In August 2013, three months after Xi Jinping entered the Chinese government, a corruption scandal broke out in the national medical system, skilfully exercised by the multinational pharmaceutical companies based in that country. The campaign launched to settle responsibilities ended with the arrest of four senior officials of the British multinational GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the barring of 18 other senior officials from leaving the Asian country. At the time, the official Xinhua news agency said that some of those under investigation were …suspected of offering bribes to doctors while asking them to prescribe more drugs in order to increase sales volume; and at the same time pushing up prices….
According to a study carried out at the time, just ten years ago, the pharmaceutical sector, due to the corruption they themselves promoted, had to increase the retail price of medicines by 20%. On that occasion, several companies in the sector, including Johnson & Johnson, were sanctioned. Thanks to the extensive coverage by the Chinese news agency, we now have valuable details of how the pharmaceutical companies acted in order to sell a drug for respiratory patients in 10 hospitals in the capital of Henan province, Zhengzhou: …they invited doctors to attend high-level academic conferences to help them gain influence in their fields. They also established good personal relationships with doctors by servicing their pleasures and offering them money to prescribe more drugs.
A sales representative of those groups (GSK) even claimed that she went into doctors’ offices and even catered to their sexual needs, stating that the company’s executives in China knew everything that was going on, and that some of them even set a target, however, to increase business in that area by 30%.
Shortly after the investigation, two months later in July, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) admitted that it had replaced its head of that subsidiary, Mark Reilly, with the Frenchman Hervé Gisserot. AstraZeneca, France’s Sanofi and US-based Eli Lilly were also investigated, albeit to a lesser extent. The latter also paid 22 million euros in the United States in December 2012 to close allegations that its employees gave money and gifts to officials in China, Brazil, Russia and Poland. Pfizer, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, based in the US, had accepted a year earlier a payment of 45.3 million euros due to the same circumstances.
On that occasion the Food and Drug Administration confirmed the need to take expeditious measures, crackdowns, again. It should not be forgotten that years earlier, in 2007, the head of the FDA, Zheng Xiaoyu, was sentenced to death and executed because he accepted money in exchange for allowing counterfeit products to be marketed.
The names in the article are certainly recognisable in health markets around the world.
The news over the past 10 years of multi-million dollar payoffs by pharmaceutical companies when they are caught in the act makes us think that we humans are just customers, guinea pigs in some cases, and mere numbers in annual profit and loss reports.
According to a ranking updated to 1 January 2023, the five largest companies in the world in terms of market capitalisation, or what they are worth, would be: Johnson & Johnson ($440.04 billion), Eli Lilly ($320.13 billion), Novo Nordisk ($314.65 billion), Merk ($275.14 billion) and Abbvie ($261.18 billion). The stock market update was done as of 2021. Today, other companies, such as Pfizer, have undoubtedly risen in the world ranking of stock market profits.
The professional portal es.statista.com, in its statistics section, gives us the revenue figures for pharmaceutical companies worldwide, including the figure for 2021, which was around 1.40 billion US dollars. With this figure, all is said and done. What they pay for the lawsuits or for the revelry of some people linked to the health sector, be they doctors, nurses, politicians, etc., is mere pocket money. We will not say, like the Chinese Government or the Queen of Hearts in the story of Alice in Wonderland, “Off with their heads!!!”, but perhaps we could comment that from time to time an example could be made of some of these companies or some of these so-called merchants, who abound in the public and private health system of any country in the world.
Sources: EL PAIS newspaper, Monday 5 August 2013, author José Reinoso. https://es.statista.com/estadisticas/635153/ingresos-mundiales-del-sector-farmaceutico/
The U.S. lifting of a COVID-19 pandemic measure, known as Title 42, has led to new restrictions on migrants and refugees. Concerned, UN agencies called for broad multilateral action to regularize movement across the continent.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) issued a call for a more collaborative approach to better respond to the anticipated impact of changes on the southern US border.
“The challenges facing the Americas call for ambitious, innovative, and principled cooperation among all stakeholders,” the agencies said.
Such a plan must be based on international law and genuine solidarity to advance protection and solutions for refugees and migrants, and align with the framework laid out the Global Compact on Refugees, Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, as well as the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection.
“Title 42” was lifted by the US government – new, safe pathways and increased refugee resettlement are welcome , but measures restricting access to asylum are of concern.
Welcoming positive initiatives to expand resettlement and other regular pathways in the region, the agencies remain concerned about new restrictions on access to asylum following the “long overdue” lifting of the Title 42 public health order by the United States.
Since the pandemic’s outset in 2020, Title 42 has been used by US immigration officials some 2.5 million times at the southern border, to expel people to Mexico or their home country, without assessing what risks they faced as a result of being returned.
Barriers preventing people from exercising the fundamental human right to seek asylum are unacceptable and contrary to States’ international obligations, they said, adding that the new US Government rule that restricts access for asylum-seekers who arrive irregularly, after transiting through another country is incompatible with principles of international refugee law.
While the number of people approaching the US border has grown in recent years, the agencies said that the majority of the people on the move in the Americas are still hosted by countries in Latin America.
“The challenges presented by the movement of refugees and migrants cannot be solved by any country in isolation,” they said.
“Real progress can only be made through joint efforts to address the causes of displacement and irregular migration.”
The agencies said more could be done through support to communities that are hosting the majority of displaced people, providing access to fair and effective asylum procedures and other legal stay arrangements, and facilitating access to safe and regular pathways as alternatives to perilous journeys.
More effective response
A more effective response calls for collaborative engagement by States and other stakeholders to expand access to protection and asylum and regular pathways to migration, while strengthening solutions, the agencies said.
The US-led expansion of refugee resettlement and other regular routes is a welcome step that can present real alternatives for desperate people who are risking their lives to find safety and solutions, they said.
Facilitated and expanded access to resettlement, family reunification, humanitarian parole, and labour mobility schemes, can save lives and protect people from smuggling, trafficking and other forms of violence, they said.
UNHCR and IOM are ready to redouble efforts to work with all countries and existing regional mechanisms to make this a reality, the agencies said.
However, expanding resettlement and other regular pathways cannot replace the responsibility of States to provide people with access to territory and asylum procedures, they urged.
Any return agreements between States, including of asylum-seekers to a third country, must uphold in practice the principle of non-refoulement, the prohibition on forced return of people to situations where their lives and safety are at risk, they stressed.
That’s according to a fact-finding report from the UN human rights office (OHCHR) released on Friday, on what the Malian authorities had described as an anti-terrorist military operation against an al-Qaeda-affiliated group known as Katiba Macina.
The UN rights chief, Volker Türk, called the findings “extremely disturbing” and stressed that “summary executions, rape and torture during armed conflict amount to war crimes and could, depending on the circumstances, amount to crimes against humanity”.
OHCHR said that the Malian authorities had repeatedly denied requests by the fact-finding team to access the village of Moura itself. Witnesses interviewed by the team reported seeing “armed white men” who spoke an unknown language operating alongside the Malian forces.
At least 58 women and girls were raped or subjected to other forms of sexual violence.
In January, UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent human rights experts called on the Malian authorities to launch an immediate probe into the mass executions, alleging the involvement of the Russian-based Wagner mercenary group.
Experts said that a “climate of terror and complete impunity” had surrounded the private military contractor’s activities in Mali.
Accountability
The UN rights chief insisted that those responsible for the violations should be held to account, and that the Malian authorities must ensure that both their own forces and foreign military personnel under their command, respect international law.
OHCHR said that according to witnesses, on the day of the killings, a military helicopter flew over Moura, opening fire on people, while four other helicopters landed and troops disembarked. The soldiers corralled people into the centre of the village, shooting randomly at those trying to escape.
Some Katiba Macina militants in the crowd fired back at the troops and at least 20 civilians and a dozen alleged members of the armed group were killed.
Killed over four days
Then, over the next four days, at least 500 people are believed to have been summarily executed, the report says. The fact-finding team has obtained extensive personal identification details, including the names of at least 238 of these victims, said OHCHR.
According to witnesses, Malian troops were rotated in and out of Moura daily, but the foreign personnel remained for the duration of the operation.
The Malian authorities did announce an investigation shortly after the attack took place, but more than a year later and pending the final outcome of the investigation, continue to deny wrongdoing by their armed forces.
Volker Perthes – Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan and Head of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the country (UNITAMS) – underscored that the rival military leaderships had agreed to respect international humanitarian and human rights law, and withdraw fighters from hospitals and medical facilities.
Mr. Perthes also noted that the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had committed to continue their talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah on a potential ceasefire.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, via Zoom from Port Sudan where the UN and partners have established a coastal humanitarian hub, Mr. Perthes said that building on this first mutually signed declaration, the aim was to reach a ceasefire which would also be “mutually agreed”, contrary to previous, unilaterally announced ceasefires.
His hope was that “within the next couple of days”, the discussions in Jeddah under the auspices of Saudi and United States mediators would lead to such an agreement, lending it “more stability and more respect”, and with clear provisions on the modalities related to the movement of troops and humanitarian pauses.
Commitments must be honoured
Mr. Perthes also expressed hope that the parties will “do what they can” to communicate down the chain of command that the humanitarian commitments agreed to in Jeddah must be honoured.
The agreement was welcomed by the “trilateral mechanism” composed of the United Nations, the African Union and the regional body known as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Eastern Africa (IGAD).
Over 200,000 have fled
Meanwhile, the number of people having fled Sudan has passed the 200,000 mark, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.
A race against time is underway to provide those fleeing with relief aid before the coming rainy season makes logistics even harder. Funding shortfalls are compounding humanitarian challenges, as UNHCR’s operations in neighbouring countries were only around 15 per cent funded before the conflict.
Lifeline for malnourished children destroyed
In another example of the conflict’s disastrous effects for Sudan’s most vulnerable, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday that a fire had devastated a factory in Khartoum producing ready to use therapeutic food for the treatment of childrensuffering from severe acute malnutrition.
According to UNICEF, the equivalent of food for some 14,500 children was destroyed in the fire, along with machinery, compromising future production. The agency says that Sudan has one of the highest rates of malnutrition among children in the world, with more than three million children acutely malnourished.
UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder said that in overall response to the crisis, around 34,000 cartons of ready to use therapeutic food was on the way from France to Sudan.
He said the cause of the factory fire was as yet unknown.
As conflict escalates in Sudan, refugees arrive in the Chadian village of Koufroun, which is situated on the Chad-Sudan border.
Combatants warned of the consequences: Perthes
In an interview conducted in Arabic by the UN in Geneva with UNITAMS chief Volker Perthes on Friday, he said there had been warning signs before the outbreak of hostilities on 15 April, of a potential conflict between the rival militaries.
“We warned both sides of this possibility and this scenario”, he said, and that if they began to fight, “the country and society will be destroyed.”
He said both sides had perhaps thought the fighting would be brief, but now there was a realization that victory “is not easy” and would ultimately be a loss for “a large part of the country.”
Distribution of lifesaving aid
Asked about how more humanitarian aid can be distributed to the millions in need across Sudan, Mr. Perthes said the Jeddah agreement was promising, but access to the capital Khartoum was crucial, and impossible without safe humanitarian corridors.
“We therefore hope that yesterday’s agreement will indeed help to be applied on the ground through humanitarian agencies, the United Nations, and their non-governmental organization partners.”
On the pace of delivery, he said the widespread looting across Sudan at the start of hostilities, had been a major handicap to the operation.
“Warehouses and cars were looted and trucks that were transporting aid from the east of the country or from the centre to Darfur were also looted…when your office and car are looted it is very difficult to help.
“Today, there are new arrangements, even in the preparations for the supply of Darfur through Chad, which also requires coordination with neighboring countries, with the State, with the armed movements in Darfur and other actors.”
In March 2023, the OECD youth unemployment rate (workers aged 15-24) eased to 10.5%, recording its lowest value since 2005, already reached in July 2022. The largest declines in the unemployment rate for younger workers were observed in Austria, Denmark, Greece, Latvia, and Sweden. The unemployment rate for both women and men was broadly stable, at 5.0% and 4.6% respectively, as was the rate for workers aged 25 and above (Figure 1, Tables 3 and 4).
OECD says unemployment rate stable at record low of 4.8% in March 2023 3
In the euro area, the unemployment rate decreased slightly, reaching a new record low of 6.5% in March 2023. The unemployment rate was stable or decreased in all euro area countries apart from Belgium and Estonia, with the largest declines observed in Austria and Greece. However, unemployment rates remain well above their lowest levels in Greece, Luxembourg, and Spain.Outside Europe, Colombia and the United States recorded a drop in the unemployment rate, while other non-European OECD countries experienced broadly stable conditions.By contrast, Japan and Korea saw rising unemployment rates, although from a relatively low base (Figure 2 and Table 1). More recent data show that the unemployment rate in Canada held steady at 5.0% in April 2023, unchanged since December 2022, and edged down to a record low of 3.4% in the United States.
Blasphemy -/- On May 6, a mob in the city of Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan, murdered a local cleric who was accused of making a blasphemous remark during a political rally for the party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
40-year-old Maulana Nigar Alam reportedly stated, “Imran Khan is a truthful person, and I respect him as much as the Prophet,” while addressing a rally organized by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Mardan in the Sawaldher area on 6 May to express support for Imran Khan and the judiciary.
As it explaines on the newsletter of Human Rights Without Frontiers, the remarks, which were deemed blasphemous, prompted a group of rally attendees to assault Mr Alam. Police were called to the scene and placed Mr Alam in a shop for his safety; however, whilst discussions were being held with the clerics, a mob predominantly composed of PTI activists broke the shop’s shutters and forcibly removed Mr Alam. They began kicking and beating him with rods before lynching him to death. The video of the cleric’s speech and his execution went viral on social media.
Cleric killed in Pakistan by mob following blasphemy accusation 8
In Pakistan, this is the second incident of mob violence and murdering in 2023. A man suspected of blasphemy was lynched in Nankana Sahib, Punjab Province, on 11 February.
There have been similar assaults in the past in Mardan. On April 13, 2017, a throng killed Mashal Khan, a student in the mass communications department at Abdul Wali Khan University, on suspicion of blasphemy.
Blasphemy in Pakistan
Under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws anyone who abuses Islam, including by outraging religious sentiment, is punishable by death or life in prison. These statutes are poorly defined and have low evidence requirements. As a result, they are frequently employed as a weapon of retaliation against Muslims and non-Muslims in order to settle personal grievances or resolve disputes over money, property, or business.
‘CSW extends our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Maulana Nigar Alam. His tragic murder is yet another disturbing reminder of the dangerous implications of Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws. We reiterate that these laws are wholly incompatible with the fundamental right to freedom of religion or belief and must be reviewed urgently, moving towards their full repeal in the long term. We also call on the Pakistani authorities to ensure that a full investigation is carried out, and that all those responsible for this horrific act are held to account. It is necessary for the government to enforce the rule of law and not allow anyone to take the law into their own hands.’
That was the message conveyed by the UN Humanitarian Affairs chief, Martin Griffiths, to a meeting held on Thursday in Istanbul, to discuss the future of the Initiative, with senior official from the signatories to the deal, Russia, and Ukraine, together with the UN and Türkiye, which also mediated the agreement.
In a note issued to correspondents from the UN Spokesperson’s Office on the meeting, Mr. Griffiths congratulated the parties to the deal – who also run the Joint Coordination Centre hub, based in Istanbul – on reaching the 30 million metric tonnes mark from Ukraine, and “reiterated the importance of the Initiative for global food security”.
The UN relief chief also recognized the important contribution of food and fertilizer exports from Russia.
UN proposals
The meeting discussed the recent proposals to advance the deal, made by the UN, namely the resumption of the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, the longer extension of the Initiative, improvements at the JCC, “for stable operations and exports, as well as other issues raised by the parties.”
“The parties presented their views and agreed to engage with those elements going forward”, said the Spokesperson’s Office.
Mr. Griffiths stressed that the United Nations would “continue to work closely with all sides to achieve the continuation and full implementation of the Initiative, in pursuit of their broader shared commitment to addressing global food insecurity.”
Grain for those most in need
Latest detailed figures on the Initiative released on Monday showed that nearly 600,000 tonnes of grain have been shipped by vessels chartered by the World Food Programme (WFP) to support its humanitarian work in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Yemen.
Last year, Ukraine supplied more than half of WFP’s total global wheat procurement, similar to 2021.
As talks have continued in the past few months about extending the deal – which provides a safe maritime humanitarian corridor for shipping out of Ukrainian ports – exports have dipped by nearly 30 per cent, with JCC inspection rates dropping significantly to an average of 2.9 completed inspections daily, for the month of May.
Monday’s update from the Office of the UN Coordinator for the deal, said that the UN and Türkiye’s delegation were working closely with Ukraine and Russia, aiming to facilitate movements and inspections of inbound and outbound ships, “within the framework of the Initiative and agreed procedures, while discussions for the future of the Initiative continue.”
“I am deeply concerned about increased bias-motivated incidents of harassment, threats, and violence against LGBT people, including a rampant surge in hate crimes in the UK,” said Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the human rights expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, who completed an official visit to the country on 5 May.
“All of this is attributed – by a wide range of stakeholders – to the toxic nature of the public debate surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity,” said the Human Ritexpert.
Mr. Madrigal-Borloz warned that these developments could endanger very significant achievements, built over decades, to address violence and discrimination in the country.
In an extensive statement after his 10-day visit, Mr. Madrigal-Borloz lauded achievements in data gathering and said the UK was poised to take transformational public policy steps, on the basis of solid evidence.
The data makes it possible to determine social exclusion against LGBT persons but, equally importantly, the way factors such as race, ethnic background, and socio-economic status interact with sexual orientation and gender identity to exacerbate the risk of violence and discrimination, he said.
Mr. Madrigal-Borloz also noted the progress made through strategies, plans of action and public policies, which are evident in all four nations of the UK.
He was also encouraged by the actions of national governments and civil services in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland in relation to devolved competencies in health, education, housing, and employment.
While acknowledging achievements in health and education, he expressed concern at the overrepresentation of LGBT persons among the homeless population in homelessness and relatively scarce data in relation to employment.
“Waiting lists for gender affirming treatment at the National Health Service continue to be years-long, and current initiatives risk erosion of achievements in comprehensive sex education,” the independent expert said.
Fighting for protection
The expert expressed grave concern about delays in long-promised legislation to ban the practice of “conversion” of sexual orientation and gender identity.
“The vicissitudes of this and other necessary public policies appear to be connected to political discourse concerning gender-diverse persons and refugees and asylum seekers, two areas in which recent State actions are cause for concern,” Mr. Madrigal-Borloz said.
He cited the example of the Illegal Migration Bill, and blanket policy decisions in relation to trans persons deprived of liberty.
The expert also took issue with recent advice by the UK Equalities and Human Rights Commission to the Government in Westminster, that promoted the reduction in human rights protections for trans persons with legal recognition of their gender.
“These actions were admittedly with the objective of withdrawing trans women from legal protections to which they are entitled under the Equality Act,” Mr. Madrigal Borloz said.
Demanding political accountability
The expert urged all stakeholders to recognise that democracies benefit from healthy debate, in an environment that includes protection of free speech, and accountability for hate speech, yet reminded them that they must keep the objective of human rights protection at the centre of State and non-State action.
“Politicians must carry out evidence-based evaluations, free from stigma and preconception,” the independent expert said.
Special Rapporteurs and other UN Human Rights Council-appointed rights experts, work on a voluntary and unpaid basis, are not UN staff, and work independently from any government or organisation.
