Latest news with #MichaelFarrell
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Irish lawyer quits European rights watchdog after being told Gaza ‘out of our mandate'
The Irish representative to an influential European human rights watchdog resigned his position there over the organisation's failure to address the situation in Gaza . Michael Farrell, who spent 14 years at the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), said the body would lose respect on other issues if it did not change course. 'You cannot work in an organisation that is concerned with human rights … and ignore what is going on in Gaza ... It certainly is a genocide," Mr Farrell, a veteran lawyer and civil rights activist, said. The ECRI is the independent human rights monitoring body of the Council of Europe, which is distinct from the European Union. READ MORE Farrell submitted his resignation last month after the latest plenary meeting in which he says his proposed motion to draft 'a very, very moderate recommendation' for the commission to publish was not approved. In brief, the draft made the point that 'Israel should stop their attacks, they should allow the food and aid to come in [to Gaza], it should be dealt with by the international bodies, and also that Hamas should hand over the remaining hostages,' according to Mr Farrell. He said the debate on the draft lasted over the course of two days, and the commission 'just wouldn't move'. 'The argument being put up, and there wasn't much discussion from the leadership or from the chair, was just: 'this is out of our mandate',' Mr Farrell said, although he doesn't accept this rationale. 'In presuming that what they meant by that is that they were only able to deal with the things that were going on within the European area, I made the argument that a number of European countries are financing this, providing all the weapons for it. They're playing a major part in this, and, therefore, we are entitled to criticise them for it.' [ Israel's Gaza City plan greeted with widespread international criticism Opens in new window ] A spokesperson for the ECRI secretariat told The Irish Times that the organisation was 'mandated to monitor state action against racism, intolerance and related forms of discrimination in Europe'. The situation in the Middle East has 'not been considered by ECRI members as falling within their mandate'. Meanwhile, Mr Farrell said he received support from a small number of other representatives on the commission after his resignation, and that he did not criticise others for joining him in his stand. 'People are afraid of losing their jobs, there were people who were in bodies which are funded by the state, and they were afraid if they spoke out on this that the state wouldn't draw in the money from the organisations that they work in, which do good work,' he said. Mr Farrell was the first Irish lawyer to advocate on behalf of a client in front of the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHCR) and the European Courts of Human Rights (ECHR). He was a driving factor behind Dr Lydia Foy's campaign to legally change her sex, and further advocated on issues pertaining to transgender people in Ireland. A native of Magherafelt, Co Derry and a graduate of Queen's University Belfast, he worked as a journalist before his legal career, highlighting the campaign to free the Birmingham Six and Guilford Four . During his time with the ECRI, Farrell acted at times as the commission's vice-chair and also chaired its working group on LGBTI rights. Dr Lydia Foy with solicitor Michael Farrell outside the High Court after it ruled that the State had breached her rights. Photograph: Frank Miller Since Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel, in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and 251 taken hostage, more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza due to the military conflict in the region. The UN General Assembly has condemned Israeli use of 'starvation as a method of warfare' as the conflict continues, with aid distribution controlled by Israel. Mr Farrell is steadfast in his belief that 'if they don't deal with this, apart from the fact that they should simply because there's so many people being killed, they will lose the level of respect on other human rights issues'.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Intuitive wins new FDA nod for single port robot; Resmed buys diagnostic facility
This story was originally published on MedTech Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily MedTech Dive newsletter. Intuitive Surgical received Food and Drug Administration clearance for its da Vinci Single Port surgical system for procedures performed through the anus. The clearance covers the use of the system for transanal local excision/resection, enabling physicians to reach lesions in the upper rectum without cutting the abdomen, according to the Thursday announcement. Conventional transabdominal rectal resection can require multiple incisions and the removal of the rectum. Intuitive designed the single port device to navigate narrow body cavities. Physicians can control up to three multi-jointed instruments and a camera through a single entry point. Intuitive secured clearance for a stapler that works with the system last month, positioning it to step up U.S. commercialization of a robot that is growing quickly overseas. The company reported 94% single port procedure growth in the first quarter, driven by use in Korea, Europe and Japan. Resmed said Thursday it has acquired Virtuox, an independent diagnostic testing facility for sleep, respiratory and cardiac conditions. Virtuox provides home-based diagnostics and patient monitoring for conditions including sleep apnea. Resmed, which sells sleep devices such as continuous positive airway pressure machines, has put primary care physicians who have existing relationships with IDTFs at the center of its response to the approval of Eli Lilly's GLP-1 drug Zepbound in sleep apnea. Resmed CEO Michael Farrell, who cited Virtuox by name when discussing the strategy in January, has told investors that targeting physicians who work with IDTFs can enable his company to capture demand created by Lilly's entry to the market. Resmed sells the Nightowl device for diagnosing sleep apnea, but Farrell said the company is agnostic to how patients are tested. The aim is to drive CPAP prescriptions. Buying Virtuox gives Resmed a bigger role in the diagnostic process that delivers new users of its CPAP machines. The company is not disclosing how much it paid for Virtuox because the acquisition is not material to its financial results. Precision Neuroscience has appointed John Woock as chief business officer, according to a Thursday announcement. Woock worked at Axonics for 10 years, joining as its 15th employee, but left the company after its $3.7 billion acquisition by Boston Scientific in November. Axonics generated $110 million in the first year of its commercial launch in the U.S. and grew sales to around $450 million by 2024. Precision, a brain-computer interface company, recently received 510(k) clearance for a device for recording, monitoring and stimulating electrical activity on the surface of the brain. Michael Mager, Precision's co-founder and CEO, said in a statement that hiring Woock and appointing Konstantinos Alataris to the board of directors will help the company 'plan for scale and widespread impact in coming years.' Recommended Reading Intuitive lowers profit margin forecast due to tariff pressure
