scholarly journals Health, Human Rights, and Ethics

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-335
Author(s):  
ERIC STOVER ◽  
HARVEY WEINSTEIN
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Health Resources ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Health And Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Norms ◽  
Health Theory

Public health and human rights are complementary—and, at times, conflicting—approaches to protecting and promoting human well-being and dignity. Public health addresses the needs of populations and seeks, through intervention and education, to prevent the spread of disease. Enshrined in international law, human rights describe the obligations of governments to safeguard their citizenry from harm and to create conditions where each individual can achieve his or her full potential. Human rights norms lie at the core of public health theory and practice, and their enforcement can help to ensure an equitable distribution of health resources.

s.One Norms and Principles, 1 The Birth and Development of Human Rights for Health

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meier Benjamin Mason ◽  
Murphy Thérèse ◽  
Gostin Lawrence O
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
International Law ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
The Political ◽  
Normative Foundations ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Historical Origins

This chapter examines the historical origins of human rights as a basis for public health. Tracing the idea of rights from philosophical notions of natural rights to human rights under international law, the normative foundations underlying rights have long been seen as central to health and well-being—from the political engagement with underlying determinants of health in 1848 to the international codification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. The modern human rights system that frames public health arose in response to the deprivations and atrocities of World War II. Giving rise to the notion of human rights under international law, the postwar creation of the United Nations (UN) provided the structure for a new legal regime under which individuals were seen as having certain rights by virtue of their humanity, ensuring a foundation for the evolution of rights to advance health.

The Birth and Development of Human Rights for Health

2020 ◽  
pp. 23-44
Author(s):  
Benjamin Mason Meier ◽  
Thérèse Murphy ◽  
Lawrence O. Gostin
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
International Law ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
The Political ◽  
Normative Foundations ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Historical Origins

This chapter examines the historical origins of human rights as a basis for public health. Tracing the idea of rights from philosophical notions of natural rights to human rights under international law, the normative foundations underlying rights have long been seen as central to health and well-being—from the political engagement with underlying determinants of health in 1848 to the international codification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. The modern human rights system that frames public health arose in response to the deprivations and atrocities of World War II. Giving rise to the notion of human rights under international law, the postwar creation of the United Nations (UN) provided the structure for a new legal regime under which individuals were seen as having certain rights by virtue of their humanity, ensuring a foundation for the evolution of rights to advance health.

Addressing Social Injustice in a Human Rights Context

2019 ◽  
pp. 465-480
Author(s):  
Sofia Gruskin ◽  
Paula Braveman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
Policies And Programs ◽  
Human Rights Norms

Violation or neglect of human rights jeopardizes health by interfering with physical, mental, and social well-being. This chapter considers the relevance of human rights to public health as legal standards and obligations of governments, as a conceptual framework of analysis and advocacy, and as guiding principles for designing and implementing policies and programs. It recommends institutionalizing perspectives on social justice and human rights in all health-sector actions, monitoring implications of policies in all sectors that affect health, and building public consensus for equitable financing of healthcare. The authors assert that human rights principles provide a framework that can guide health workers and others in achieving social justice in health and that health workers should be aware that human rights norms, standards, laws, and accountability mechanisms are relevant tools to help achieve social justice in health. A text box focuses on promoting the rights of “undocumented immigrants” in the United States.

scholarly journals Public Health, Ethics, and Human Rights: A Tribute to the Late Jonathan Mann

2001 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence O. Gostin
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Public Health Ethics ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Ethical Values ◽  
Health And Human Rights ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Health Ethics

The late Jonathan Mann famously theorized that public health, ethics, and human rights are complementary fields motivated by the paramount value of human well-being. He felt that people could not be healthy if governments did not respect their rights and dignity as well as engage in health policies guided by sound ethical values. Nor could people have their rights and dignity if they were not healthy. Mann and his colleagues argued that public health and human rights are integrally connected: Human rights violations adversely affect the community's health, coercive public health policies violate human rights, and advancement of human rights and public health reinforce one another. Despite the deep traditions in public health, ethics, and human rights, they have rarely cross-fertilized—although there exists an important emerging literature. For the most part, each of these fields has adopted its own terminology and forms of reasoning. Consequently, Mann advocated the creation of a code of public health ethics and the adoption of a vocabulary or taxonomy of “dignity violation”.

The Origins of Human Rights in Global Health

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence O. Gostin ◽  
Benjamin Mason Meier
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Global Health ◽  
International Law ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Right To Health Care ◽  
Global Standards ◽  
The Right

This chapter introduces the foundational importance of human rights for global health, providing a theoretical basis for the edited volume by laying out the role of human rights under international law as a normative basis for public health. By addressing public health harms as human rights violations, international law has offered global standards by which to frame government responsibilities and evaluate health practices, providing legal accountability in global health policy. The authors trace the historical foundations for understanding the development of human rights and the role of human rights in protecting and promoting health since the end of World War II and the birth of the United Nations. Examining the development of human rights under international law, the authors introduce the right to health as an encompassing right to health care and underlying determinants of health, exploring this right alongside other “health-related human rights.”

In Lieu of a Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Linarelli ◽  
Margot E Salomon ◽  
Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Current State ◽  
Neoliberal Capitalism ◽  
Transformative Potential ◽  
International Economic Law ◽  
Human Rights Norms

This chapter recaps the main themes of the volume, ie that the international law of the global economy is in a state of disorder. Claims about the justice, fairness, or benefits of the current state of international law as it relates to the global economy are fanciful. A more credible picture emerges when one considers who is protected, against what, and those relations that are valued and those that are not. Moreover, these claims above all require a suspension of a reflective attitude about what international law actually says and does. When it comes to international economic law, power is masked behind a veil of neutrality when it certainly is not neutral in the interests it protects and offends. As for international human rights law, it overlooks the ways in which it props up extreme capitalism foreclosing the possibility of transformative structural change to neoliberal capitalism. In its most radical areas, human rights norms have been blocked from making demands on the design of the global economy precisely because of their transformative potential. Among the central critiques of international law presented in this book is that international law must be justifiable to those who are subject to it.

Germany

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentin Aichele
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Direct Effect ◽  
Federal Courts ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Public International Law ◽  
Monitoring Mechanism ◽  
International Human ◽  
Human Rights Norms

This chapter analyses the use and interpretation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in sixty-nine decisions of German federal courts between 2009 and mid-2016. German courts’ failure to be proactive in demonstrating ‘friendliness towards public international law’ when dealing with international human rights norms has been criticised. The National CRPD Monitoring Mechanism addressed problems in the application of the law. This chapter investigates the courts’ understanding of basic CRPD concepts, judicial techniques, interpretation methods and specific CRPD provisions. The importance of the concepts of self-executing provisions and direct effect is discussed. In quantitative terms, German courts have referred to the CRPD more often than any other UN international human rights instrument. Furthermore, in qualitative terms, federal courts have become more receptive towards the CRPD. However, it is clear that much of the potential for courts to use the CRPD in the realisation of the rights of persons with disabilities remains untapped.

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