The Emergence of “New” Health-Related Human Rights

10.1093/law/9780197528297.003.0013 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Meier Benjamin Mason ◽

Winkler Inga T

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Communicable Disease ◽

National Policy ◽

Human Right ◽

Water And Sanitation ◽

Cultural Rights ◽

Sanitation And Hygiene ◽

Health Related ◽

Human Rights Advocacy ◽

This chapter discusses the evolving understanding of human rights to encompass determinants of health through the human rights to water and sanitation, which are vital to the prevention of both communicable and non-communicable disease. In 2002, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights argued that the right to water is a distinct human right derived from the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to health. Solidified by the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council, states have provided a normative framework for efforts to realize the human rights to water and sanitation. This recognition of the human rights to water and sanitation has provided a foundation to implement these rights through national policy and international organizations. With advocates now seeking accountability for these rights, human rights advocacy, litigation, and monitoring will be crucial for meeting water, sanitation, and hygiene needs.

Water for Life

10.1093/oso/9780190693152.003.0005 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Madeline Baer

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Citizen Participation ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Water Policy ◽

State Capacity ◽

National Level ◽

Human Right ◽

Political Will ◽

Water And Sanitation ◽

Chapter 5 provides a case study of the human rights-based approach to water policy through an analysis of the Bolivian government’s attempts to implement the human right to water and sanitation. It explores these efforts at the local and national level, through changes to investments, institutions, and policies. The analysis reveals that while Bolivia meets the minimum standard for the human right to water and sanitation in some urban areas, access to quality water is low in poor and marginalized communities. While the Bolivian government expresses a strong political will for a human rights approach and is increasing state capacity to fulfill rights, the broader criteria for the right to water and sanitation, including citizen participation and democratic decision-making, remain largely unfulfilled. This case suggests political will and state capacity might be necessary but are not sufficient to fulfill the human right to water and sanitation broadly defined.

THE HUMAN RIGHT TO HEALTH: A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS AFTER 70 YEARS OF INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

The Age of Human Rights Journal ◽

10.17561/tahrj.n11.2 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 24-42

Author(s):

MARÍA DALLI

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Right To Health ◽

World Health ◽

Health Coverage ◽

Human Right ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Cultural Rights ◽

Health Organization ◽

The Individual ◽

In 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the first international text recognising universal human rights for all; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 25 recognises the right to an adequate standard of living, which includes the right to health and medical care. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Declaration, this article presents an overview of the main developments that have been made towards understanding the content and implications of the right to health, as well as an analysis of some specific advancements that aim to facilitate the enforcement thereof. These include: a) the implication of private entities as responsible for right to health obligations; b) the Universal Health Coverage goal, proposed by the World Health Organization and included as one of the Sustainable Development Goals; and c) the individual complaints mechanism introduced by the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (adopted on the 10th December 2008, 60 years after the UDHR).

s.One Norms and Principles, 3 The Right to Health and Health-Related Human Rights

10.1093/law/9780197528297.003.0004 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Tobin John ◽

Barrett Damon

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Human Rights ◽

Right To Health ◽

Economic Determinants ◽

Right To Health Care ◽

Cultural Rights ◽

Health Goals ◽

Health Related ◽

State Obligations ◽

This chapter reviews the scope and meaning of the right to health under international law. Drawing on public health discourses and expanding beyond a right to health care, the contours of the right to health have been clarified—to encompass a wide range of social, political, and economic determinants of health—by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in its General Comment 14, by academics in the fields of law and public health, and by national governments in their domestic laws and judicial interpretations. The normative content of the right to health now provides a foundation for state obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to health; limitations on other rights for public health goals; the right’s essential attributes of availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality; the minimum core obligations of the right to health; and the progressive realization of health-related human rights.

Human Rights Advocacy in Global Health

10.1093/oso/9780197528297.003.0007 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 133-154

Author(s):

Joseph J. Amon ◽

Eric Friedman

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Right To Health ◽

Health Campaigns ◽

Structural Barriers ◽

Health And Human Rights ◽

Raising Awareness ◽

Health Related ◽

Human Rights Advocacy ◽

Advocacy Strategies ◽

This chapter presents an overview of health and human rights advocacy and describes a broad framework and the diverse strategies used by human rights advocates to advance their goals. Based upon documenting abuses, raising awareness, building coalitions, and engaging communities, human rights advocacy seeks to ensure that government laws, policies, and practices respect, protect, and fulfill the right to health of all. These rights arguments and advocacy strategies, first developed in response to the HIV epidemic, have become the basis for broader right to health campaigns. Health-related human rights advocacy, beyond specific strategies, seeks to elevate the voices of people affected by human rights violations, analyze structural barriers, and identify obligations and responsibilities. Focusing on the strategies and tools that human rights advocates use in documenting rights abuses, raising awareness, and seeking change, it is necessary to examine new advocacy partnerships and approaches for evaluating advocacy efforts.

The Right to Health and Health-Related Human Rights

10.1093/oso/9780197528297.003.0004 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 67-88

Author(s):

John Tobin ◽

Damon Barrett

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Human Rights ◽

Right To Health ◽

Economic Determinants ◽

Right To Health Care ◽

Cultural Rights ◽

Health Goals ◽

Health Related ◽

State Obligations ◽

This chapter reviews the scope and meaning of the right to health under international law. Drawing on public health discourses and expanding beyond a right to health care, the contours of the right to health have been clarified—to encompass a wide range of social, political, and economic determinants of health—by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in its General Comment 14, by academics in the fields of law and public health, and by national governments in their domestic laws and judicial interpretations. The normative content of the right to health now provides a foundation for state obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to health; limitations on other rights for public health goals; the right’s essential attributes of availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality; the minimum core obligations of the right to health; and the progressive realization of health-related human rights.

s.Two Implementation and Accountability, 6 Human Rights Advocacy in Global Health

10.1093/law/9780197528297.003.0007 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Amon Joseph J ◽

Friedman Eric

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Right To Health ◽

Health Campaigns ◽

Structural Barriers ◽

Health And Human Rights ◽

Raising Awareness ◽

Health Related ◽

Human Rights Advocacy ◽

Advocacy Strategies ◽

This chapter presents an overview of health and human rights advocacy and describes a broad framework and the diverse strategies used by human rights advocates to advance their goals. Based upon documenting abuses, raising awareness, building coalitions, and engaging communities, human rights advocacy seeks to ensure that government laws, policies, and practices respect, protect, and fulfill the right to health of all. These rights arguments and advocacy strategies, first developed in response to the HIV epidemic, have become the basis for broader right to health campaigns. Health-related human rights advocacy, beyond specific strategies, seeks to elevate the voices of people affected by human rights violations, analyze structural barriers, and identify obligations and responsibilities. Focusing on the strategies and tools that human rights advocates use in documenting rights abuses, raising awareness, and seeking change, it is necessary to examine new advocacy partnerships and approaches for evaluating advocacy efforts.

Inclusive development as an imperative to realizing the human right to water and sanitation

Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy (The) ◽

10.4314/jsdlp.v8i2.4 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 67-86

Author(s):

Pedi Obani ◽

Joyeeta Gupta

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Social Inclusion ◽

Inclusive Development ◽

Extensive Literature ◽

Social Changes ◽

Human Right ◽

Water And Sanitation ◽

Governance Process ◽

The Right ◽

Governance Instruments

There are a plethora of governance instruments for operationalizing human rights obligations on water and sanitation at multiple levels of governance. The realization that the human right to water and sanitation depends on the discourses and approaches used in a country to implement it implies that it is not self-evident that implementing the right will lead to inclusive development. The inclusive development aims at not only social inclusion but also ecological and relational inclusion, where the latter aims at ensuring that the structural causes of inequality are also addressed. Relying on an extensive literature review and jurisprudence on the human right to water and sanitation, we develop an ideal-typical conceptual framework for assessing the human right to water and sanitation with inclusive development as an imperative. Our framework is based on the premise that governance instruments are valueladen tools which can steer social changes depending on the contextual political paradigm which can be garnered from the goals, ownership models, accountability mechanisms and incentives of actors involved in the governance process. We, therefore, propose a simple model for assessing whether the governance instruments for operationalizing the human right to water and sanitation will, in fact, lead to inclusive development.Keywords: Human Rights, Governance, Water and Sanitation

Working for social justice: community, activism and academia

Housing Shock ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781447353898.003.0005 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 87-106

Author(s):

Rory Hearne

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Social Justice ◽

Trade Unions ◽

Rental Housing ◽

National Policy ◽

Housing System ◽

Policy Debate ◽

Participatory Action ◽

Human Right ◽

This chapter explores the author’s housing journey, from living in private rental housing, to working with disadvantaged communities on housing and human rights, campaigning on homelessness and the right to housing, to being a publically engaged academic researching and engaging in the national policy debate on housing. It details the everyday impact of austerity on disadvantaged social housing communities and their response through a successful ‘Rights-in-action’ human right to housing campaign. It also details participatory action research with homeless families, the Participatory Action Human Rights and Capability Approach. In then discusses the role of academics, policy makers and researchers in social change, empowerment and participation in relation to social justice and housing issues. It interrogates the concept of knowledge production – who’s interest does it serve? Drawing on Freire and Gramsci the Chapter outlines five areas, for the academic researcher (and this can be applied to policy analysts and researchers, NGOs, human rights organisations, trade unions and community activists) to contribute to achieving an egalitarian, socially and environmentally just, and rights-based housing system.

On the Changing Structure of International Investment Law: The Human Right to Water and ICSID Arbitration

International Community Law Review ◽

10.1163/187197310x513734 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 335-359 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Fabrizio Marrella

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Drinking Water ◽

International Investment ◽

Human Right ◽

Water And Sanitation ◽

International Investment Law ◽

Business And Human Rights ◽

The People ◽

Independent Expert ◽

AbstractWater is the world’s third largest industry after oil and energy power. Although clean drinking water and sanitation are necessary for the health and development of individuals and communities, even today, billions of people lack access to either. In response to these concerns, the international community has set a Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of providing, by 2015, clean water and improved sanitation to at least half of the people worldwide who now lack these services. Water is treated both as a public good and an economic good. In the last decade, we have witnessed the commoditisation through privatization and liberalisation of an essential good for each individual’s life. Transnational corporations may encounter water issues in at least three different contexts: a) as enablers of access to water; b) as providers or distributors of water and c) as a user or consumer of water. Many initiatives have been developed within the United Nations such as the Global Compact and the appointment of both an independent expert on human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation and a Special Representative of the Secretary General on business and human rights. Both of them are mainstreaming human rights in the business sector reconciling different forms of regulations. The right to water has come into discussion in a number of ICSID arbitrations and other cases are still pending. The purpose of this article is to discuss the advancement of the thinking in this field so that it could be applied in arbitration practice.