Health and Human Rights: Introducing Human Rights

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Health and Human Rights Introducing Human Rights

• Aim To provide an introduction to human rights
  to frame the discussion.
• 1. Relevance of Human Rights
• Why are human rights relevant?
• 2. Evolution of Human Rights Standards
• How have the standards evolved?
• 3. Health and Human Rights
• Which standards are of particular interest?

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Health and Human Rights Introducing Human Rights

• 1. Relevance of Human Rights
• Why are they relevant?
• Human dignity and respect for the person
• Framework of human rights standards and guide to
  practical action
• Access to health care services, bioethics, right
  to life, reproductive health, rights of the
  child, deaths in hospitals, mental health and
  human rights, right to healthy work place
  environments, right to health indicators and
  benchmarks, conflict and humane treatment of the
  sick and wounded .

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Health and Human Rights Introducing Human Rights

• 2. Evolution of Human Rights Standards
• What are Human Rights Standards?
• A. Rights in International Law
• Post WWII
• Never again
• International Bill of Rights
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948
• International Covenant on Civil and Political
  Rights 1966

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Health and Human Rights Introducing Human Rights

• International Covenant on Economic, Social and
  Cultural Rights 1966
• Numerous other international standards
• International Convention on the Elimination of
  All Forms of Racial Discrimination 1966
• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989
• UN Convention against Torture 1984

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Health and Human Rights Introducing Human Rights

• International institutions
• Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
• Treaty-monitoring bodies Human Rights
  Committee, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
  Committee, Committee on the Rights of the Child
• UN Special Procedures Special Rapporteurs-
  Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health (Paul
  Hunt)

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Health and Human Rights Introducing Human Rights

• B. Regional Human Rights Mechanisms
• Council of Europe
• European Convention on Human Rights 1950 and
  Protocols
• Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights
  extensive case law
• Article 2 right to life
• Article 3 prohibition of torture and inhuman
  and degrading treatment or punishment

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Health and Human Rights Introducing Human Rights

• Article 8 right to privacy
• European Social Charter (Revised) 1996
• European Convention for the Prevention of Torture
  1987
• Other regional human rights systems eg, Latin
  American and African systems

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Health and Human Rights Introducing Human Rights

• C. Human Rights Standards in National Law
• Constitutional law and rights
• UK no single documentary constitution
• Cf. Constitution of Ireland 1937
• Human Rights Act 1998
• bringing rights home?
• Further effect to convention rights

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Health and Human Rights Introducing Human Rights

• 3. Health and Human Rights
• Which standards are of particular interest?
• World Health Organisation (WHO) constitution
  1946 the right to the highest attainable
  standard of health (right to health)
• Rights recognised in
• UDHR 1948 Article 25(1)
• ICESCR 1966 Article 12(1)
• See also CERD, CEDAW, and CRC
• Regional standards European Social Charter
  (Revised) 1996

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Health and Human Rights Introducing Human Rights

• Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
  General Comment 14 right to health
• Criteria Availability Accessibility
  Acceptability Quality
• See also Universal Declaration on the Human
  Genome and Human Rights 1997
• International Declaration on Human Genetic Data
  2003
• Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human
  Rights 2005
• European Convention on Human Rights and
  Biomedicine 1997 (Protocols 1998 and 2002)
• Note general human rights protections will be
  applicable also, eg, non-discrimination
  provisions, right to privacy, right to life,
  prohibition against inhuman and degrading
  treatment

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Health and Human Rights Introducing Human Rights

• What do we mean by a rights-based approach in
  this context?
• Process
• Human Rights as a Framework for Action
• Assessing the human rights implications of
  current policy and practice
• Mainstream human rights in all aspects of health
  policy design and implementation

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Health and Human Rights Introducing Human Rights

• Substantive
• Respect for human dignity
• Protecting vulnerable groups how are different
  groups affected by health policies?
• Are health systems accessible to marginalised
  communities?
• Equality and non-discrimination in the design of
  health programmes
• What does the data show in relation to the
  treatment of particular groups?

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Health and Human Rights Introducing Human Rights

• Make explicit linkages to human rights standards
  in policy design and development
• Ensure effective participation by those who will
  benefit and be affected by health policies
• Identify clear indicators and benchmarks to
  measure progress
• Ensure effective accountability and redress
  mechanisms exist where health-related rights
  might be infringed

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Health and Human Rights Introducing Human Rights

• CONCLUSION
• 1. Human Rights are relevant.
• 2. Human Rights standards are well developed at
  the international, regional and national levels.
• 3. The right to health is a recognised human
  right.

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Health and Human Rights Introducing Human Rights