Marta Schaaf, Amnesty International’s program director for climate, social justice and corporate accountability, said Wednesday in a statement that the extreme heat driving wildfires, drought and floods across multiple continents amounts to a human rights emergency. “This heat is political… It is a human rights emergency that threatens the rights to life, health, housing, water and sanitation, food, education, and a healthy environment.” She described extreme heat as “a multiplier of human rights harm,” rather than a stand-alone disaster. Amnesty’s statement lands amid mounting evidence of the toll that extreme heat has taken globally. In India, a recent study estimated that a single day of extreme heat corresponds with roughly 3,400 excess deaths nationwide.