Human Rights

The SEEK formula, or Support Education Excellence in Kentucky, determines the amount of state funding to local school districts.

In this podcast episode, I speak with Dr. Jeannie Annan, the SVP and Chief Research and Innovation Officer at the International Rescue Committee.

The number of Holocaust survivors globally has shrunk to 220,000 on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, according to a new estimate.
Why it matters: The anniversary, which also commemorates International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Monday, is likely the last major milestone with the presence of child survivors — the last generation of the Holocaust.
The big picture: Survivors are scheduled to speak at commemoration events around the world as advocates race to record their testimonies and as rising antisemitism and misinformation threatens to erase their stories.
A small number of survivors are expected to speak at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial & Museum commemoration in Oświęcim, Poland.
A handful of survivors will also be on hand at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
Zoom in: About 220,000 Holocaust survivors are living across around 90 countries, according to data from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) shared with Axios.
That’s down from 245,000 reported last year.
The vast majority (95%) are child survivors born between 1928 and 1946.
Holocaust survivor Lillian Feintuch holds up a picture of herself with her three brothers on December 17, 2024, in New York City. Feintuch was born in Balmazjvaros, Hungary, and her family was sent to the Strasshof concentration camp. Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images
Zoom out: International Holocaust Remembrance Day seeks to bring attention to the Holocaust that killed 6 million Jews.
Though it’s held on the anniversary of the Soviet Red Army liberating Auschwitz, it’s also meant to memorialize survivors at Nazi death camps across Europe during World War II.
The latest: The Claims Conference this month launched “I Survived Auschwitz: Remember This,” a digital campaign featuring Holocaust survivors who endured the extermination camp.
The survivors respond on video to the question: Given your experience…

Major Healthcare Shifts Ahead: From DEI to Drug Prices, What’s Changing?
As an organization dedicated to the health and wellness of Black women, we feel it’s crucial to address the recent executive orders that could affect our community’s access to healthcare and overall wellbeing. 
What’s Changed?
Several executive orders that supported equity and expanded healthcare access have been rescinded. Of particular importance to our community are the reversals of:
Executive Order 13985 on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities
Executive Order 14009 on Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act
Executive Order 14070 on Continuing to Strengthen Americans’ Access to Affordable, Quality Health Coverage
Executive Order 14087 on Lowering Prescription Drug Costs
Executive Order 13995 on Ensuring an Equitable Pandemic Response and Recovery
When “Everyone’s Responsible” Means No One Is Accountable
The rollback of DEI initiatives reminds us of an important truth: when we make everyone generally responsible for fairness in healthcare, we often end up with no one specifically accountable for it. Here’s what this looks like in practice:
Without dedicated DEI offices, addressing healthcare disparities becomes “everyone’s job,” but no one’s priority
Removing specific equity goals from performance metrics means institutions lose concrete ways to measure progress
Eliminating dedicated positions means no one is specifically tasked with monitoring and addressing systemic barriers
Without formal programs, addressing bias in healthcare settings becomes optional rather than required
What’s Changing
Federal agencies have 60 days to terminate DEI offices and positions
Review and revision of federal employment practices
Changes to federal contractor requirements regarding DEI training
Elimination of equity-related grants and contracts
The connection between DEI programs and healthcare outcomes cannot be overstated. Research consistently shows that diverse healthcare teams lead to better patient outcomes for our community. Cultural competency in healthcare settings has proven crucial for building trust…

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) today launched “I Survived Auschwitz: Remember This,” a new digital campaign featuring Holocaust survivors who endured the extermination camp synonymous with evil. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the largest and deadliest Nazi concentration and extermination camp. More than 1.1 million people were murdered at the camp during its five years of operation. 
This two-week social media endeavor features Holocaust survivors answering the question: Given your experience as an Auschwitz survivor, what is one specific thing – a person, a moment or an experience – you want people to remember for generations to come?  
The powerful responses include survivors wanting the world to remember family members, pivotal moments during the Holocaust and towns where they had lived that were dramatically changed or completely lost during World War II.  
Gideon Taylor, President of the Claims Conference said, “The horrors that occurred at Auschwitz were an evil that no human should ever endure, but also an evil that no human should ever forget. While it is difficult to imagine oneself in a concentration camp, we can all relate to wanting people to remember loved ones we’ve lost, experiences that shaped us and moments that were important to us. It is critical that we educate future generations about Auschwitz. I Survived Auschwitz: Remember This does so by connecting the generations with our shared humanity.” 
The campaign is inspired in part by Auschwitz survivor Aron Krell’s testimony about his brother, Zvi, who died from starvation after a year in the Lodz ghetto. Aron Krell remembered Zvi – the second of three boys in their family – as a soccer player. But the lack of food, grueling forced labor and dearth of medical treatment left Zvi emaciated. Aron recalled the last…

President Donald Trump’s recent executive order declaring that the U.S. recognizes “only two sexes, male and female,” will not impact passports issued before the start of his term to transgender and nonbinary people that have their preferred gender or “X” marker.
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The White House told NOTUS that Monday’s executive order is not retroactive and does not invalidate old passports. However, if government-issued documents need to be renewed, they must reflect the person’s sex assigned at birth.
“They can still apply to renew their passport — they just have to use their God-given sex, which was decided at birth,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “Thanks to President Trump, it is now the official policy of the federal government that there are only two sexes — male and female.”
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Trump’s order directs the departments of State and Homeland Security and the Office of Personnel Management to implement changes to “require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, accurately reflect the holder’s sex.”
It’s unclear when that will happen, given Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the only cabinet official who has been confirmed.
LGBTQ+ rights groups urged trans and nonbinary people to update documents like passports, Social Security cards, and driver’s licenses ahead of Trump’s return to the White House. While those documents remain valid, advocates expect lawsuits to challenge Monday’s order.
“Now we’re going to look at what they actually do and when people’s rights are actually affected, then there will be lawsuits,” said Jennifer Pizer, chief legal officer at Lambda Legal, a firm that supports LGBTQ+ rights.
Lambda Legal represented Dana Zzyym, an intersex and nonbinary veteran who challenged the State Department in 2017 for…

Just a day after Trump issued a slate of executive orders aimed at restricting immigration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it was rescinding protections for “sensitive zones” where undocumented immigrants were protected from deportation. Some immigrant rights advocates are particularly worried that this could deter women experiencing domestic abuse from going to women’s shelters, which will no longer be protected from U.S. Immigration and Customs  Enforcement (ICE). 
“The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. 
The sensitive zones policy, which was created in 2011, initially applied to places like churches, schools and hospitals. In 2021, the list of places was expanded by the Biden administration to include locations offering disaster or emergency relief and social services. The policy was put in place to allow undocumented immigrants access to essential services like health care without the threat of being deported. ICE could enter these places only if there was a threat of terrorism or imminent risk of death, among other exceptions.  
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“What is really important about sensitive zones is that they allow migrant women and families to safely access these spaces without fear that ICE will arrest or deport them there,” said Zain Lakhani, director of the Migrant Rights and Justice Program at the Women’s Refugee Commission. “The impact might be, for instance, that a domestic violence survivor will stay in an abusive situation because they’re being forced to choose between their immediate safety and arrest and deportation if they go to a shelter or take their children to a shelter.” 
More executive orders
Trump signs executive order ending birthright citizenship
Trump revokes federal diversity, equity and inclusion guidelines
Trump clears the…