the edge of that 15 weeks. I think she was 14 weeks or so, and she got admitted, and we were trying to figure out how best to help her. She was getting sicker and sicker."
"[We] had to bring it to the head people of the hospital and be like, 'What are we allowed to do?' And they were like, 'She is not sick enough yet.' And we had to wait for her to get sicker before we were even allowed to offer her termination. And she was past 15 weeks at that point," the OB-GYN explained.
"I think it took over two weeks for us to get an answer from the hospital administrators," the doctor added. "So that hit very strongly, because it was kind of insane that we had to wait for her to become sicker. We had to wait for her creatinine to bump and her kidneys to be about to fail before we were allowed to even offer her [termination]. Then we had to jump through so many hoops to be able to do it. It really changed everything that we did in our practice."
The report features several other stories of patient and provider frustrations and the dangers created by the six-week ban.
"The findings of PHR's research brief demonstrate the need to remove Florida's extreme abortion ban and restore access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare in the state," argued Payal Shah, brief co-author and the group's director of advocacy, legal, and research. "Both patients and providers are trapped in an unworkable legal landscape."
"Despite state health agency statements to the contrary, the state's abortion ban is an egregious intrusion on patient autonomy that is causing medical harm," Shah added. "The ban's criminal penalties and narrow, vague exceptions have compelled clinicians to deviate from established standards of care and medical ethics. These impacts constitute violations of Floridians' human rights."
Florida voters will soon have an opportunity to restore much broader access to abortion care. This November, they can vote "yes" on Amendment 4, a state constitutional amendment backed by Floridians Protecting Freedom that would enshrine the right to abortion before viability in Florida.
Former President Donald Trump, a Florida resident and the Republican nominee facing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the battle for the White House, confirmed last month that he plans to vote "no" on the ballot measure. In response, Harris said that "I trust women to make their own healthcare decisions and believe the government should never come between a woman and her doctor... The choice in this election is clear."