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Australia: Chinese Government Menaces Uyghur Diaspora
NEW YORK, Aug. 16 [Category: International] -- Human Rights Watch issued the following news:
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Australia: Chinese Government Menaces Uyghur Diaspora
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* The Chinese government is interrogating Uyghur Australians visiting Xinjiang, pressing them to collect information on Uyghurs in Australia, including Uyghur language schools.
* The Chinese government exploits the vulnerability of separated Uyghur families as an opportunity for surveillance and strict monitoring of the Uyghur community in Australia, which has a chilling effect on diaspora activities.
* Australia and other governments ... Show Full Article NEW YORK, Aug. 16 [Category: International] -- Human Rights Watch issued the following news: * * * Australia: Chinese Government Menaces Uyghur Diaspora * * The Chinese government is interrogating Uyghur Australians visiting Xinjiang, pressing them to collect information on Uyghurs in Australia, including Uyghur language schools. * The Chinese government exploits the vulnerability of separated Uyghur families as an opportunity for surveillance and strict monitoring of the Uyghur community in Australia, which has a chilling effect on diaspora activities. * Australia and other governmentsshould respond to Beijing's intimidation of the Uyghur diaspora with public statements, clear travel advisories, safe reporting channels, criminal investigations, and support for family reunification.
(Sydney) - The Chinese government is interrogating Uyghur Australians visiting Xinjiang, pressing them to collect information on Uyghurs in Australia, Human Rights Watch said today as its executive director, Philippe Bolopion, visited Australia.
Chinese authorities have long engaged in transnational repression-human rights abuses committed beyond a country's borders to curtail dissent-against Uyghurs living abroad and their relatives in Xinjiang, by targeting activists critical of the Chinese government. By pressing visitors to provide information about Uyghur activists, organizations, and language schools in Australia, the authorities are repressing the rights of Uyghurs in Australia to freedom of expression, association, culture, and family life.
"The Chinese government exploits the vulnerability of separated Uyghur families as an opportunity for surveillance and disruption of communities abroad," said Philippe Bolopion, executive director at Human Rights Watch. "Interrogating Uyghurs visiting Xinjiang and strict monitoring of diaspora activities have a chilling effect emblematic of Beijing's transnational repression in Australia."
Human Rights Watch interviewed 11 Uyghur Australian citizens and permanent residents in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide in April and May 2026. They included recent visitors to Xinjiang and Australia-based activists.
Uyghurs in Australia who have been unable to visit their families in Xinjiang said they have no information about relatives there or can communicate with them only under strict official surveillance, with Chinese government officials monitoring their calls.
In recent years, the Chinese government has permitted Uyghurs from Australia and elsewhere in the diaspora to make restricted visits to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Such visits are important for many Uyghur families who have been separated since the government's abusive Strike Hard Campaign in Xinjiang began in 2016. However, these visits have also provided the local authorities with opportunities to question or interrogate visitors and monitor their movements.
Uyghurs living abroad who have been able to visit Xinjiang need to pass stringent Chinese government vetting processes. Those with foreign passports eligible for a visa-free program that began in 2024 have been told by their families in Xinjiang that they need to undergo background checks and obtain prior approval from local authorities.
Three Uyghur Australians, who are not activists, described traveling to Xinjiang on Australian passports under this visa-free program. They said their families in Xinjiang had to seek permission from local authorities before their visits.
One said they first had to check in at a government-designated hotel, rather than their family home, and that their relatives in Xinjiang told them they would face problems with the authorities if they did not comply. The visiting Australians also said they had to report their daily activities in Xinjiang to local authorities and were kept under heavy surveillance, especially when traveling outside Urumqi, the regional capital, where restrictions seem less severe than in other cities.
Another Uyghur Australian said authorities interrogated him more than a dozen times, once for more than seven hours: "They asked for addresses and phone numbers of several prominent Uyghur activists in Australia." When he said he did not have that information, the police pressed him to monitor the activists' activities upon returning to Australia and photograph them during events.
A third person who was also interrogated by the police in Xinjiang said she was put under severe pressure because she feared for her and her family's safety. "How could I say no to anything they asked me to do?"
Others interviewed said they were questioned about Uyghur language schools in Australia; in Xinjiang the authorities have sought to erase Uyghur culture and language.
Some Uyghur Australians interviewed said they would not return to Xinjiang, even with the visa-free program, because they feared being detained or imprisoned, and would not be able to communicate with their families free from government control.
On August 7, Human Rights Watch sent a summary of its findings to the Chinese and Australian governments. The Chinese government has not responded. Australia's Department of Home Affairs responded on August 14 and said in part, "The Australian Government takes the issue of all forms of foreign interference, including transnational repression seriously. It is unacceptable for any foreign Government to target members of community in ways that prevent individuals from exercising their fundamental rights and freedoms in Australia."
Australian officials have raised the cases of separated Uyghur Australian families with their counterparts in Beijing but with little success. In December 2020, the Uyghur Australian Sadam Abdusalam reunited with his wife and child with support from the Australian government.
But numerous other Uyghur families in Australia remain unable to reunite with even immediate family members because their loved ones are banned from leaving Xinjiang. They also worry that their peaceful actions in Australia affect their families' freedom in Xinjiang or any eventual opportunity to reunite.
The Chinese government's abuses against visiting Uyghur Australians have enabled transnational repression by remotely isolating and marginalizing Uyghur activists in Australia, as other Uyghurs fear being seen with them at public events.
In July, China's new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress took effect. The law contains provisions having extraterritorial application that could be used to deny rights to Uyghurs abroad, and other diaspora groups. Article 63 broadly states that "organizations and individuals outside the territory of the People's Republic of China" that "undermine national unity and progress or incite ethnic division" will be held "legally accountable."
The Australian government and other affected governments should adopt measures to protect their citizens and residents from Beijing's acts of transnational repression, Human Rights Watch said.
"The Chinese government's transnational repression poses a serious threat to the rights and freedoms of Uyghur Australians who wish to maintain family ties in Xinjiang while preserving their culture and identity in Australia," Bolopion said. "Australia and other affected governments should take meaningful steps to address these concerns."
For accounts of repression against Uyghurs in Australia, please see below.
China's Crimes Against Humanity in Xinjiang
Over the past decade, the Chinese government has committed widespread and systematic abuses against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang that constitute crimes against humanity. These include mass arbitrary detention, unjust imprisonment, mass surveillance, religious persecution, and forced labor.
Beijing's transnational repression derives its impact abroad from these crimes. Chinese authorities use the vulnerability of relatives in Xinjiang, restrictions on travel and communication, and fear of retaliation to pressure Uyghurs abroad.
Since the start of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's Strike Hard Campaign in Xinjiang in late 2016, the authorities have arbitrarily confiscated Uyghurs' passports in the region, and punished Uyghurs for contacting family members and others abroad. While the authorities are now permitting select Uyghurs to travel internationally or to visit family members in Xinjiang, they continue to exert tight control over those who travel.
Interrogation and Pressure to Monitor Uyghurs in Australia
Uyghur Australian citizens interviewed said they experienced heavy surveillance and interrogation while they were visiting Xinjiang. They said that Chinese authorities used controlled family visits to question them and pressure them to monitor Uyghur community life after they returned to Australia.
One visitor said:
I renounced my [Chinese] citizenship more than a decade ago, but the police had all the information about me. They asked me about everything-my connection to Xinjiang, even [pressed me] to tell them the primary school I went to. They also repeatedly asked questions about my life in Australia, my friends, family, and others in the diaspora. They specifically asked for addresses, phone numbers, and other information about multiple prominent activists. I told them I didn't know and that I don't go to political events. Then they said, "You have to give us something."
Then they started asking me to monitor Uyghur organizations [in Australia] and provide them with more information about their activities. "If possible, take photos of people in community gatherings," they said. "We know it is difficult for you and looks suspicious, but you can try."
A second visitor said:
I had to register with local authorities and report my everyday activities to the point-of-contact person, including places I visited and people I met. They interrogated me once and started asking questions about my life and people I know in Australia.... I don't think I will return. I didn't feel safe. I felt like they could do anything or detain me.... How could I say no to anything they asked me to do? In that situation, I panicked and only thought about complying with everything and returning to Australia safely.
A third visitor said:
From what I have witnessed, every Uyghur I met back home lives in fear. Children speak [Mandarin] Chinese at school, and when they accidentally speak Uyghur, it can escalate with local authorities [concluding that] parents have ideological problems. When I tried to go to an Eid [Islamic] prayer during my visit, I went to four different mosques and they were all closed. No one [around me] dared to go to a mosque anyway. Everyone back home says things are getting back to normal in public settings. But in private, some people told me about horrible things that happened over the last 10 years.
Family Separation as Leverage Against Uyghurs in Australia
Many Uyghur Australians remain separated from their families in Xinjiang and are deeply concerned for their safety. Chinese government threats or pressure against their relatives in Xinjiang are powerful tools for silencing Uyghurs across borders, deterring criticism of Beijing's human rights violations in Xinjiang, and promoting a false sense of normalcy in the region. One Uyghur man whose family members are all in Xinjiang said he did not feel free in Australia because of Chinese government intimidation:
Everything I know and everyone I love are back in the homeland [Xinjiang] under immense pressure and social control. Anything that I do here in Australia that the Chinese government thinks is problematic can destroy their lives, even if my acts are peaceful or lawful.
A Uyghur man said that his spouse is serving an arbitrary long prison term for a vague charge of "inciting ethnic hatred," which Xinjiang authorities often use to punish peaceful expression of Uyghur identity, and that his two children are with his parents in Xinjiang and prevented from traveling on their own. "The Chinese government keeps my family hostage to restrict my freedoms here in Australia," he said.
He also said that Chinese authorities used controlled communication with relatives in Xinjiang to pressure him for information about other people in the Uyghur community in Australia:
Last year, when they [Chinese authorities] got in touch with me, they asked for information about other people in the community [in Australia], which I declined to give. The Chinese government told my family [in Xinjiang] that they cannot speak to me without their authorization. Officials came to my family's house to facilitate a call with me. Why should I need government officials to talk to my parents or children?
Others said they have had no contact at all as Xinjiang authorities punished people for contacting relatives abroad during the Strike Hard Campaign and exerted strict surveillance, especially toward activists critical of the Chinese government. One Uyghur individual said they learned about their father's death in 2020 from a third party six months after he died, and had no communication with their elderly mother since 2017.
The authorities have also silenced people's activism in Australia through limits on their communication with their families in Xinjiang. One woman said that local officials had tried to pressure her through a family member in Xinjiang to stop her peaceful activism against Beijing's mass arbitrary detention campaign.
A Uyghur Australian who previously pressed for his spouse's release from detention has been advocating for Australian officials to help press Chinese authorities to allow his spouse to leave Xinjiang. The Chinese authorities have targeted the activist for engaging in peaceful activities, including with retaliatory interrogations and house arrests of family members in Xinjiang. The activist said:
It's been 10 years since I lost contact with the love of my life, who was unjustly imprisoned and recently completed her sentence. Even after her release, the Chinese government puts immense pressure on her not to contact me. Authorities did not allow her to apply for a passport. It's a no-release release, where she has no freedom even outside the prison. Family separation caused severe mental and emotional trauma for me. I need my government to press [Beijing] for my reunion with my family members.
Targeting Uyghur Language Schools in Australia
Chinese authorities have questioned visiting Uyghur Australians about Uyghur language schools in Australia, undermining these communities' exercise of language and cultural rights.
Australia, home to approximately 5,000 Uyghurs, established one of the first Uyghur language schools in the diaspora in Adelaide in 1992 to preserve Uyghur language and culture abroad. There are currently four Uyghur language weekend schools in Australia: in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Brisbane.
Diaspora members said student numbers at the language schools have declined in recent years, in part because some Uyghur Australians visiting Xinjiang faced intimidation for sending their children to those schools. Uyghur diasporas in the US and Canada have observed a similar pattern, as Chinese consulates have denied visas to some Uyghurs because their children attend Uyghur schools.
One recent Xinjiang visitor said the authorities pressured them to provide information about the activities of a Uyghur language school in Adelaide:
[The police] specifically asked me if my children go to Uyghur weekend school and who their teacher is. The police said, "When you return to Australia, gather information about Uyghur schools, and whose children go to those schools. If you apply for longer-term residency in Xinjiang in the future, those collaborations will strengthen your application."
These pressure tactics target diaspora efforts to preserve Uyghur language and culture while the government is seeking to erase Uyghur identity in Xinjiang. The recent visitor said:
My Australian-born child went back to my homeland with me. I wanted them to have a memory of their hometown and experience playing on streets with other Uyghur kids in the neighborhoods where I grew up. Despite being raised in Australia, they speak fluent Uyghur. However, kids around their age in the Uyghur neighborhood [in Xinjiang], where some of my family still lives, could not speak any Uyghur. They only spoke [Mandarin] Chinese, so my kid could not even communicate with them. I'll try even harder to keep the Uyghur language alive here in Australia. After what I saw back there, I won't be going back again.
Chilling Effect on Uyghur Community Life in Australia
Beijing's pressure has a chilling effect beyond formal activism, affecting social events, community gatherings, and ordinary family life among Uyghurs in Australia. Australian activists said that many diaspora members are fearful of the Chinese government's reach.
"Some of my close relatives did not invite me to their weddings here in Australia, because I am politically active," one Uyghur activist said. He said that the organizers feared for the safety of some participants' family members in Xinjiang simply for appearing in a public event with him. "It's a devastating case of transnational repression harming our social life."
Another Uyghur activist, who runs a nongovernmental organization in Adelaide, said some members of the organization were repeatedly interrogated by Xinjiang police during their visits about her and her organization. When they returned to Australia, they told her that they could no longer appear with her in any public setting.
The founder of a nongovernmental organization in Sydney said:
Uyghurs deprived of their freedoms in a free land-this is how I describe many members of the Uyghur community in Australia who are fearful of the Chinese government's long arm and therefore shy away from exercising their rights here in Australia. Uyghurs who have family ties back in the homeland [Xinjiang] are afraid of retaliation and therefore do not risk anything, so they don't come to protests, which is understandable. But even social events or Uyghur language [weekend] schools are problematic for them; that, to me, is an extreme example of transnational repression.
One diaspora member said many Uyghurs do not report intimidation because they fear retaliation and do not believe the Australian government has done enough to protect them:
I am an Australian. I live in Australia and am free to exercise my rights. But when the Chinese government comes after me when I do so, I don't believe my government is doing enough to protect me.... Many members of the diaspora do not report incidents of intimidation [to the Australian government] because they feel their reporting will result in further retaliation.... Are we less Australian than any other Australian? We need more protection for the community so we can preserve our language and culture in Australia, which are under existential threat in our homeland.
Another diaspora member said that the Australian government needs to do more to press Beijing to release their loved ones and allow them to travel abroad:
Families of Uyghur Australians are families of Australians. They should be assisted and supported by the [Australian] government with faster visa processes, restoration of communication, and consular services. Australian government officials listened to me in tears when I shared my story with them several times in the last couple of years, but nothing has really changed in my life. Some Uyghurs are going back to see their long-separated families. Good for them. Why can't I? Simply because I spoke out against the injustice against my family? Why should I be punished for exercising my freedoms here in Australia?
China's Transnational Repression in Australia
Chinese authorities have engaged in transnational repression in Australia through tactics aimed at silencing critics and deterring activism, targeting not only Uyghurs, but Tibetans, Hongkongers, Chinese dissidents, and researchers and academics. Reported cases include pressure on family members in China, harassment and intimidation, disinformation campaigns, protest disruptions, sexual harassment, and violations of academic freedom. The Guardian reported in April that Chinese authorities charged a Chinese student with secession and sentenced him to six years in prison because he participated in protests while studying in Sydney.
The Australian government considers "coercion of an individual by threatening their family or associates overseas to force them to comply" a form of foreign interference under the Criminal Code Act 1995 if linked to a foreign government or proxy. Canberra has issued joint statements on transnational repression, conducted outreach to affected communities, and established a National Security Hotline for reporting such incidents. However, these efforts remain insufficient to meaningfully address the full extent of the Chinese government's transnational repression in Australia.
Recommendations to the Australian Government
The Australian government should:
* In addition to existing travel advisories, issue a travel advisory for Uyghur Australians visiting Xinjiang, and for other minority groups targeted by the Chinese government, informing them specifically about Chinese government transnational repression, with clear instructions for reporting incidents and seeking consular services.
* Work with affected communities to draft and enact specific, comprehensive legislation on transnational repression, as existing legislation on foreign interference does not capture the full extent of transnational repression. The legislation should be consistent with human rights norms and address threats and intimidation, disinformation campaigns, protest disruptions, sexual harassment, and violations of academic freedom by the Chinese government against Australian residents, citizens, and their families in China.
* In addition to investigating incidents of transnational repression, publicize findings and hold those responsible accountable, including through targeted sanctions, travel bans, or visa denials on responsible foreign officials.
* Provide clear, accessible guidance, especially to naturalized Uyghur citizens with connections to Xinjiang, and other affected communities in Australia on reporting transnational repression, including harassment or threats involving relatives in Xinjiang, and ensure reports are handled safely and confidentially.
* Engage in confidence-building measures with affected diaspora communities and provide psychosocial, digital security, and legal support for victims of transnational repression.
* Publicly condemn the Chinese government for crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, including on the fourth anniversary of the landmark UN human rights office report on Xinjiang on August 31.
* Press for the release of arbitrarily detained family members of Uyghur Australians and other members of diaspora communities.
* Expedite family reunification of Uyghur Australians through established humanitarian visa and family reunification visa programs, and press Chinese officials to respect the rights of family members to leave China.
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Original text here: https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/08/16/australia-chinese-government-menaces-uyghur-diaspora
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Australia: Chinese Government Menaces Uyghur Diaspora
*
* The Chinese government is interrogating Uyghur Australians visiting Xinjiang, pressing them to collect information on Uyghurs in Australia, including Uyghur language schools.
* The Chinese government exploits the vulnerability of separated Uyghur families as an opportunity for surveillance and strict monitoring of the Uyghur community in Australia, which has a chilling effect on diaspora activities.
* Australia and other governments ... Show Full Article NEW YORK, Aug. 16 [Category: International] -- Human Rights Watch issued the following news: * * * Australia: Chinese Government Menaces Uyghur Diaspora * * The Chinese government is interrogating Uyghur Australians visiting Xinjiang, pressing them to collect information on Uyghurs in Australia, including Uyghur language schools. * The Chinese government exploits the vulnerability of separated Uyghur families as an opportunity for surveillance and strict monitoring of the Uyghur community in Australia, which has a chilling effect on diaspora activities. * Australia and other governmentsshould respond to Beijing's intimidation of the Uyghur diaspora with public statements, clear travel advisories, safe reporting channels, criminal investigations, and support for family reunification.
(Sydney) - The Chinese government is interrogating Uyghur Australians visiting Xinjiang, pressing them to collect information on Uyghurs in Australia, Human Rights Watch said today as its executive director, Philippe Bolopion, visited Australia.
Chinese authorities have long engaged in transnational repression-human rights abuses committed beyond a country's borders to curtail dissent-against Uyghurs living abroad and their relatives in Xinjiang, by targeting activists critical of the Chinese government. By pressing visitors to provide information about Uyghur activists, organizations, and language schools in Australia, the authorities are repressing the rights of Uyghurs in Australia to freedom of expression, association, culture, and family life.
"The Chinese government exploits the vulnerability of separated Uyghur families as an opportunity for surveillance and disruption of communities abroad," said Philippe Bolopion, executive director at Human Rights Watch. "Interrogating Uyghurs visiting Xinjiang and strict monitoring of diaspora activities have a chilling effect emblematic of Beijing's transnational repression in Australia."
Human Rights Watch interviewed 11 Uyghur Australian citizens and permanent residents in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide in April and May 2026. They included recent visitors to Xinjiang and Australia-based activists.
Uyghurs in Australia who have been unable to visit their families in Xinjiang said they have no information about relatives there or can communicate with them only under strict official surveillance, with Chinese government officials monitoring their calls.
In recent years, the Chinese government has permitted Uyghurs from Australia and elsewhere in the diaspora to make restricted visits to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Such visits are important for many Uyghur families who have been separated since the government's abusive Strike Hard Campaign in Xinjiang began in 2016. However, these visits have also provided the local authorities with opportunities to question or interrogate visitors and monitor their movements.
Uyghurs living abroad who have been able to visit Xinjiang need to pass stringent Chinese government vetting processes. Those with foreign passports eligible for a visa-free program that began in 2024 have been told by their families in Xinjiang that they need to undergo background checks and obtain prior approval from local authorities.
Three Uyghur Australians, who are not activists, described traveling to Xinjiang on Australian passports under this visa-free program. They said their families in Xinjiang had to seek permission from local authorities before their visits.
One said they first had to check in at a government-designated hotel, rather than their family home, and that their relatives in Xinjiang told them they would face problems with the authorities if they did not comply. The visiting Australians also said they had to report their daily activities in Xinjiang to local authorities and were kept under heavy surveillance, especially when traveling outside Urumqi, the regional capital, where restrictions seem less severe than in other cities.
Another Uyghur Australian said authorities interrogated him more than a dozen times, once for more than seven hours: "They asked for addresses and phone numbers of several prominent Uyghur activists in Australia." When he said he did not have that information, the police pressed him to monitor the activists' activities upon returning to Australia and photograph them during events.
A third person who was also interrogated by the police in Xinjiang said she was put under severe pressure because she feared for her and her family's safety. "How could I say no to anything they asked me to do?"
Others interviewed said they were questioned about Uyghur language schools in Australia; in Xinjiang the authorities have sought to erase Uyghur culture and language.
Some Uyghur Australians interviewed said they would not return to Xinjiang, even with the visa-free program, because they feared being detained or imprisoned, and would not be able to communicate with their families free from government control.
On August 7, Human Rights Watch sent a summary of its findings to the Chinese and Australian governments. The Chinese government has not responded. Australia's Department of Home Affairs responded on August 14 and said in part, "The Australian Government takes the issue of all forms of foreign interference, including transnational repression seriously. It is unacceptable for any foreign Government to target members of community in ways that prevent individuals from exercising their fundamental rights and freedoms in Australia."
Australian officials have raised the cases of separated Uyghur Australian families with their counterparts in Beijing but with little success. In December 2020, the Uyghur Australian Sadam Abdusalam reunited with his wife and child with support from the Australian government.
But numerous other Uyghur families in Australia remain unable to reunite with even immediate family members because their loved ones are banned from leaving Xinjiang. They also worry that their peaceful actions in Australia affect their families' freedom in Xinjiang or any eventual opportunity to reunite.
The Chinese government's abuses against visiting Uyghur Australians have enabled transnational repression by remotely isolating and marginalizing Uyghur activists in Australia, as other Uyghurs fear being seen with them at public events.
In July, China's new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress took effect. The law contains provisions having extraterritorial application that could be used to deny rights to Uyghurs abroad, and other diaspora groups. Article 63 broadly states that "organizations and individuals outside the territory of the People's Republic of China" that "undermine national unity and progress or incite ethnic division" will be held "legally accountable."
The Australian government and other affected governments should adopt measures to protect their citizens and residents from Beijing's acts of transnational repression, Human Rights Watch said.
"The Chinese government's transnational repression poses a serious threat to the rights and freedoms of Uyghur Australians who wish to maintain family ties in Xinjiang while preserving their culture and identity in Australia," Bolopion said. "Australia and other affected governments should take meaningful steps to address these concerns."
For accounts of repression against Uyghurs in Australia, please see below.
China's Crimes Against Humanity in Xinjiang
Over the past decade, the Chinese government has committed widespread and systematic abuses against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang that constitute crimes against humanity. These include mass arbitrary detention, unjust imprisonment, mass surveillance, religious persecution, and forced labor.
Beijing's transnational repression derives its impact abroad from these crimes. Chinese authorities use the vulnerability of relatives in Xinjiang, restrictions on travel and communication, and fear of retaliation to pressure Uyghurs abroad.
Since the start of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's Strike Hard Campaign in Xinjiang in late 2016, the authorities have arbitrarily confiscated Uyghurs' passports in the region, and punished Uyghurs for contacting family members and others abroad. While the authorities are now permitting select Uyghurs to travel internationally or to visit family members in Xinjiang, they continue to exert tight control over those who travel.
Interrogation and Pressure to Monitor Uyghurs in Australia
Uyghur Australian citizens interviewed said they experienced heavy surveillance and interrogation while they were visiting Xinjiang. They said that Chinese authorities used controlled family visits to question them and pressure them to monitor Uyghur community life after they returned to Australia.
One visitor said:
I renounced my [Chinese] citizenship more than a decade ago, but the police had all the information about me. They asked me about everything-my connection to Xinjiang, even [pressed me] to tell them the primary school I went to. They also repeatedly asked questions about my life in Australia, my friends, family, and others in the diaspora. They specifically asked for addresses, phone numbers, and other information about multiple prominent activists. I told them I didn't know and that I don't go to political events. Then they said, "You have to give us something."
Then they started asking me to monitor Uyghur organizations [in Australia] and provide them with more information about their activities. "If possible, take photos of people in community gatherings," they said. "We know it is difficult for you and looks suspicious, but you can try."
A second visitor said:
I had to register with local authorities and report my everyday activities to the point-of-contact person, including places I visited and people I met. They interrogated me once and started asking questions about my life and people I know in Australia.... I don't think I will return. I didn't feel safe. I felt like they could do anything or detain me.... How could I say no to anything they asked me to do? In that situation, I panicked and only thought about complying with everything and returning to Australia safely.
A third visitor said:
From what I have witnessed, every Uyghur I met back home lives in fear. Children speak [Mandarin] Chinese at school, and when they accidentally speak Uyghur, it can escalate with local authorities [concluding that] parents have ideological problems. When I tried to go to an Eid [Islamic] prayer during my visit, I went to four different mosques and they were all closed. No one [around me] dared to go to a mosque anyway. Everyone back home says things are getting back to normal in public settings. But in private, some people told me about horrible things that happened over the last 10 years.
Family Separation as Leverage Against Uyghurs in Australia
Many Uyghur Australians remain separated from their families in Xinjiang and are deeply concerned for their safety. Chinese government threats or pressure against their relatives in Xinjiang are powerful tools for silencing Uyghurs across borders, deterring criticism of Beijing's human rights violations in Xinjiang, and promoting a false sense of normalcy in the region. One Uyghur man whose family members are all in Xinjiang said he did not feel free in Australia because of Chinese government intimidation:
Everything I know and everyone I love are back in the homeland [Xinjiang] under immense pressure and social control. Anything that I do here in Australia that the Chinese government thinks is problematic can destroy their lives, even if my acts are peaceful or lawful.
A Uyghur man said that his spouse is serving an arbitrary long prison term for a vague charge of "inciting ethnic hatred," which Xinjiang authorities often use to punish peaceful expression of Uyghur identity, and that his two children are with his parents in Xinjiang and prevented from traveling on their own. "The Chinese government keeps my family hostage to restrict my freedoms here in Australia," he said.
He also said that Chinese authorities used controlled communication with relatives in Xinjiang to pressure him for information about other people in the Uyghur community in Australia:
Last year, when they [Chinese authorities] got in touch with me, they asked for information about other people in the community [in Australia], which I declined to give. The Chinese government told my family [in Xinjiang] that they cannot speak to me without their authorization. Officials came to my family's house to facilitate a call with me. Why should I need government officials to talk to my parents or children?
Others said they have had no contact at all as Xinjiang authorities punished people for contacting relatives abroad during the Strike Hard Campaign and exerted strict surveillance, especially toward activists critical of the Chinese government. One Uyghur individual said they learned about their father's death in 2020 from a third party six months after he died, and had no communication with their elderly mother since 2017.
The authorities have also silenced people's activism in Australia through limits on their communication with their families in Xinjiang. One woman said that local officials had tried to pressure her through a family member in Xinjiang to stop her peaceful activism against Beijing's mass arbitrary detention campaign.
A Uyghur Australian who previously pressed for his spouse's release from detention has been advocating for Australian officials to help press Chinese authorities to allow his spouse to leave Xinjiang. The Chinese authorities have targeted the activist for engaging in peaceful activities, including with retaliatory interrogations and house arrests of family members in Xinjiang. The activist said:
It's been 10 years since I lost contact with the love of my life, who was unjustly imprisoned and recently completed her sentence. Even after her release, the Chinese government puts immense pressure on her not to contact me. Authorities did not allow her to apply for a passport. It's a no-release release, where she has no freedom even outside the prison. Family separation caused severe mental and emotional trauma for me. I need my government to press [Beijing] for my reunion with my family members.
Targeting Uyghur Language Schools in Australia
Chinese authorities have questioned visiting Uyghur Australians about Uyghur language schools in Australia, undermining these communities' exercise of language and cultural rights.
Australia, home to approximately 5,000 Uyghurs, established one of the first Uyghur language schools in the diaspora in Adelaide in 1992 to preserve Uyghur language and culture abroad. There are currently four Uyghur language weekend schools in Australia: in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Brisbane.
Diaspora members said student numbers at the language schools have declined in recent years, in part because some Uyghur Australians visiting Xinjiang faced intimidation for sending their children to those schools. Uyghur diasporas in the US and Canada have observed a similar pattern, as Chinese consulates have denied visas to some Uyghurs because their children attend Uyghur schools.
One recent Xinjiang visitor said the authorities pressured them to provide information about the activities of a Uyghur language school in Adelaide:
[The police] specifically asked me if my children go to Uyghur weekend school and who their teacher is. The police said, "When you return to Australia, gather information about Uyghur schools, and whose children go to those schools. If you apply for longer-term residency in Xinjiang in the future, those collaborations will strengthen your application."
These pressure tactics target diaspora efforts to preserve Uyghur language and culture while the government is seeking to erase Uyghur identity in Xinjiang. The recent visitor said:
My Australian-born child went back to my homeland with me. I wanted them to have a memory of their hometown and experience playing on streets with other Uyghur kids in the neighborhoods where I grew up. Despite being raised in Australia, they speak fluent Uyghur. However, kids around their age in the Uyghur neighborhood [in Xinjiang], where some of my family still lives, could not speak any Uyghur. They only spoke [Mandarin] Chinese, so my kid could not even communicate with them. I'll try even harder to keep the Uyghur language alive here in Australia. After what I saw back there, I won't be going back again.
Chilling Effect on Uyghur Community Life in Australia
Beijing's pressure has a chilling effect beyond formal activism, affecting social events, community gatherings, and ordinary family life among Uyghurs in Australia. Australian activists said that many diaspora members are fearful of the Chinese government's reach.
"Some of my close relatives did not invite me to their weddings here in Australia, because I am politically active," one Uyghur activist said. He said that the organizers feared for the safety of some participants' family members in Xinjiang simply for appearing in a public event with him. "It's a devastating case of transnational repression harming our social life."
Another Uyghur activist, who runs a nongovernmental organization in Adelaide, said some members of the organization were repeatedly interrogated by Xinjiang police during their visits about her and her organization. When they returned to Australia, they told her that they could no longer appear with her in any public setting.
The founder of a nongovernmental organization in Sydney said:
Uyghurs deprived of their freedoms in a free land-this is how I describe many members of the Uyghur community in Australia who are fearful of the Chinese government's long arm and therefore shy away from exercising their rights here in Australia. Uyghurs who have family ties back in the homeland [Xinjiang] are afraid of retaliation and therefore do not risk anything, so they don't come to protests, which is understandable. But even social events or Uyghur language [weekend] schools are problematic for them; that, to me, is an extreme example of transnational repression.
One diaspora member said many Uyghurs do not report intimidation because they fear retaliation and do not believe the Australian government has done enough to protect them:
I am an Australian. I live in Australia and am free to exercise my rights. But when the Chinese government comes after me when I do so, I don't believe my government is doing enough to protect me.... Many members of the diaspora do not report incidents of intimidation [to the Australian government] because they feel their reporting will result in further retaliation.... Are we less Australian than any other Australian? We need more protection for the community so we can preserve our language and culture in Australia, which are under existential threat in our homeland.
Another diaspora member said that the Australian government needs to do more to press Beijing to release their loved ones and allow them to travel abroad:
Families of Uyghur Australians are families of Australians. They should be assisted and supported by the [Australian] government with faster visa processes, restoration of communication, and consular services. Australian government officials listened to me in tears when I shared my story with them several times in the last couple of years, but nothing has really changed in my life. Some Uyghurs are going back to see their long-separated families. Good for them. Why can't I? Simply because I spoke out against the injustice against my family? Why should I be punished for exercising my freedoms here in Australia?
China's Transnational Repression in Australia
Chinese authorities have engaged in transnational repression in Australia through tactics aimed at silencing critics and deterring activism, targeting not only Uyghurs, but Tibetans, Hongkongers, Chinese dissidents, and researchers and academics. Reported cases include pressure on family members in China, harassment and intimidation, disinformation campaigns, protest disruptions, sexual harassment, and violations of academic freedom. The Guardian reported in April that Chinese authorities charged a Chinese student with secession and sentenced him to six years in prison because he participated in protests while studying in Sydney.
The Australian government considers "coercion of an individual by threatening their family or associates overseas to force them to comply" a form of foreign interference under the Criminal Code Act 1995 if linked to a foreign government or proxy. Canberra has issued joint statements on transnational repression, conducted outreach to affected communities, and established a National Security Hotline for reporting such incidents. However, these efforts remain insufficient to meaningfully address the full extent of the Chinese government's transnational repression in Australia.
Recommendations to the Australian Government
The Australian government should:
* In addition to existing travel advisories, issue a travel advisory for Uyghur Australians visiting Xinjiang, and for other minority groups targeted by the Chinese government, informing them specifically about Chinese government transnational repression, with clear instructions for reporting incidents and seeking consular services.
* Work with affected communities to draft and enact specific, comprehensive legislation on transnational repression, as existing legislation on foreign interference does not capture the full extent of transnational repression. The legislation should be consistent with human rights norms and address threats and intimidation, disinformation campaigns, protest disruptions, sexual harassment, and violations of academic freedom by the Chinese government against Australian residents, citizens, and their families in China.
* In addition to investigating incidents of transnational repression, publicize findings and hold those responsible accountable, including through targeted sanctions, travel bans, or visa denials on responsible foreign officials.
* Provide clear, accessible guidance, especially to naturalized Uyghur citizens with connections to Xinjiang, and other affected communities in Australia on reporting transnational repression, including harassment or threats involving relatives in Xinjiang, and ensure reports are handled safely and confidentially.
* Engage in confidence-building measures with affected diaspora communities and provide psychosocial, digital security, and legal support for victims of transnational repression.
* Publicly condemn the Chinese government for crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, including on the fourth anniversary of the landmark UN human rights office report on Xinjiang on August 31.
* Press for the release of arbitrarily detained family members of Uyghur Australians and other members of diaspora communities.
* Expedite family reunification of Uyghur Australians through established humanitarian visa and family reunification visa programs, and press Chinese officials to respect the rights of family members to leave China.
***
Original text here: https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/08/16/australia-chinese-government-menaces-uyghur-diaspora
Protect Borrowers: Trump CFPB Buries Financial Companies' Abuses
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 -- Protect Borrowers (formerly Student Borrower Protection Center) issued the following news release on Aug. 14, 2026:
* * *
Trump CFPB Buries Financial Companies' Abuses
Bureau Announces Plans to Suppress Consumer Complaint Information, Breaking with Years-Long, Bipartisan Commitment to Transparency
-
Today, the Trump Administration announced it would break with more than a decade of precedent and suppress the publication of information submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from Americans about problems they encounter across the financial marketplace. ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 -- Protect Borrowers (formerly Student Borrower Protection Center) issued the following news release on Aug. 14, 2026: * * * Trump CFPB Buries Financial Companies' Abuses Bureau Announces Plans to Suppress Consumer Complaint Information, Breaking with Years-Long, Bipartisan Commitment to Transparency - Today, the Trump Administration announced it would break with more than a decade of precedent and suppress the publication of information submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from Americans about problems they encounter across the financial marketplace.This unprecedented action will shield financial firms' abuses from public scrutiny, denying families access to critical information as they shop for mortgages, car loans, credit cards, and correct errors on their credit reports.
In response to today's announcement by the Trump Administration, Erie Meyer, former Chief Technologist at the CFPB and an architect of the CFPB's consumer complaint database, released the following statement:
"The Trump Administration is inventing excuses to hide credit reporting and Wall Street abuses from the public. More than 17 million people have filed complaints with the CFPB about their credit report, mortgage provider, student loan servicer, payment app, or bank account-and the CFPB in turn has worked diligently to resolve these problems, even saving people's homes from foreclosure and cars from repossession. Taking down this data doesn't protect consumers from confusion, but it does protect companies from public transparency and scrutiny.
"The CFPB complaint database and its narratives are the earliest warning system we have for what's breaking in the economy. Before a single story is published, the CFPB confirms the person is a real customer of that company. The company gets two weeks to respond, on the record, in public. That's not an anonymous internet review -- that's closer to due process than most Americans get anywhere else in their financial lives. Burying this information is an intentional decision to make corporate misconduct harder to see."
Protect Borrowers executive director Mike Pierce released the following statement:
"At every step, Trump's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has done favors for financial firms and kicked families in the teeth. As costs keep climbing and more Americans turn to debt to stay afloat, this is the worst possible moment to deny the public and policymakers access to basic information about the problems people experience when buying a home, taking out a car loan, paying for college, or putting groceries on a credit card.
"This is just the latest and most extreme example of Trump's consumer watchdog fighting for corporations instead of standing up for the rest of us."
Further Reading
Amicus Brief from a coalition of veterans and nonprofit groups challenging efforts by the Trump Administration to shutter the CFPB: Amicus Brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in NTEU v. Vought (https://protectborrowers.org/litigation/amicus-brief-to-us-court-of-appeals-district-of-columbia-circuit-in-nteu-v-vought/)
Protect Borrowers and Consumer Federation of America (CFA) memo on additional enforcement actions dropped by the CFPB: In Eight Months, Trump's CFPB Has Let More Than 40 Lawbreakers Off the Hook (https://protectborrowers.org/in-8-months-trumps-cfpb-let-40-lawbreakers-off-hook/)
Protect Borrowers blog post on the Trump CFPB's Settlement with MoneyLion: Trump's CFPB Waves the White Flag on the Military Lending Act to Give MoneyLion a Sweetheart Deal. Why? (https://protectborrowers.org/trumps-cfpb-waves-white-flag-on-military-lending-act-to-give-moneylion-a-sweetheart-deal/)
Protect Borrowers blog post on the Trump CFPB costing Americans: Trump's Consumer Financial Protection Agenda--or Lack Thereof--Has Already Cost Americans More Than $18 Billion (https://protectborrowers.org/trumps-consumer-financial-protection-agenda-has-already-cost-americans-18-billion/)
Protect Borrowers and CFA blog post on the fight to defend CFPB: Trump Trashes the Economy and Leaves Americans Vulnerable: Two Disastrous Months of Trump's CFPB (https://protectborrowers.org/trump-trashes-the-economy-and-leaves-americans-vulnerable-two-disastrous-months-of-trumps-cfpb/)
Protect Borrowers and CFA memo on repeat offenders and CFPB enforcement: As House Financial Services Committee Majority Lines Up Industry Witnesses to Bash CFPB, Consumer Advocates Issue Rap Sheet Highlighting More Than $3 Billion in Harm Caused by Corporate Repeat Offenders (https://protectborrowers.org/advocates-issue-rap-sheet-highlighting-3-billion-in-harm-caused-by-corporate-repeat-offenders/)
Protect Borrowers warns state AGs of emerging tech scam: As CFPB Enforcement Folds, Predatory Tech Company Prehired Defies Government Order to Cease Operations and Continues Defrauding Students (https://protectborrowers.org/predatory-tech-company-prehired-defies-government-order-to-cease-operations-and-continues-defrauding-students/)
Protect Borrowers and CFA memo identifying 87 congressionally imposed mandates Director Vought is refusing to perform: Advocates Applaud Lawsuits Challenging Trump and Vought's Corrupt and Unlawful Attempt to "Delete" Consumer Watchdog Agency, CFPB (https://protectborrowers.org/advocates-applaud-lawsuits-challenging-trump-and-voughts-attempt-to-delete-cfpb/)
Protect Borrowers press release on federal court temporary blocking Trump, Musk, and Vought from dismantling the CFPB: In a Major Victory for Americans, Federal Court Blocks Trump, Musk, Vought Effort to Dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (https://protectborrowers.org/in-a-major-victory-federal-court-blocks-effort-to-dismantle-cfpb/)
Protect Borrowers blog on Musk and DOGE illegal attempt to "delete" CFPB: Elon and DOGE Are Attempting To Illegally "Delete" the CFPB, Here Is Why This Matters To Student Loan Borrowers (https://protectborrowers.org/elon-and-doge-are-attempting-to-illegally-delete-the-cfpb/)
* * *
About Protect Borrowers
Protect Borrowers (formerly Student Borrower Protection Center) is a nonprofit organization led by a team of experts, lawyers, and advocates fighting to build an economy where debt doesn't limit opportunity. We investigate financial abuses, take predatory companies to court, and push for policies to protect working people from debt traps. We aim to deliver immediate relief to families while building power, driving systemic change, and fighting for racial and economic justice.
* * *
Original text here: https://protectborrowers.org/trump-cfpb-buries-financial-companies-abuses/
[Category: Financial Services]
* * *
Trump CFPB Buries Financial Companies' Abuses
Bureau Announces Plans to Suppress Consumer Complaint Information, Breaking with Years-Long, Bipartisan Commitment to Transparency
-
Today, the Trump Administration announced it would break with more than a decade of precedent and suppress the publication of information submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from Americans about problems they encounter across the financial marketplace. ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 -- Protect Borrowers (formerly Student Borrower Protection Center) issued the following news release on Aug. 14, 2026: * * * Trump CFPB Buries Financial Companies' Abuses Bureau Announces Plans to Suppress Consumer Complaint Information, Breaking with Years-Long, Bipartisan Commitment to Transparency - Today, the Trump Administration announced it would break with more than a decade of precedent and suppress the publication of information submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from Americans about problems they encounter across the financial marketplace.This unprecedented action will shield financial firms' abuses from public scrutiny, denying families access to critical information as they shop for mortgages, car loans, credit cards, and correct errors on their credit reports.
In response to today's announcement by the Trump Administration, Erie Meyer, former Chief Technologist at the CFPB and an architect of the CFPB's consumer complaint database, released the following statement:
"The Trump Administration is inventing excuses to hide credit reporting and Wall Street abuses from the public. More than 17 million people have filed complaints with the CFPB about their credit report, mortgage provider, student loan servicer, payment app, or bank account-and the CFPB in turn has worked diligently to resolve these problems, even saving people's homes from foreclosure and cars from repossession. Taking down this data doesn't protect consumers from confusion, but it does protect companies from public transparency and scrutiny.
"The CFPB complaint database and its narratives are the earliest warning system we have for what's breaking in the economy. Before a single story is published, the CFPB confirms the person is a real customer of that company. The company gets two weeks to respond, on the record, in public. That's not an anonymous internet review -- that's closer to due process than most Americans get anywhere else in their financial lives. Burying this information is an intentional decision to make corporate misconduct harder to see."
Protect Borrowers executive director Mike Pierce released the following statement:
"At every step, Trump's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has done favors for financial firms and kicked families in the teeth. As costs keep climbing and more Americans turn to debt to stay afloat, this is the worst possible moment to deny the public and policymakers access to basic information about the problems people experience when buying a home, taking out a car loan, paying for college, or putting groceries on a credit card.
"This is just the latest and most extreme example of Trump's consumer watchdog fighting for corporations instead of standing up for the rest of us."
Further Reading
Amicus Brief from a coalition of veterans and nonprofit groups challenging efforts by the Trump Administration to shutter the CFPB: Amicus Brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in NTEU v. Vought (https://protectborrowers.org/litigation/amicus-brief-to-us-court-of-appeals-district-of-columbia-circuit-in-nteu-v-vought/)
Protect Borrowers and Consumer Federation of America (CFA) memo on additional enforcement actions dropped by the CFPB: In Eight Months, Trump's CFPB Has Let More Than 40 Lawbreakers Off the Hook (https://protectborrowers.org/in-8-months-trumps-cfpb-let-40-lawbreakers-off-hook/)
Protect Borrowers blog post on the Trump CFPB's Settlement with MoneyLion: Trump's CFPB Waves the White Flag on the Military Lending Act to Give MoneyLion a Sweetheart Deal. Why? (https://protectborrowers.org/trumps-cfpb-waves-white-flag-on-military-lending-act-to-give-moneylion-a-sweetheart-deal/)
Protect Borrowers blog post on the Trump CFPB costing Americans: Trump's Consumer Financial Protection Agenda--or Lack Thereof--Has Already Cost Americans More Than $18 Billion (https://protectborrowers.org/trumps-consumer-financial-protection-agenda-has-already-cost-americans-18-billion/)
Protect Borrowers and CFA blog post on the fight to defend CFPB: Trump Trashes the Economy and Leaves Americans Vulnerable: Two Disastrous Months of Trump's CFPB (https://protectborrowers.org/trump-trashes-the-economy-and-leaves-americans-vulnerable-two-disastrous-months-of-trumps-cfpb/)
Protect Borrowers and CFA memo on repeat offenders and CFPB enforcement: As House Financial Services Committee Majority Lines Up Industry Witnesses to Bash CFPB, Consumer Advocates Issue Rap Sheet Highlighting More Than $3 Billion in Harm Caused by Corporate Repeat Offenders (https://protectborrowers.org/advocates-issue-rap-sheet-highlighting-3-billion-in-harm-caused-by-corporate-repeat-offenders/)
Protect Borrowers warns state AGs of emerging tech scam: As CFPB Enforcement Folds, Predatory Tech Company Prehired Defies Government Order to Cease Operations and Continues Defrauding Students (https://protectborrowers.org/predatory-tech-company-prehired-defies-government-order-to-cease-operations-and-continues-defrauding-students/)
Protect Borrowers and CFA memo identifying 87 congressionally imposed mandates Director Vought is refusing to perform: Advocates Applaud Lawsuits Challenging Trump and Vought's Corrupt and Unlawful Attempt to "Delete" Consumer Watchdog Agency, CFPB (https://protectborrowers.org/advocates-applaud-lawsuits-challenging-trump-and-voughts-attempt-to-delete-cfpb/)
Protect Borrowers press release on federal court temporary blocking Trump, Musk, and Vought from dismantling the CFPB: In a Major Victory for Americans, Federal Court Blocks Trump, Musk, Vought Effort to Dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (https://protectborrowers.org/in-a-major-victory-federal-court-blocks-effort-to-dismantle-cfpb/)
Protect Borrowers blog on Musk and DOGE illegal attempt to "delete" CFPB: Elon and DOGE Are Attempting To Illegally "Delete" the CFPB, Here Is Why This Matters To Student Loan Borrowers (https://protectborrowers.org/elon-and-doge-are-attempting-to-illegally-delete-the-cfpb/)
* * *
About Protect Borrowers
Protect Borrowers (formerly Student Borrower Protection Center) is a nonprofit organization led by a team of experts, lawyers, and advocates fighting to build an economy where debt doesn't limit opportunity. We investigate financial abuses, take predatory companies to court, and push for policies to protect working people from debt traps. We aim to deliver immediate relief to families while building power, driving systemic change, and fighting for racial and economic justice.
* * *
Original text here: https://protectborrowers.org/trump-cfpb-buries-financial-companies-abuses/
[Category: Financial Services]
Northwell Health: Staten Island University Hospital Receives Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence Designation
NEW HYDE PARK, New York, Aug. 15 -- Northwell Health issued the following news release:
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Staten Island University Hospital receives Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence designation
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has recognized fewer than 200 hospitals nationwide for excellence in combating antibiotic resistance
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Northwell's Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) has been recognized as an Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), a national designation awarded to hospitals that demonstrate excellence ... Show Full Article NEW HYDE PARK, New York, Aug. 15 -- Northwell Health issued the following news release: * * * Staten Island University Hospital receives Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence designation The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has recognized fewer than 200 hospitals nationwide for excellence in combating antibiotic resistance - Northwell's Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) has been recognized as an Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), a national designation awarded to hospitals that demonstrate excellencein the responsible use of antimicrobial medications and a strong commitment to combating antimicrobial resistance.
The designation recognizes hospitals with comprehensive antimicrobial stewardship programs that optimize the use of antibiotics and other antimicrobial medications, helping patients receive the right medication, at the right dose and for the right duration. Effective stewardship improves patient outcomes, reduces medication-related complications, lowers health care costs and helps slow the spread of antimicrobial-resistant organisms.
"Receiving this designation reflects the dedication of our multidisciplinary team and our commitment to delivering the highest quality care for our patients," said Joanna DeAngelis, infectious diseases pharmacist at SIUH.
"Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest public health challenges facing medicine today. Through careful oversight, collaboration and education, we're ensuring these lifesaving medications remain effective for patients today and for future generations."
Each year, antimicrobial-resistant infections contribute to more than 700,000 deaths worldwide. To address this growing threat, the IDSA launched its Antimicrobial Stewardship Centers of Excellence program in 2017 to recognize hospitals that have established robust stewardship programs and serve as models for best practices. To date, fewer than 200 hospitals have earned the designation.
How SIUH's antimicrobial stewardship program works
SIUH's antimicrobial stewardship program brings together infectious disease physicians, infectious disease pharmacists, telehealth pharmacists, microbiology, infection prevention, nursing, quality, information technology and hospital leadership to continually evaluate antimicrobial prescribing and identify opportunities to improve care.
The team reviews antimicrobial therapies in real time, monitors laboratory results, recommends adjustments based on culture findings, provides therapeutic drug monitoring for high-risk medications and works closely with clinicians across the hospital to ensure evidence-based treatment decisions. The committee also meets quarterly to review antimicrobial utilization, multidrug-resistant organism trends, treatment guideline compliance and quality improvement initiatives.
The program has also produced measurable clinical and financial results. Since late 2020, the stewardship team has helped generate significant cost savings by transitioning appropriate patients from intravenous to oral minocycline therapy earlier in treatment.
In addition to clinical care, SIUH's stewardship team is actively engaged in education and research. Pharmacists and physicians provide ongoing training for residents, pharmacy staff and clinicians, while leading and participating in research projects evaluating new approaches to antimicrobial therapy.
"This recognition is a testament to the collaboration between our pharmacists, physicians and clinical teams across both hospital campuses," said Nicole Berwald, MD, VP & chief medical officer at SIUH. "By continually evaluating how antimicrobials are prescribed and used, we're improving patient safety while helping preserve these critical medications for years to come."
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The Infectious Diseases Society of America is a global community of more than 13,000 clinicians, scientists and public health experts dedicated to advancing the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases.
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Original text here: https://www.northwell.edu/news/the-latest/siuh-receives-antimicrobial-stewardship-center-of-excellence-designation
[Category: Health Care]
* * *
Staten Island University Hospital receives Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence designation
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has recognized fewer than 200 hospitals nationwide for excellence in combating antibiotic resistance
-
Northwell's Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) has been recognized as an Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), a national designation awarded to hospitals that demonstrate excellence ... Show Full Article NEW HYDE PARK, New York, Aug. 15 -- Northwell Health issued the following news release: * * * Staten Island University Hospital receives Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence designation The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has recognized fewer than 200 hospitals nationwide for excellence in combating antibiotic resistance - Northwell's Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) has been recognized as an Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), a national designation awarded to hospitals that demonstrate excellencein the responsible use of antimicrobial medications and a strong commitment to combating antimicrobial resistance.
The designation recognizes hospitals with comprehensive antimicrobial stewardship programs that optimize the use of antibiotics and other antimicrobial medications, helping patients receive the right medication, at the right dose and for the right duration. Effective stewardship improves patient outcomes, reduces medication-related complications, lowers health care costs and helps slow the spread of antimicrobial-resistant organisms.
"Receiving this designation reflects the dedication of our multidisciplinary team and our commitment to delivering the highest quality care for our patients," said Joanna DeAngelis, infectious diseases pharmacist at SIUH.
"Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest public health challenges facing medicine today. Through careful oversight, collaboration and education, we're ensuring these lifesaving medications remain effective for patients today and for future generations."
Each year, antimicrobial-resistant infections contribute to more than 700,000 deaths worldwide. To address this growing threat, the IDSA launched its Antimicrobial Stewardship Centers of Excellence program in 2017 to recognize hospitals that have established robust stewardship programs and serve as models for best practices. To date, fewer than 200 hospitals have earned the designation.
How SIUH's antimicrobial stewardship program works
SIUH's antimicrobial stewardship program brings together infectious disease physicians, infectious disease pharmacists, telehealth pharmacists, microbiology, infection prevention, nursing, quality, information technology and hospital leadership to continually evaluate antimicrobial prescribing and identify opportunities to improve care.
The team reviews antimicrobial therapies in real time, monitors laboratory results, recommends adjustments based on culture findings, provides therapeutic drug monitoring for high-risk medications and works closely with clinicians across the hospital to ensure evidence-based treatment decisions. The committee also meets quarterly to review antimicrobial utilization, multidrug-resistant organism trends, treatment guideline compliance and quality improvement initiatives.
The program has also produced measurable clinical and financial results. Since late 2020, the stewardship team has helped generate significant cost savings by transitioning appropriate patients from intravenous to oral minocycline therapy earlier in treatment.
In addition to clinical care, SIUH's stewardship team is actively engaged in education and research. Pharmacists and physicians provide ongoing training for residents, pharmacy staff and clinicians, while leading and participating in research projects evaluating new approaches to antimicrobial therapy.
"This recognition is a testament to the collaboration between our pharmacists, physicians and clinical teams across both hospital campuses," said Nicole Berwald, MD, VP & chief medical officer at SIUH. "By continually evaluating how antimicrobials are prescribed and used, we're improving patient safety while helping preserve these critical medications for years to come."
* * *
The Infectious Diseases Society of America is a global community of more than 13,000 clinicians, scientists and public health experts dedicated to advancing the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.northwell.edu/news/the-latest/siuh-receives-antimicrobial-stewardship-center-of-excellence-designation
[Category: Health Care]
Coalition Demands Justice for Endangered Mexican Wolf Killed in Illegal Trap
SANTA FE, New Mexico, Aug. 15 -- WildEarth Guardians posted the following news release on Aug. 14, 2026:
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Coalition Demands Justice for Endangered Mexican Wolf Killed in Illegal Trap
Trapping is an ongoing and recurring threat to New Mexico's endangered wolf population.
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A coalition of wildlife conservation, environmental and animal protection organizations is demanding accountability after new reporting revealed that the New Mexico Department of Justice declined to bring criminal charges against a trapper who illegally set a trap on public land and then killed an endangered Mexican ... Show Full Article SANTA FE, New Mexico, Aug. 15 -- WildEarth Guardians posted the following news release on Aug. 14, 2026: * * * Coalition Demands Justice for Endangered Mexican Wolf Killed in Illegal Trap Trapping is an ongoing and recurring threat to New Mexico's endangered wolf population. - A coalition of wildlife conservation, environmental and animal protection organizations is demanding accountability after new reporting revealed that the New Mexico Department of Justice declined to bring criminal charges against a trapper who illegally set a trap on public land and then killed an endangered Mexicangray wolf. The incident, covered in yesterday's Albuquerque Journal, involved William Nelson, a permitted public safety and depredation control officer for the Catron County Sheriff's Office, who unlawfully set a trap for coyotes on public land in July 2025. After a Mexican gray wolf was caught in the trap, Nelson and a rancher restrained the wolf using a sleeping bag. The wolf died from asphyxiation due to vomit that obstructed his airway while being restrained.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, the New Mexico Department of Wildlife sought prosecution in the case, while the NMDOJ and federal authorities declined to bring charges. The New Mexico Department of Justice ultimately entered into an agreement under which the trapper would not be prosecuted and instead was required to download an app showing public and private land boundaries.
"An endangered Mexican gray wolf was caught in an illegal trap and died a horrific death, and the consequence was essentially downloading an app," said Michelle Lute, Ph.D., executive director of Wildlife for All. "Why are we unable to protect an endangered species when multiple laws were violated so clearly? If our laws cannot deliver meaningful justice in a case like this, we need to fix both the enforcement and the laws themselves."
Since 2022, at least 23 Mexican gray wolves have been documented caught in traps in New Mexico, demonstrating that trapping is an ongoing and recurring threat to the state's endangered wolf population.
"New Mexico banned public lands trapping to prevent these exact kinds of incidents. The legislature wanted to keep public lands safe and protect wildlife from cruelty," said Chris Smith, wildlife and wild places program director for WildEarth Guardians. "Roxy's Law is a beacon of enlightened wildlife and public lands policy in the West, but only if we uphold it."
"Wildlife enthusiasts, outdoor recreationists, and people opposed to animal cruelty and the brutality traps inflict along with the support of the majority of New Mexicans worked for years to finally see traps banned on NM public lands", said Mary Katherine Ray, wildlife chair for the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club. "The state of New Mexico is entrusted to enforce this law including prosecuting violators and administering penalties and this is regardless of whether the victim is a coyote or an endangered animal like a wolf. That it did not is a betrayal to all of us."
The coalition is urging New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez to strengthen the NMDOJ's prosecution of illegal activity related to trapping and other cruelty to wildlife and is calling on state leaders to strengthen enforcement and close statutory loopholes that put wolves and other wildlife at risk.
"The Governor and the Department of Wildlife recognized that this case warranted prosecution, yet the state's response failed to provide meaningful accountability for the unlawfully set trap that resulted in the death of an endangered wolf," said Cyndi Tuell, Arizona and New Mexico director at Western Watersheds Project. "We urge Attorney General Torrez to get tough on wildlife crime, and we urge the Legislature to ensure that future cases do not fall through the same cracks."
"We cannot simultaneously claim that Mexican gray wolves are ready for fewer federal protections while an endangered wolf can be illegally trapped and killed with no meaningful criminal consequence," said Regan Downey, director of education and advocacy at the Wolf Conservation Center. "Recovery requires more than increasing the number of wolves on the landscape through wild breeding or captive releases. It requires protecting them once they are there."
"This case should concern everyone who cares about the future of Mexican gray wolves. We are being told that lobos are approaching a point where federal protections can be weakened, yet an endangered breeding male can be illegally trapped on public land, die as a result, and there is no meaningful prosecution," said Claire Musser, executive director of the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project. "Recovery cannot simply be measured by how many wolves are counted each year. It must also mean that wolves can live on the landscape with meaningful legal protections, accountability when those protections are violated, and a genuine chance to thrive."
Nelson's victim, referred to by the code AM2765, was the breeding male of the Frieborn pack and had welcomed pups earlier that year. He served as the adoptive father to seven wild-born pups who were fostered from the Pancho Spring pack to the Frieborn pack in 2024.
* * *
About Wildlife for All
Wildlife for All is a national organization dedicated to reforming wildlife management to be more democratic, just, compassionate and focused on protecting wild species and ecosystems. Through research, advocacy, and education, we aim to protect wildlife and ensure that policies reflect the values of all Americans.
* * *
About Western Watersheds Project
Western Watersheds Project is a nonprofit conservation organization with more than 50,000 members and supporters who care about protecting western public lands for watersheds and wildlife.
* * *
About WildEarth Guardians
WildEarth Guardians protects and restores the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West.
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About Sierra Club
The Sierra Club's mission is to explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the Earth, practice and promote the responsible use of its ecosystems, and educate humanity to protect the natural environment.
* * *
About Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project
The Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project is a nonprofit dedicated to bringing back wolves to help restore ecological health in the Grand Canyon region, while also recognizing wolves as sentient beings with intrinsic value and worth.
* * *
About Wolf Conservation Center
The Wolf Conservation Center advances the survival of wolves by inspiring a global community through education, advocacy, research, and recovery, and is an active participant in the SAFE Mexican Wolf Program.
* * *
Original text here: https://wildearthguardians.org/press-releases/coalition-demands-justice-for-endangered-mexican-wolf-killed-in-illegal-trap/
[Category: Environment]
* * *
Coalition Demands Justice for Endangered Mexican Wolf Killed in Illegal Trap
Trapping is an ongoing and recurring threat to New Mexico's endangered wolf population.
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A coalition of wildlife conservation, environmental and animal protection organizations is demanding accountability after new reporting revealed that the New Mexico Department of Justice declined to bring criminal charges against a trapper who illegally set a trap on public land and then killed an endangered Mexican ... Show Full Article SANTA FE, New Mexico, Aug. 15 -- WildEarth Guardians posted the following news release on Aug. 14, 2026: * * * Coalition Demands Justice for Endangered Mexican Wolf Killed in Illegal Trap Trapping is an ongoing and recurring threat to New Mexico's endangered wolf population. - A coalition of wildlife conservation, environmental and animal protection organizations is demanding accountability after new reporting revealed that the New Mexico Department of Justice declined to bring criminal charges against a trapper who illegally set a trap on public land and then killed an endangered Mexicangray wolf. The incident, covered in yesterday's Albuquerque Journal, involved William Nelson, a permitted public safety and depredation control officer for the Catron County Sheriff's Office, who unlawfully set a trap for coyotes on public land in July 2025. After a Mexican gray wolf was caught in the trap, Nelson and a rancher restrained the wolf using a sleeping bag. The wolf died from asphyxiation due to vomit that obstructed his airway while being restrained.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, the New Mexico Department of Wildlife sought prosecution in the case, while the NMDOJ and federal authorities declined to bring charges. The New Mexico Department of Justice ultimately entered into an agreement under which the trapper would not be prosecuted and instead was required to download an app showing public and private land boundaries.
"An endangered Mexican gray wolf was caught in an illegal trap and died a horrific death, and the consequence was essentially downloading an app," said Michelle Lute, Ph.D., executive director of Wildlife for All. "Why are we unable to protect an endangered species when multiple laws were violated so clearly? If our laws cannot deliver meaningful justice in a case like this, we need to fix both the enforcement and the laws themselves."
Since 2022, at least 23 Mexican gray wolves have been documented caught in traps in New Mexico, demonstrating that trapping is an ongoing and recurring threat to the state's endangered wolf population.
"New Mexico banned public lands trapping to prevent these exact kinds of incidents. The legislature wanted to keep public lands safe and protect wildlife from cruelty," said Chris Smith, wildlife and wild places program director for WildEarth Guardians. "Roxy's Law is a beacon of enlightened wildlife and public lands policy in the West, but only if we uphold it."
"Wildlife enthusiasts, outdoor recreationists, and people opposed to animal cruelty and the brutality traps inflict along with the support of the majority of New Mexicans worked for years to finally see traps banned on NM public lands", said Mary Katherine Ray, wildlife chair for the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club. "The state of New Mexico is entrusted to enforce this law including prosecuting violators and administering penalties and this is regardless of whether the victim is a coyote or an endangered animal like a wolf. That it did not is a betrayal to all of us."
The coalition is urging New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez to strengthen the NMDOJ's prosecution of illegal activity related to trapping and other cruelty to wildlife and is calling on state leaders to strengthen enforcement and close statutory loopholes that put wolves and other wildlife at risk.
"The Governor and the Department of Wildlife recognized that this case warranted prosecution, yet the state's response failed to provide meaningful accountability for the unlawfully set trap that resulted in the death of an endangered wolf," said Cyndi Tuell, Arizona and New Mexico director at Western Watersheds Project. "We urge Attorney General Torrez to get tough on wildlife crime, and we urge the Legislature to ensure that future cases do not fall through the same cracks."
"We cannot simultaneously claim that Mexican gray wolves are ready for fewer federal protections while an endangered wolf can be illegally trapped and killed with no meaningful criminal consequence," said Regan Downey, director of education and advocacy at the Wolf Conservation Center. "Recovery requires more than increasing the number of wolves on the landscape through wild breeding or captive releases. It requires protecting them once they are there."
"This case should concern everyone who cares about the future of Mexican gray wolves. We are being told that lobos are approaching a point where federal protections can be weakened, yet an endangered breeding male can be illegally trapped on public land, die as a result, and there is no meaningful prosecution," said Claire Musser, executive director of the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project. "Recovery cannot simply be measured by how many wolves are counted each year. It must also mean that wolves can live on the landscape with meaningful legal protections, accountability when those protections are violated, and a genuine chance to thrive."
Nelson's victim, referred to by the code AM2765, was the breeding male of the Frieborn pack and had welcomed pups earlier that year. He served as the adoptive father to seven wild-born pups who were fostered from the Pancho Spring pack to the Frieborn pack in 2024.
* * *
About Wildlife for All
Wildlife for All is a national organization dedicated to reforming wildlife management to be more democratic, just, compassionate and focused on protecting wild species and ecosystems. Through research, advocacy, and education, we aim to protect wildlife and ensure that policies reflect the values of all Americans.
* * *
About Western Watersheds Project
Western Watersheds Project is a nonprofit conservation organization with more than 50,000 members and supporters who care about protecting western public lands for watersheds and wildlife.
* * *
About WildEarth Guardians
WildEarth Guardians protects and restores the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West.
* * *
About Sierra Club
The Sierra Club's mission is to explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the Earth, practice and promote the responsible use of its ecosystems, and educate humanity to protect the natural environment.
* * *
About Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project
The Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project is a nonprofit dedicated to bringing back wolves to help restore ecological health in the Grand Canyon region, while also recognizing wolves as sentient beings with intrinsic value and worth.
* * *
About Wolf Conservation Center
The Wolf Conservation Center advances the survival of wolves by inspiring a global community through education, advocacy, research, and recovery, and is an active participant in the SAFE Mexican Wolf Program.
* * *
Original text here: https://wildearthguardians.org/press-releases/coalition-demands-justice-for-endangered-mexican-wolf-killed-in-illegal-trap/
[Category: Environment]
Children's Health Defense Issues Commentary: HHS Overhauls Two Key Federal Vaccine Committees -- What Will It Mean for Vaccine Policy?
FRANKLIN LAKES, New Jersey, Aug. 15 -- Children's Health Defense, an organization that says it restores and protects the health of children by eliminating exposures to environmental toxins, issued the following commentary on Aug. 14, 2026, by Michael Nevradakis, is a senior reporter for The Defender and host of "The Defender In-Depth" on CHD.TV.:
* * *
HHS Overhauls Two Key Federal Vaccine Committees -- What Will It Mean for Vaccine Policy?
The National Vaccine Advisory Committee will begin considering "non-immunization strategies" and "vaccine alternatives" for certain categories of people ... Show Full Article FRANKLIN LAKES, New Jersey, Aug. 15 -- Children's Health Defense, an organization that says it restores and protects the health of children by eliminating exposures to environmental toxins, issued the following commentary on Aug. 14, 2026, by Michael Nevradakis, is a senior reporter for The Defender and host of "The Defender In-Depth" on CHD.TV.: * * * HHS Overhauls Two Key Federal Vaccine Committees -- What Will It Mean for Vaccine Policy? The National Vaccine Advisory Committee will begin considering "non-immunization strategies" and "vaccine alternatives" for certain categories of peopleand has launched a nomination process for members of the public to join the committee. HHS also refiled the charter for the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines, which makes recommendations to HHS on the federal government's National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
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A key federal vaccine advisory committee will begin considering "non-immunization strategies" and "vaccine alternatives" for certain categories of people and has launched a nomination process for members of the public to join the committee.
The National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) advises the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on vaccine policy. Last month, HHS rewrote the NVAC charter to emphasize non-vaccine alternatives and to include fewer industry representatives and more members of the public in its lineup.
According to NVAC's new charter, the committee is directed to consider "non-immunization strategies for individuals who are unable to be vaccinated, or who choose not to be vaccinated due to medical contraindications or strongly held personal, conscientious or religious beliefs."
Alternatives to vaccines may include "healthy lifestyle and disease prevention initiatives, off label repurposed use of existing FDA approved drugs and the use of dietary supplements known to support healthy immune function."
NVAC's new charter also calls for a more "balanced" slate of members, including "a selection of public members who are engaged in gold standard science, vaccine safety or efficacy research."
Steve Kirsch, founder of the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation, said the new charter represents "the single most substantive change to federal vaccine governance in decades."
Kirsch said:
"It's an overdue acknowledgment that a vaccine-only monoculture has crowded out every other conversation about childhood health for a generation. For people with genuine medical contraindications, and for families with conscientious or religious objections, there has never been a serious federal conversation about what to do instead."
But in a blog post, attorney Rick Jaffe wrote that the changes to NVAC are unlikely to substantively change federal vaccine policy. Jaffe pointed out that the committee's recommendations are non-binding. "What it has never produced is anything with legal consequence," he wrote.
Changes to another committee could affect vaccine injury compensation program
The change to NVAC's charter comes as HHS last month refiled the charter for another key vaccine committee, the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines (ACCV). The ACCV makes recommendations to HHS on the federal government's National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).
According to MedPageToday, the changes to ACCV's charter may alter the committee's composition and could portend broader changes to the VICP. Earlier this year, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed four ACCV members.
On Monday, the Trump administration issued an executive order recommending the alignment of the recommended childhood vaccination schedule with peer countries by reducing the number of routine vaccinations recommended for most children.
Experts have questioned whether the executive order can lead to substantive changes in vaccine policy.
Changes to NVAC and ACCV also come as the operations of another federal vaccine committee, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), remain frozen following a stay a federal court issued in March in an ongoing lawsuit by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and other groups against HHS and Kennedy.
Experts say vaccine advisory committees were 'captured' by pharma
Kirsch said the NVAC and ACCV have historically stayed out of public view. NVAC, established by the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, "functioned as a kind of ceremonial body -- stacked with industry-funded researchers and public health officials who affirmed the consensus and produced reports nobody read."
ACCV has been "even quieter," Kirsch said. "These committees existed, but they were captured [by] people whose careers, grants and institutional prestige depended on never asking hard questions about vaccine safety."
According to Medical Daily, NVAC will, for the first time, be tasked with considering healthy lifestyle and disease-prevention initiatives, the off-label use of drugs already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the use of dietary supplements that support the healthy operation of the immune system.
NVAC will also be tasked with identifying people who are at higher risk of vaccine-related adverse events.
Jaffe noted that unlike ACIP, which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccine policy, NVAC "gives advice directly to senior HHS leadership, bypassing the CDC apparatus entirely."
"Congress gave it four jobs: vaccine supply, research priorities for safety and efficacy, advising on implementation of the National Vaccine Program, and an annual report identifying where governmental and non-governmental cooperation ought to go," Jaffe wrote.
However, despite producing a series of recommendations and reports over the years, "No insurer's obligation changes because of an NVAC report," Jaffe wrote. "No state statute changes. No vaccine gets purchased or stops getting purchased."
Kirsch said ACCV may also benefit from the changes made to its charter. He said the committee's new charter could enable it to push for transparency in how VICP claims are adjudicated, and also push for faster compensation for families, and "honest accounting of which injuries are being recognized."
Last month, Kennedy announced that HHS would create a COVID-19 vaccine injury table, which could make it easier for people injured by COVID-19 vaccines to receive compensation from the federal government.
But Jaffe wrote that these changes will not impact childhood vaccination policy. "If you are trying to figure out what ACCV means for the childhood schedule, the answer is that it means nothing, because ACCV is about what happens after a child is injured, not about which shots a child gets."
Brian Hooker, Ph.D., Children's Health Defense chief scientific officer, said limitations remain under ACCV's new charter.
"Two of the public members of ACCV must have vaccine-injured children -- but only those who have 'won' in the VICP are considered to be qualified. This has not been changed in the new charter ... and serves to promote the pro-pharma status quo."
'Reconstituted NVAC could finally take adverse reaction prevention seriously'
NVAC, composed of 17 members, may operate with less pharma industry influence under its new charter. Medical Daily reported that representatives of Big Pharma -- or pharma-funded organizations -- are limited to one-third of seats, while at least one-third of seats must now be held by members of the public.
"Those provisions narrow the pool of people who have spent careers studying vaccines, since much of that research is industry-funded," Medical Daily reported.
Kirsch said that NVAC, with a new charter and new members, can accomplish "more than people realize," noting that the committee's statutory mandate includes a focus on "optimal prevention against adverse reactions to vaccines."
"A reconstituted NVAC could finally take adverse reaction prevention seriously," Kirsch said. This could include "recommending research into who's at risk, pressing for better pre-licensure safety testing" and calling for data from federal vaccine safety surveillance databases to "be treated as evidence rather than noise."
"None of NVAC's output is binding -- but agenda-setting is power. If these committees start producing reports on adverse reactions, natural immunity, and informed consent, it changes the entire policy conversation even before any rule changes," Kirsch said.
John Gilmore, executive director of the Autism Action Network, is a member of another federal public health committee, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, which advises HHS on autism-related policy and research. He said that what NVAC can accomplish will depend on its new lineup of members.
"And I understand recommendations must be voted on by the full committee before they are sent up the food chain, which could help avoid policymaking by a smaller interested group on the committee," Gilmore said. "The direction of these committees, though, always hinges on who is on them."
Healthcare attorney and vaccine proponent Richard H. Hughes IV told MedPageToday that the updates to NVAC's charter are "deeply concerning" as they "appear poised to use this committee as yet another vehicle to disseminate misinformation on the use of vaccines and immunizations."
But Retsef Levi, Ph.D., a professor of operations management at the MIT Sloan School of Management and ACIP member, said the changes may help promote informed consent and medical freedom. He said:
"As part of the consideration of the risks and benefits of vaccines, like any other medical interventions, potential alternatives should be evaluated.
"These alternatives should be evaluated for their own risks and benefits, according to the highest scientific standards, and the overall information should be transparently communicated to patients and medical providers to allow them to make the best choices over their health."
'You need to change which questions get asked'
The changes HHS made to the NVAC and ACCV charters have led to suggestions that the two organizations can together replicate at least some of the authorities held by ACIP while it remains inactive due to the federal court order.
But according to Kirsch, "this is the confusion every outlet gets wrong."
"ACIP advises the CDC director on which vaccines should be given to whom, and its recommendations flow directly into insurance mandates, the Vaccines for Children Program, and state school-entry requirements. That's real regulatory power," Kirsch said.
Conversely, "NVAC advises the National Vaccine Program on the whole landscape -- safety, supply, research priorities, adverse reactions. ACCV advises on the compensation system for vaccine injuries. They're advisory in the truest sense: They write reports, frame questions, and lend or withhold credibility."
This means that ACIP's recommendations "become law in practice, while NVAC and ACCV shape the intellectual and policy environment."
With ACIP's operations frozen, Kirsch said that the Trump administration is "directing policy energy through the committees the court hasn't touched."
"If anything, the [AAP] lawsuit revealed how much power had been concentrated in a single advisory body that was never democratically accountable. Diversifying that advice stream is long overdue," Kirsch said.
Kirsch added that there is value to NVAC and ACCV's recommendations even if they are non-binding.
"Kennedy understands that you don't just need to change the rules -- you need to change which questions get asked and who's considered a legitimate expert to answer them," Kirsch said.
* * *
Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D., based in Athens, Greece, is a senior reporter for The Defender and host of "The Defender In-Depth" on CHD.TV.
* * *
Original text here: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/hhs-overhauls-two-key-federal-vaccine-committees-nvac-accv-policy-meaning/
[Category: Health Care]
* * *
HHS Overhauls Two Key Federal Vaccine Committees -- What Will It Mean for Vaccine Policy?
The National Vaccine Advisory Committee will begin considering "non-immunization strategies" and "vaccine alternatives" for certain categories of people ... Show Full Article FRANKLIN LAKES, New Jersey, Aug. 15 -- Children's Health Defense, an organization that says it restores and protects the health of children by eliminating exposures to environmental toxins, issued the following commentary on Aug. 14, 2026, by Michael Nevradakis, is a senior reporter for The Defender and host of "The Defender In-Depth" on CHD.TV.: * * * HHS Overhauls Two Key Federal Vaccine Committees -- What Will It Mean for Vaccine Policy? The National Vaccine Advisory Committee will begin considering "non-immunization strategies" and "vaccine alternatives" for certain categories of peopleand has launched a nomination process for members of the public to join the committee. HHS also refiled the charter for the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines, which makes recommendations to HHS on the federal government's National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
-
A key federal vaccine advisory committee will begin considering "non-immunization strategies" and "vaccine alternatives" for certain categories of people and has launched a nomination process for members of the public to join the committee.
The National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) advises the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on vaccine policy. Last month, HHS rewrote the NVAC charter to emphasize non-vaccine alternatives and to include fewer industry representatives and more members of the public in its lineup.
According to NVAC's new charter, the committee is directed to consider "non-immunization strategies for individuals who are unable to be vaccinated, or who choose not to be vaccinated due to medical contraindications or strongly held personal, conscientious or religious beliefs."
Alternatives to vaccines may include "healthy lifestyle and disease prevention initiatives, off label repurposed use of existing FDA approved drugs and the use of dietary supplements known to support healthy immune function."
NVAC's new charter also calls for a more "balanced" slate of members, including "a selection of public members who are engaged in gold standard science, vaccine safety or efficacy research."
Steve Kirsch, founder of the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation, said the new charter represents "the single most substantive change to federal vaccine governance in decades."
Kirsch said:
"It's an overdue acknowledgment that a vaccine-only monoculture has crowded out every other conversation about childhood health for a generation. For people with genuine medical contraindications, and for families with conscientious or religious objections, there has never been a serious federal conversation about what to do instead."
But in a blog post, attorney Rick Jaffe wrote that the changes to NVAC are unlikely to substantively change federal vaccine policy. Jaffe pointed out that the committee's recommendations are non-binding. "What it has never produced is anything with legal consequence," he wrote.
Changes to another committee could affect vaccine injury compensation program
The change to NVAC's charter comes as HHS last month refiled the charter for another key vaccine committee, the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines (ACCV). The ACCV makes recommendations to HHS on the federal government's National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).
According to MedPageToday, the changes to ACCV's charter may alter the committee's composition and could portend broader changes to the VICP. Earlier this year, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed four ACCV members.
On Monday, the Trump administration issued an executive order recommending the alignment of the recommended childhood vaccination schedule with peer countries by reducing the number of routine vaccinations recommended for most children.
Experts have questioned whether the executive order can lead to substantive changes in vaccine policy.
Changes to NVAC and ACCV also come as the operations of another federal vaccine committee, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), remain frozen following a stay a federal court issued in March in an ongoing lawsuit by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and other groups against HHS and Kennedy.
Experts say vaccine advisory committees were 'captured' by pharma
Kirsch said the NVAC and ACCV have historically stayed out of public view. NVAC, established by the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, "functioned as a kind of ceremonial body -- stacked with industry-funded researchers and public health officials who affirmed the consensus and produced reports nobody read."
ACCV has been "even quieter," Kirsch said. "These committees existed, but they were captured [by] people whose careers, grants and institutional prestige depended on never asking hard questions about vaccine safety."
According to Medical Daily, NVAC will, for the first time, be tasked with considering healthy lifestyle and disease-prevention initiatives, the off-label use of drugs already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the use of dietary supplements that support the healthy operation of the immune system.
NVAC will also be tasked with identifying people who are at higher risk of vaccine-related adverse events.
Jaffe noted that unlike ACIP, which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccine policy, NVAC "gives advice directly to senior HHS leadership, bypassing the CDC apparatus entirely."
"Congress gave it four jobs: vaccine supply, research priorities for safety and efficacy, advising on implementation of the National Vaccine Program, and an annual report identifying where governmental and non-governmental cooperation ought to go," Jaffe wrote.
However, despite producing a series of recommendations and reports over the years, "No insurer's obligation changes because of an NVAC report," Jaffe wrote. "No state statute changes. No vaccine gets purchased or stops getting purchased."
Kirsch said ACCV may also benefit from the changes made to its charter. He said the committee's new charter could enable it to push for transparency in how VICP claims are adjudicated, and also push for faster compensation for families, and "honest accounting of which injuries are being recognized."
Last month, Kennedy announced that HHS would create a COVID-19 vaccine injury table, which could make it easier for people injured by COVID-19 vaccines to receive compensation from the federal government.
But Jaffe wrote that these changes will not impact childhood vaccination policy. "If you are trying to figure out what ACCV means for the childhood schedule, the answer is that it means nothing, because ACCV is about what happens after a child is injured, not about which shots a child gets."
Brian Hooker, Ph.D., Children's Health Defense chief scientific officer, said limitations remain under ACCV's new charter.
"Two of the public members of ACCV must have vaccine-injured children -- but only those who have 'won' in the VICP are considered to be qualified. This has not been changed in the new charter ... and serves to promote the pro-pharma status quo."
'Reconstituted NVAC could finally take adverse reaction prevention seriously'
NVAC, composed of 17 members, may operate with less pharma industry influence under its new charter. Medical Daily reported that representatives of Big Pharma -- or pharma-funded organizations -- are limited to one-third of seats, while at least one-third of seats must now be held by members of the public.
"Those provisions narrow the pool of people who have spent careers studying vaccines, since much of that research is industry-funded," Medical Daily reported.
Kirsch said that NVAC, with a new charter and new members, can accomplish "more than people realize," noting that the committee's statutory mandate includes a focus on "optimal prevention against adverse reactions to vaccines."
"A reconstituted NVAC could finally take adverse reaction prevention seriously," Kirsch said. This could include "recommending research into who's at risk, pressing for better pre-licensure safety testing" and calling for data from federal vaccine safety surveillance databases to "be treated as evidence rather than noise."
"None of NVAC's output is binding -- but agenda-setting is power. If these committees start producing reports on adverse reactions, natural immunity, and informed consent, it changes the entire policy conversation even before any rule changes," Kirsch said.
John Gilmore, executive director of the Autism Action Network, is a member of another federal public health committee, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, which advises HHS on autism-related policy and research. He said that what NVAC can accomplish will depend on its new lineup of members.
"And I understand recommendations must be voted on by the full committee before they are sent up the food chain, which could help avoid policymaking by a smaller interested group on the committee," Gilmore said. "The direction of these committees, though, always hinges on who is on them."
Healthcare attorney and vaccine proponent Richard H. Hughes IV told MedPageToday that the updates to NVAC's charter are "deeply concerning" as they "appear poised to use this committee as yet another vehicle to disseminate misinformation on the use of vaccines and immunizations."
But Retsef Levi, Ph.D., a professor of operations management at the MIT Sloan School of Management and ACIP member, said the changes may help promote informed consent and medical freedom. He said:
"As part of the consideration of the risks and benefits of vaccines, like any other medical interventions, potential alternatives should be evaluated.
"These alternatives should be evaluated for their own risks and benefits, according to the highest scientific standards, and the overall information should be transparently communicated to patients and medical providers to allow them to make the best choices over their health."
'You need to change which questions get asked'
The changes HHS made to the NVAC and ACCV charters have led to suggestions that the two organizations can together replicate at least some of the authorities held by ACIP while it remains inactive due to the federal court order.
But according to Kirsch, "this is the confusion every outlet gets wrong."
"ACIP advises the CDC director on which vaccines should be given to whom, and its recommendations flow directly into insurance mandates, the Vaccines for Children Program, and state school-entry requirements. That's real regulatory power," Kirsch said.
Conversely, "NVAC advises the National Vaccine Program on the whole landscape -- safety, supply, research priorities, adverse reactions. ACCV advises on the compensation system for vaccine injuries. They're advisory in the truest sense: They write reports, frame questions, and lend or withhold credibility."
This means that ACIP's recommendations "become law in practice, while NVAC and ACCV shape the intellectual and policy environment."
With ACIP's operations frozen, Kirsch said that the Trump administration is "directing policy energy through the committees the court hasn't touched."
"If anything, the [AAP] lawsuit revealed how much power had been concentrated in a single advisory body that was never democratically accountable. Diversifying that advice stream is long overdue," Kirsch said.
Kirsch added that there is value to NVAC and ACCV's recommendations even if they are non-binding.
"Kennedy understands that you don't just need to change the rules -- you need to change which questions get asked and who's considered a legitimate expert to answer them," Kirsch said.
* * *
Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D., based in Athens, Greece, is a senior reporter for The Defender and host of "The Defender In-Depth" on CHD.TV.
* * *
Original text here: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/hhs-overhauls-two-key-federal-vaccine-committees-nvac-accv-policy-meaning/
[Category: Health Care]
CAIR-Minnesota Says Court Ruling Allowing Termination of Somali TPS to Move Forward is Not the End of Legal Challenge
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations posted the following news release on Aug. 14, 2026:
* * *
CAIR-Minnesota Says Court Ruling Allowing Termination of Somali TPS to Move Forward is Not the End of Legal Challenge
The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Minnesota) today expressed deep disappointment with a federal court ruling allowing the Trump administration's termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalia to move forward, but it is not the end of the legal challenge to the termination.
On Friday, a federal district ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations posted the following news release on Aug. 14, 2026: * * * CAIR-Minnesota Says Court Ruling Allowing Termination of Somali TPS to Move Forward is Not the End of Legal Challenge The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Minnesota) today expressed deep disappointment with a federal court ruling allowing the Trump administration's termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalia to move forward, but it is not the end of the legal challenge to the termination. On Friday, a federal districtcourt judge in Massachusetts lifted an administrative stay that had temporarily paused the termination while legal arguments proceeded. The underlying legal challenge continues. Plaintiffs have argued that the termination discriminates based on race and national origin, violates the due process rights of Somali TPS holders, and was carried out without proper legal authority.
The ruling could expose Somali TPS holders who have lived and worked in the United States for years to loss of work authorization, detention, deportation, and separation from their families and communities.
In a statement, CAIR-Minnesota Executive Director Jaylani Hussein said:
"This is a deeply disappointing ruling, but it is not the end of the legal challenge. At a time when Somali Americans have faced sustained targeting and attacks from the Trump administration, this decision only deepens the fear and uncertainty facing our community.
"If TPS protections do not apply to Somalia under the conditions it faces today, then we have to ask what remains of the program's purpose. The U.S. government itself classifies Somalia at Level 4, 'Do Not Travel,' its highest danger designation. Somalia represents precisely the kind of extraordinary conditions TPS was created to address.
"Ending these protections sets a dangerous precedent that reaches far beyond Somali TPS holders and threatens the future and integrity of the entire TPS program."
He said Temporary Protected Status is a humanitarian protection established by Congress for eligible nationals of countries experiencing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions that make safe return difficult or dangerous.
CAIR-Minnesota urges Somali TPS holders who may be affected by the ruling to consult with a qualified immigration attorney as soon as possible to understand how the decision may affect their individual circumstances and whether other forms of immigration relief may be available.
* * *
CAIR's mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.cair.com/press_releases/breaking-cair-minnesota-says-court-ruling-allowing-termination-of-somali-tps-to-move-forward-is-not-the-end-of-legal-challenge/
[Category: Sociological]
* * *
CAIR-Minnesota Says Court Ruling Allowing Termination of Somali TPS to Move Forward is Not the End of Legal Challenge
The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Minnesota) today expressed deep disappointment with a federal court ruling allowing the Trump administration's termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalia to move forward, but it is not the end of the legal challenge to the termination.
On Friday, a federal district ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations posted the following news release on Aug. 14, 2026: * * * CAIR-Minnesota Says Court Ruling Allowing Termination of Somali TPS to Move Forward is Not the End of Legal Challenge The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Minnesota) today expressed deep disappointment with a federal court ruling allowing the Trump administration's termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalia to move forward, but it is not the end of the legal challenge to the termination. On Friday, a federal districtcourt judge in Massachusetts lifted an administrative stay that had temporarily paused the termination while legal arguments proceeded. The underlying legal challenge continues. Plaintiffs have argued that the termination discriminates based on race and national origin, violates the due process rights of Somali TPS holders, and was carried out without proper legal authority.
The ruling could expose Somali TPS holders who have lived and worked in the United States for years to loss of work authorization, detention, deportation, and separation from their families and communities.
In a statement, CAIR-Minnesota Executive Director Jaylani Hussein said:
"This is a deeply disappointing ruling, but it is not the end of the legal challenge. At a time when Somali Americans have faced sustained targeting and attacks from the Trump administration, this decision only deepens the fear and uncertainty facing our community.
"If TPS protections do not apply to Somalia under the conditions it faces today, then we have to ask what remains of the program's purpose. The U.S. government itself classifies Somalia at Level 4, 'Do Not Travel,' its highest danger designation. Somalia represents precisely the kind of extraordinary conditions TPS was created to address.
"Ending these protections sets a dangerous precedent that reaches far beyond Somali TPS holders and threatens the future and integrity of the entire TPS program."
He said Temporary Protected Status is a humanitarian protection established by Congress for eligible nationals of countries experiencing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions that make safe return difficult or dangerous.
CAIR-Minnesota urges Somali TPS holders who may be affected by the ruling to consult with a qualified immigration attorney as soon as possible to understand how the decision may affect their individual circumstances and whether other forms of immigration relief may be available.
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CAIR's mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
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Original text here: https://www.cair.com/press_releases/breaking-cair-minnesota-says-court-ruling-allowing-termination-of-somali-tps-to-move-forward-is-not-the-end-of-legal-challenge/
[Category: Sociological]
Animal Welfare Institute: Oregon Adopts New Protections Against Deadly Whale Entanglements
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 -- The Animal Welfare Institute posted the following news release:
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Oregon Adopts New Protections Against Deadly Whale Entanglements
Measures Include Improved Monitoring, Testing for Safer Fishing Gear
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Salem, OR--The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted new regulations today aimed at reducing whale entanglements in the state's commercial Dungeness crab fishery. The measures include requirements for electronic vessel monitoring and experimental fishing permits that will facilitate the testing of whale-safe, pop-up fishing gear.
"I'm pleased that Oregon is ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 -- The Animal Welfare Institute posted the following news release: * * * Oregon Adopts New Protections Against Deadly Whale Entanglements Measures Include Improved Monitoring, Testing for Safer Fishing Gear - Salem, OR--The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted new regulations today aimed at reducing whale entanglements in the state's commercial Dungeness crab fishery. The measures include requirements for electronic vessel monitoring and experimental fishing permits that will facilitate the testing of whale-safe, pop-up fishing gear. "I'm pleased that Oregon istaking action to address these horrible whale entanglements, and I hope to see more progress soon," said Ben Grundy, an oceans campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Testing pop-up gear in the Oregon commercial crab fishery is a big step toward preventing whale entanglements and has worked well in other places. Nobody likes seeing whales suffer, and we have the tools we need to keep it from happening."
NOAA Fisheries and state officials confirmed 20 whale entanglements involving Oregon crab gear between 2013 and 2025. Fifteen entanglements have occurred since the state's existing entanglement prevention measures were put in place. In 2026 thus far, two humpback whale entanglements have involved Oregon crab gear. The most recent case involved a young humpback whale who, despite being disentangled in late July, is not expected to survive because of the seriousness of the animal's injuries. Most whale entanglements are ultimately fatal.
"Today's decision is an encouraging step toward both conserving Oregon's beloved marine wildlife populations and reducing the suffering caused when whales and sea turtles become entangled in fishing gear," said Melissa Edmonds, marine scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute. "Entanglements can cause agonizing, life-threatening injuries, infections, prolonged starvation, and drowning. Meaningful measures to reduce vertical lines in the water are essential to addressing this crisis."
"Only about one in five whale entanglements are documented, meaning the actual toll is far higher than reported," said Ben Enticknap, fisheries campaign director at Oceana. "We commend the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission for adopting new rules to monitor the crab fishery and facilitate the testing of pop-up gear, but the increasing number of entanglements makes clear that the state must adopt additional conservation measures to reduce the number of vertical ropes left in the ocean for weeks on end, and close areas to conventional crab gear when the whales are feeding off our coast."
Pop-up fishing gear eliminates the persistent lines that connect traps on the seafloor to surface buoys and commonly cause whale and sea turtle entanglements. The California commercial Dungeness crab fishery has been testing pop-up gear with positive results.
In December the state of California officially authorized the use of pop-up gear in the fishery in the spring season, when the fishery would otherwise be closed to protect whales. Twenty vessels successfully fished crab with it this spring and summer.
Electronic monitoring systems will help provide the state with more accurate information about entanglement risk. Currently, fishers can report lost fishing gear, the location of crab traps, and number of pounds of crab caught through paper logbooks, which can take up to two years to be analyzed. Expanding electronic monitoring could improve the accuracy of self-reported data, making it simpler to track compliance.
"Oregon's whales are in trouble, and people deserve to eat crab that's been caught without harming these remarkable animals," said Dr. Francine Kershaw, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Oregon's decision to begin testing whale-safe pop-up fishing gear in the state's commercial Dungeness crab fishery and to improve fleet monitoring is a positive change that will help inform future management actions to reduce entanglement risk."
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife anticipates accepting applications to test pop-up gear starting in spring 2027.
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About AWI
The Animal Welfare Institute (awionline.org) is a nonprofit charitable organization founded in 1951 and dedicated to alleviating animal suffering caused by people. We seek to improve the welfare of animals everywhere: in agriculture, in commerce, in our homes and communities, in research, and in the wild. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and LinkedIn for updates and other important animal protection news.
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Original text here: https://awionline.org/news/oregon-adopts-new-protections-against-deadly-whale-entanglements/
[Category: Animals]
* * *
Oregon Adopts New Protections Against Deadly Whale Entanglements
Measures Include Improved Monitoring, Testing for Safer Fishing Gear
-
Salem, OR--The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted new regulations today aimed at reducing whale entanglements in the state's commercial Dungeness crab fishery. The measures include requirements for electronic vessel monitoring and experimental fishing permits that will facilitate the testing of whale-safe, pop-up fishing gear.
"I'm pleased that Oregon is ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 -- The Animal Welfare Institute posted the following news release: * * * Oregon Adopts New Protections Against Deadly Whale Entanglements Measures Include Improved Monitoring, Testing for Safer Fishing Gear - Salem, OR--The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted new regulations today aimed at reducing whale entanglements in the state's commercial Dungeness crab fishery. The measures include requirements for electronic vessel monitoring and experimental fishing permits that will facilitate the testing of whale-safe, pop-up fishing gear. "I'm pleased that Oregon istaking action to address these horrible whale entanglements, and I hope to see more progress soon," said Ben Grundy, an oceans campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Testing pop-up gear in the Oregon commercial crab fishery is a big step toward preventing whale entanglements and has worked well in other places. Nobody likes seeing whales suffer, and we have the tools we need to keep it from happening."
NOAA Fisheries and state officials confirmed 20 whale entanglements involving Oregon crab gear between 2013 and 2025. Fifteen entanglements have occurred since the state's existing entanglement prevention measures were put in place. In 2026 thus far, two humpback whale entanglements have involved Oregon crab gear. The most recent case involved a young humpback whale who, despite being disentangled in late July, is not expected to survive because of the seriousness of the animal's injuries. Most whale entanglements are ultimately fatal.
"Today's decision is an encouraging step toward both conserving Oregon's beloved marine wildlife populations and reducing the suffering caused when whales and sea turtles become entangled in fishing gear," said Melissa Edmonds, marine scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute. "Entanglements can cause agonizing, life-threatening injuries, infections, prolonged starvation, and drowning. Meaningful measures to reduce vertical lines in the water are essential to addressing this crisis."
"Only about one in five whale entanglements are documented, meaning the actual toll is far higher than reported," said Ben Enticknap, fisheries campaign director at Oceana. "We commend the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission for adopting new rules to monitor the crab fishery and facilitate the testing of pop-up gear, but the increasing number of entanglements makes clear that the state must adopt additional conservation measures to reduce the number of vertical ropes left in the ocean for weeks on end, and close areas to conventional crab gear when the whales are feeding off our coast."
Pop-up fishing gear eliminates the persistent lines that connect traps on the seafloor to surface buoys and commonly cause whale and sea turtle entanglements. The California commercial Dungeness crab fishery has been testing pop-up gear with positive results.
In December the state of California officially authorized the use of pop-up gear in the fishery in the spring season, when the fishery would otherwise be closed to protect whales. Twenty vessels successfully fished crab with it this spring and summer.
Electronic monitoring systems will help provide the state with more accurate information about entanglement risk. Currently, fishers can report lost fishing gear, the location of crab traps, and number of pounds of crab caught through paper logbooks, which can take up to two years to be analyzed. Expanding electronic monitoring could improve the accuracy of self-reported data, making it simpler to track compliance.
"Oregon's whales are in trouble, and people deserve to eat crab that's been caught without harming these remarkable animals," said Dr. Francine Kershaw, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Oregon's decision to begin testing whale-safe pop-up fishing gear in the state's commercial Dungeness crab fishery and to improve fleet monitoring is a positive change that will help inform future management actions to reduce entanglement risk."
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife anticipates accepting applications to test pop-up gear starting in spring 2027.
* * *
About AWI
The Animal Welfare Institute (awionline.org) is a nonprofit charitable organization founded in 1951 and dedicated to alleviating animal suffering caused by people. We seek to improve the welfare of animals everywhere: in agriculture, in commerce, in our homes and communities, in research, and in the wild. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and LinkedIn for updates and other important animal protection news.
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Original text here: https://awionline.org/news/oregon-adopts-new-protections-against-deadly-whale-entanglements/
[Category: Animals]