Access to health care for Venezuelan irregular migrants in Colombia: between constitutional adjudication and human rights law

AbstractInternational human rights law attaches the right of health care to the person. States, however, predicate this right on membership in the national community and access to publicly subsidised health care is normally contingent on national membership. With this in mind, this article considers the significance of a human rights approach to access to health care and undertakes a comparative study of health-care provision for irregular migrants in France and the UK. Irregular migrants are ineligible for national membership because they have breached immigration laws. Consequently their right to health care may only arise from international human rights law. This comparative study, however, shows that states resist the idea of a right to health care for people they regard as a threat to national sovereignty. Yet the author posits that the exercise of the government's immigration power may be reconciled with the realisation of irregular migrants' human right to health care.

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Health Care and Human Rights after Auton and Chaoulli

McGill Law Journal ◽

10.7202/039650ar ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 54 (4) ◽

pp. 717-738 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mel Cousins

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Human Rights ◽

Access To Health Care ◽

Case Law ◽

Public Health Care ◽

Supreme Court Of Canada ◽

Judicial Interpretation ◽

Language Interpretation ◽

Access To Health ◽

The Supreme Court

Abstract The judicial interpretation of the entitlement to health care under the Charter and human rights legislation has tended to swing between interventionist and non-interventionist poles. In Eldridge, the Supreme Court of Canada held that a failure to provide sign language interpretation where this was necessary to ensure equal access to health care was in breach of the equality provisions of the Charter. However, in a subsequent case, Auton, the Court narrowly circumscribed the limits of this approach, holding that the Canadian system of public health care was, by its very terms, a partial health plan. It followed that exclusion of particular non-core services could not, in itself, be seen as less favourable treatment. The Chaoulli decision marked a return to a more interventionist approach with the Court holding (by a narrow majority) that the prohibition on private health insurance provided for in Quebec law was inconsistent with section 1 of the Quebec Charter. This judgment has been cited in over eighty decisions of courts and tribunals. However, just how important has Chaoulli been in terms of the overall approach of the Canadian courts? The author suggests that Chaoulli—despite its significance in the legislative arena—has had a somewhat limited impact to date on the case law concerning health care, and that Auton has clearly had a greater impact to date. The author examines several examples from subsequent case law that point to the weakness of the approaches taken in both Auton and Chaoulli. The narrow approach adopted in Auton can lead to equality claims being dismissed without any proper discrimination analysis and shows the manner in which a broad use of the “benefit provided by law” requirement may weaken equality jurisprudence. Conversely, the case law highlights the fact that the courts will have to reject much more difficult claims than those upheld in Chaoulli unless they wish to develop positive obligations under section 7 of the Charter.

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The Principle of Accessibility as a Core Element of a Human Rights-Based Approach to Undocumented Migrants’ Right to Health

European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance ◽

10.1163/22134514-00503002 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 275-311

Author(s):

Marta Gionco ◽

Eleonora Celoria

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Human Rights ◽

Access To Health Care ◽

Health Care Systems ◽

Right To Health ◽

Undocumented Migrants ◽

Core Element ◽

Right To Health Care ◽

Access To Health ◽

Human Rights Based Approach

Seventy years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, access to health care remains strongly unequal. Undocumented migrants represent a particularly discriminated group in many countries. With the aim of investigating the root causes of such inequality, the article provides a theoretical analysis of the right to health care in the international and regional legal frameworks. On such basis, it examines, from a comparative perspective, the different health care systems adopted in France, Italy and Switzerland and the concrete obstacles to accessibility that ensue from each system. The study adopts a human rights-based approach which focuses on four interrelated dimensions of the principle of accessibility which are pivotal in linking a legal system to its application: non-discrimination, physical accessibility, economic accessibility and information accessibility. This article concludes by arguing that the adoption of a human rights-based approach centred on the principle of accessibility can contribute to a better understanding of the obstacles to undocumented migrants’ effective access to health care and therefore to the full implementation of their rights.

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Promoting Access to Health Care in ‘Other Situations of Violence’

Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies ◽

10.1163/18781527-00501003 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 5 (1-2) ◽

pp. 105-129 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Eve Massingham ◽

Kelisiana Thynne

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Armed Conflict ◽

Access To Health Care ◽

Authoritarian Regimes ◽

Legal Order ◽

Armed Conflicts ◽

International Humanitarian Law ◽

Humanitarian Law ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Access To Health

In the last ten years or so, the international community has seen an increase in the suppression of revolutionaries or insurrectionists by authoritarian regimes. There has also been a growing urbanisation of violence, in which gangs infiltrate urban societies due to a lack of provision of State services. This landscape of violence continually morphs from one dominated by armed conflicts (to which international humanitarian law (ihl) applies) to one that increasingly involves ‘other situations of violence’ which fall short of the threshold of armed conflict (and which are not regulated by ihl). These ‘other situations of violence’, whilst wildly disparate in many ways, share the tragedy (also shared with armed conflict) of the impediments they place on access to health care by those left vulnerable as a result of the breakdown of domestic legal order. This paper reviews existing laws and principles, which could apply to ‘other situations of violence’ such as those found in ihl and human rights law. It makes the case that an international framework could have a stronger presence in the regulation of ‘other situations of violence’, in order to ensure the protection of those who need it most.

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Human rights dimensions of COVID-19 responses in Bangladesh: challenges and recommendations

International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare ◽

10.1108/ijhrh-02-2021-0039 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Sonia Mannan ◽

Jobair Alam ◽

Md Habibur Rahman

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Human Rights ◽

Access To Health Care ◽

Population Based ◽

International Human Rights Law ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

International Human Rights ◽

Content Type ◽

The Future ◽

International Human

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize the human rights dimensions of COVID-19 responses in Bangladesh through a viewpoint methodology in four critical areas: freedom of opinion and expression; access to information; protection of health-care workers; and marginalized populations’ access to health care. However, these responses remain non-aligned with the international human rights law obligations of Bangladesh, which undermines the human rights and dignity of its population. Based on the responses shaping and aggravating the situation, this paper concludes with some recommendations, which can be helpful for Bangladesh for better human rights responses in these areas, should a parallel situation emerge in the future. Design/methodology/approach This paper scrutinizes the human rights dimensions of COVID-19 responses in Bangladesh through a viewpoint methodology. Findings The responses of Bangladesh remain non-aligned with international human rights law obligations of Bangladesh, which undermines the human rights and dignity of its population. Originality/value This paper concludes with some recommendations, which can be helpful for Bangladesh for better human rights responses in these areas, should a parallel situation emerge in the future.

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human-rights-on-hold-a-report-on-emergency-measures-and-access-to-health-care-in-the-occupied-territories-19901992-june-1993-138-pp

Human Rights Documents online ◽

10.1163/2210-7975_hrd-2259-0103 ◽

2016 ◽

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Human Rights ◽

Access To Health Care ◽

Access To Health ◽

Occupied Territories ◽

Emergency Measures

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Asylym Seekers in Europe: Entitlements, Health Status, and Human Rights Issues

European Journal of Health Law ◽

10.1163/15718099720522101 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 253-265 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Human Rights ◽

Health Status ◽

Social Adjustment ◽

Asylum Seekers ◽

Access To Health Care ◽

European Countries ◽

Political Asylum ◽

Right To Health Care ◽

Access To Health

AbstractThe political asylum system in Western Europe is under strain. High numbers of people are applying for political asylum as the only possibility of living legally in Western countries, while governments are trying to prevent access to their territories and to discourage applicants. It is very difficult to foresee an equitable and timely solution of the root causes of many displacements, either extreme poverty or human rights abuse. In the meanwhile, many of those who are genuinely persecuted are rejected before their cases can even be considered.The entitlements to health care of different categories of refugees and asylum seekers have been reviewed. While convention refugees and de facto refugees have the same right to health care than the citizens of the country of asylum, asylum seekers and persons who are offered temporary protection tend to have restricted access to health care, although there is a great variability across countries. The available reports on the health status of asylum seekers in Western European countries document a quite difficult psychological and social adjustment. It is unclear whether this situation, which is caused by the stress of leaving their own country and family, by uncertainty over the future, and by possible exposure to violence is intensified by restriction to work, unsuitable organization of day to day life in asylum centers, and limited access to health care. A major effort is urgently needed to evaluate the health needs of asylum seekers, and to improve standards of reception and care in European countries.

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