Articulating key obligations of states to persons deprived of liberty under a right to health framework: the Philippine case study

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Edson P. Yarcia ◽  
Jan Michael Alexandre C. Bernadas
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The State ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Right

Purpose This paper aims to examine key obligations of states to persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) under the right to health framework in the context of COVID-19. As a case study, it also describes the state of health in places of detention in the Philippines during the pandemic, with an end view of providing granular recommendations for prison policy reforms. Design/methodology/approach Relevant rules under international human rights law related to places of detention were thematically analyzed to articulate the scope of the right to health of PDLs. To describe the state of places of detention in the Philippines, this paper relied on archival research of news from selected local mainstream and specialized media. Findings The right to health framework provides a foundation for the response to COVID-19 in places of detention. Key concerns include increase in the number of infections, vulnerabilities in physical and mental health, and the spread of infection among correctional staff. Long-standing structural constraints and limited health information compound the threat of COVID-19. The Philippines must comply with its human rights obligations to PDLs to effectively address COVID-19-related concerns. Practical implications Policy reforms in Philippine places of detention must include application of community standards on physical and mental health, implementation of emergency release and application of non-custodial measures for long-term prison decongestion. Originality/value This is one of the few papers to analyze human rights in health care in places of detention during a pandemic, as nuanced in the context of the Philippines.

scholarly journals The International Right To Highest Attainable Standard Of Physical And Mental Health: Evaluating Obligations Of Lithuania In Cases Of Violence Against Women

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Laima Vaige
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
The State ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
The Right

The paper explores the role of the international right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health in the development of the legal framework in Lithuania to address violence against women. The right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is entrenched under various international legal instruments. These have been ratified by Lithuania which, in 2011, also adopted a Law for the protection against domestic violence. Violence against women, including domestic violence, is undoubtedly a violation of the right to health; therefore the Lithuanian context provides an opportunity to evaluate the duties of the state in this regard more precisely. Indicators on human rights measurement have been instrumental in this evaluation.

A journey towards integrated person-centred care: a case study of a mental health perspective in the voluntary sector

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Kermode
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Voluntary Sector ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Health And Social Care

PurposePerson-centred care is a fundamental component of any service. This case study aims to explore the delivery of person-centred care in the voluntary sector, discussing how integrating support can be achieved to benefit individuals. It identifies challenges, best practice and learning that can be applied across sectors and promotes further enquiry.Design/methodology/approachThis case study is the result of a service audit at a mental health charity. The findings are a blend of reflections, observations and examples from service delivery, synthesised with national policy to provide evidence of best practice and processes that enable person-centred care.FindingsA focus on need not diagnosis, creating accessible and inclusive services, employing dual trained practitioners, having a varied skill mix along with holistic self-assessment tools are all enablers for integrated person-centred support. Multi-agency assessment frameworks, collaboration across services, cross-agency supervision and a shared vision for integration and person-centred care support services to coordinate more effectively. Barriers to integrated person-centred support include complex physical and mental health needs and harmful risk and safeguarding. The diversity of the voluntary sector, a lack of resources along with complex and competitive funding also hinder integration.Originality/valueThis case study provides a valuable insight into the voluntary sector and shares its findings to enhance best practice. It aims to promote interest and invites further research into health and social care delivery by the voluntary sector. As this delivery continues to increase, it is vital to examine the interface between the voluntary and statutory sector. Through better understanding and further research across all sectors, the author can identify how they can achieve person-centred outcomes and deliver the national policies.

Legislative discrepancies: an analysis of Missouri’s current human trafficking laws and the need to improve its legal protection of victims

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-158
Author(s):  
Rachel Kappler ◽  
Arduizur Carli Richie-Zavaleta
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Safe Harbor ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Usa

Purpose Human trafficking (HT) is a local, national and international problem with a range of human rights, public health and policy implications. Victims of HT face atrocious abuses that negatively impact their health outcomes. When a state lacks protective laws, such as Safe Harbor laws, victims of HT tend to be seen as criminals. This paper aims to highlight the legal present gaps within Missouri’s anti-trafficking legislation and delineates recommendations for the legal protection of victims of HT and betterment of services needed for their reintegration and healing. Design/methodology/approach This case-study is based on a policy analysis of current Missouri’s HT laws. This analysis was conducted through examining current rankings systems created by nationally and internationally recognized non-governmental organizations as well as governmental reports. Additionally, other state’s best practice and law passage of Safe Harbor legislations were examined. The recommendations were based on human rights and public health frameworks. Findings Missouri is a state that has yet to upgrade its laws lately to reflect Safe Harbor laws. Constant upgrades and evaluations of current efforts are necessary to protect and address HT at the state and local levels. Public health and human rights principles can assist in the upgrading of current laws as well as other states’ best-practice and integration of protective legislation and diversion programs to both youth and adult victims of HT. Research limitations/implications Laws are continually being updated at the state level; therefore, there might be some upgrades that have taken place after the analysis of this case study was conducted. Also, the findings and recommendations of this case study are limited to countries that are similar to the USA in terms of the state-level autonomy to pass laws independently from federal law. Practical implications If Safe Harbor laws are well designed, they have greater potential to protect, support and assist victims of HT in their process from victimization into survivorship as well as to paving the way for societal reintegration. The creation and enforcement of Safe Harbor laws is a way to ensure the decriminalization process. Additionally, this legal protection also ensures that the universal human rights of victims are protected. Consequently, these legal processes and updates could assist in creating healthier communities in the long run in the USA and around the world. Social implications From a public health and human rights perspectives, communities in the USA and around the world cannot provide complete protection to victims of HT until their anti-trafficking laws reflect Safe Harbor laws. Originality/value This case study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is a unique analysis that dismantles the discrepancies of Missouri’s current HT laws. This work is valuable to those who create policies at the state level and advocate for the protection of victims and anti-trafficking efforts.

The management (or lack thereof) of COVID-19 in Brazil: implications for human rights and public health

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erick da Luz Scherf ◽  
Marcos Vinicius Viana da Silva ◽  
Janaina S. Fachini
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Health Management ◽  
Inductive Reasoning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Health Institutions ◽  
Health Institutions ◽  
Human Rights Norms ◽  
The Right

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has been managed in Brazil, especially at the Federal Administrative level, with the focus being on the implications for human rights and public health in the country. Design/methodology/approach The research is built on a qualitative design made up of a case-study and review of the literature and is based on inductive reasoning. Findings Main conclusions were that: by not making sufficient efforts to safeguard the lives of Brazilians or to strengthen public health institutions amid the pandemic, Bolsonaro’s Administration may be violating the rights to life and health, among others, by omission; it was demonstrated that the President has worked unceasingly to bulldoze anti-COVID-19 efforts, which can be better explained through the concepts of necropolitics and neoliberal authoritarianism. Research limitations/implications One of the limitations to this research is that this paper was not able to discuss more thoroughly which other human rights norms and principles (apart from the right to health, life and the duty to protect vulnerable populations) have possibly been violated amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Overall, this research can help expand the literature on human rights in health management during and after emergency times. Originality/value This paper focuses on recent events and on urgent matters that need to be addressed immediately in Brazil. This study provides an innovative health policy/human rights analysis to build an academic account of the ongoing pandemic in the largest country in South America.

scholarly journals Realising the Right to Health for Victims of International Crimes. The Case of Medical Rehabilitation Reparations Ordered by International Courts: Challenges, Possibilities and Ways of Improvement

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Juan Pablo Pérez-León Acevedo
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Medical Rehabilitation ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
International Courts ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
Care And Support ◽  
The Right

In the last few decades, international crimes, ie, serious human rights violations, have inflicted severe harm on both the physical and mental health of large numbers of victims around the world. In attempting to redress these damages, international courts, within their respective mandates, have issued reparations orders in favour of victims and their communities. Precisely, an important modality of reparations has consisted of rehabilitation which includes measures of a medical nature for victims. This means physical and psychological rehabilitation including treatment, care and support. At three international level courts, namely, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), International Criminal Court (ICC), and Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), important developments in the field of medical rehabilitative reparations have taken place. This article critically analyses the practices on medical rehabilitation reparations at those courts, suggests which steps should be taken to improve those practices and proposes which actions States and other international community actors should adopt to better implement and/or contribute towards the implementation of orders on medical rehabilitation reparations. Attention is also given to international human rights law, particularly the obligation to cooperate and the right to health standards and principles.

A Right to Health Care

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 268-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavlos Eleftheriadis
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Right To Health Care ◽  
The Right ◽  
International Conventions ◽  
Special Case

Do we have a legal and moral right to health care against others? There are international conventions and institutions that say emphatically yes, and they summarize this in the expression of “the right to health,” which is an established part of the international human rights canon. The International Covenant on Social and Economic Rights outlines this as “the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health,” but declarations such as this remain tragically unfulfilled. According to recent figures, roughly two billion people lack access to essential drugs or to primary health care. Millions are afflicted by infections and illnesses that are easily avoidable or treatable. In the developing world many children die or grow stunted and damaged for lack of available treatments. Tropical diseases receive little or no attention by the major pharmaceutical companies’ research departments. Is this a massive violation of the right to health? And if so, why does it attract so little attention? Is it because our supposed commitment to human rights and the rule of law is hypocritical and hollow? Or is it because the right to health is a special case of a right, so that these tragedies are no violation at all? Jennifer Prah Ruger summarized this puzzle when she wrote: “one would be hard pressed to find a more controversial or nebulous human right than the right to health.” In this essay I discuss three different theories of a right to health care. I conclude by offering my own reconstruction of one such theory.

Mental health and barriers to the achievement of the 'right to health'

2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Henderson ◽  
Samantha Battams
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
The Right

This paper explores issues relating to access to physical and mental health care for people with mental health problems in light of Australia’s endorsement in 2008 of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which established the right to health and to health care. Interviews were conducted with 10 key stakeholders with legal, policy, clinical and advocacy roles within South Australia and at a national and international level. Participants identified several barriers to the achievement of the right to health for people with mental illness, with discussion highlighting the legal definition of rights, governance of health and mental health, and structural barriers to receipt of care as the primary barriers. The data are explored in relation to social models of disability.

scholarly journals Round table: Liberté, égalité and fraternité in public health - A Human rights approach to Public (Mental) Health

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Mental Health ◽  
Living Will ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right ◽  
Human Rights Based Approach

Abstract A human rights based approach to Public Health and to Public Mental health offers an opportunity to realize the right to health for all. However, a human rights-based approach to Public Health will require new inter-disciplinary approaches and an innovative frame. This frame should include the use of international human rights standards as a framework for research, policy and practice; the participation of target groups; and the enhancement of inclusion and respect for all. This workshop follows up from the Ljubljana 2018 workshop on human rights and public (mental) health and aims to test the requirements needed to ensure a human rights based approach to public health. For this, a panel of a researcher, ethicist, lawyer and a patient is set up to evaluate three practical cases. What are they advising in these specific cases and what does this mean for the international human rights framework. The outcomes of the panel discussion will be presented by the chair of the workshop. Case 1 Coerced sterilization in the UK The parents of a 21-year old woman with Down’s syndrome in the UK contacted a doctor to have their daughter sterlised our of fear that she may become pregnant. The woman did not have a bodyfriend nor expressed an interest in starting a sexual relationship. The parents stated that - as she had grown up - she had become more aware of the opposite sex and could be “overfamiliar” with people. Therefore sterilisation was needed to protect her in the future. A specialist supported the parents, but a second doctor suggested various methods of contraception as an alternative. Case 2 Euthanasia in the Netherlands A 74-year old incapacitated women with dementia stated several times that she does not want to live anymore. But she has also been heard saying that she likes her life. Under Dutch law, euthanasia is possible if the patient clearly indicates this, the so-called living-will. In this case, the doctor performed euthanasia based on her living will, which was given years earlier, before she was struck by dementia. Case 3 Rape in Northern Ireland A 12-year-old girl from Northern Ireland is raped. Abortion is not possible in this case due to the strict laws prohibiting abortion unless the woman’s life is in danger or there is a permanent or serious risk to her mental or physical health. The girl has to travel to England under police escort to have an abortion, so that a police officer could seize the ‘samples’ from the procedure for evidence. Key messages A human rights based approach to Public Health and to Public Mental health offers an opportunity to realize the right to health for all. It is critical that we do not risk losing the right to health in the rhetoric of the SDGs and ensure that we respond to the need of improving research methods on the promise of leaving no one behind. Mauro Giovanni Carta Contact: [email protected] Dineke Zeegers Paget Contact: [email protected] Els Maeckelberghe Contact: [email protected]

Bridging human rights and social determinants of health: Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-17
Author(s):  
Juan Smart ◽  
Alejandra Letelier
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Health And Human Rights ◽  
The Right

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to do a systematic assessment and testing of identified human rights norms alongside social determinant approaches in relation to identified health issues of concern in four Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay) to show how social determinants and human rights frameworks improve population health. Design/methodology/approach To do so, in the first part the authors analyze the inequalities both between and within each of the selected countries in terms of health status and health determinants of the population. Then, in the second section, the authors analyze the level of recognition, institutionalisation and accountability of the right to health in each country. Findings From the data used in this paper it is possible to conclude that the four analysed countries have improved their results in terms of health status, health care and health behaviours. This improvement coincides with the recognition, institutionalisation and creation of accountability mechanisms of human rights principles and standards in terms of health and that a human rights approach to health and its relation with other social determinants have extended universal health coverage and health systems in the four analysed countries. Originality/value Despite of the importance of the relation between human rights and social determinants of health, there are few human right scholars working on the issues of social determinants of health and human rights. Most of the literature of health and human rights has been focussed specific relations between specific rights and the right to health, but less human right scholar working on social determinants of health. On the other hand, just a few epidemiologists and people working on social medicine have actually started to use a universal human rights frame and discourse. In fact, according to Vnkatapuram, Bell and Marmot: “while health and human rights advocates have from the start taken a global perspective, social medicine and social epidemiology have been slower to catch up”.

Family planning and budgeting for human rights in India

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 333-345
Author(s):  
Thibault Weigelt ◽  
Erica Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Family Planning ◽  
Reproductive Rights ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Family Planning Programme ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Indian Family ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Right ◽  
Implementation Plans

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the budget of the Indian family planning programme from a human rights perspective. Family planning services play an important role in the realisation of the reproductive rights of women. In India, the family planning programme is one of the largest in the world with thousands of patients, mostly women, accessing services every year. Although the Indian legal system guarantees the right to health, Indian women from marginalised sections of society still battle inadequate services and the absence of health care that respects their right to reproductive autonomy and choice. Therefore, the question is: in the presence of a strong legal framework, what are the factors that contribute to this phenomenon? Design/methodology/approach The authors have gathered data from the project implementation plans at the state level comparing year-wise expenditure for family planning against overall expenditure for reproductive, maternal and child health expenditure. The data are then compared to the number of women using sterilisation to suggest a relationship between both. Finally, the article relies on desk research to review scholarship on the Indian family planning programme and applicable human rights obligations. Findings The paper finds that social-economic rights such as the right to health are applicable to government spending and budgeting. It also finds current spending in the NHM is insufficient to guarantee women’s reproductive rights as the vast majority of resources are spend on sterilisation, thus limiting women’s ability to choose the number and spacing of children. Research limitations/implications The data used in this research bears one limitation: the propensity of the government to change the guidelines as to how States should present their budgets in the project implementation plans. The authors have adjusted the data so that it remains comparable. However, the adjustment was not possible for all expenditure data, which is why the current study is limited to the family planning programme alone. Practical implications The paper argues that to be human rights compliant, health budgets of the NHM need to be geared towards the specific needs of women in terms of family planning. Finally, the article briefly outlines the role played by human rights and human rights litigation in impacting government budgets. Originality/value India’s family planning programme has been examined from a performance and medical standpoint, focussing on medical indicators such as total fertility rate, unmet needs for family planning, amongst others. Academic scholarship has investigated through statistical analysis patterns of contraceptive use and contraceptive mix. What is absent, however, is an assessment of the programme from a right-based perspective by looking at the human rights obligations of India and their normative implications for the Indian family programme.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document