The Right to Health

2018 ◽  
pp. 231-264
Author(s):  
Sandra Fredman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
Personal Integrity ◽  
Human Right ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Way

Is health a human right? Many would maintain that it is not. On this view health and ill-health are due to natural causes, not to State actions. Others are concerned that health raises too many polycentric problems to be dealt with through justiciable human rights. These contestations have shaped the way in which the right to health is understood. Section II sketches out the health context. Section III considers jurisdictions in which there is no express right to health, but a right has been derived from rights to life, personal integrity, or privacy. Section IV contrasts this approach with jurisdictions with an express right to health. Section V examines the role of the right to equality, while section VI focuses on reproductive health. The final section returns to the challenges of polycentricity and the extent to which a justiciable right can address systemic issues rather than individual rights to medication.

Justice and Responsibility

2019 ◽  
pp. 88-106
Author(s):  
Thana C de Campos
Keyword(s):  
Right To Health ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
Medical Law ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Modern Conception ◽  
Deontological Ethics ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

Modern conceptions of justice ignore the relationship between duty-bearers and rights-holders, focusing mainly on the claimability of individual rights. This is particularly the case in medical law discussions. I argue that a deontological approach to medical law could not only create a less individualistic discussion, but also increase the probability of the realization of rights—particularly the human right to health. To demonstrate the applicability of deontological ethics in medical law, I first define and explain the modern conception of justice. To critique this modern conception of justice, I examine Kant’s and O’Neill’s deontological arguments regarding rights and duties. Then, building on Tasioulas’s deontological argument, I develop a theoretical understanding of the minimum-core-obligations that societies must fulfil if the right to health is to be feasibly claimable. I conclude by contrasting the practical implications of using either the modern conception of justice or the deontological conception of justice to interpret the minimum-core-obligations in the field of medical law.

Some Comments on the Highest Attainable Standard of Health

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-140
Author(s):  
Gabriela Belova ◽  
Stanislav Pavlov
Keyword(s):  
Health Resources ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Special Rapporteur ◽  
Health It ◽  
Significant Development ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Optional Protocol ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Right

AbstractThe last decades present a significant development of the economic, social and cultural rights and specifically, the right to health. Until 2000, the right to health has not been interpreted officially. By providing international standards, General Comment No.14 on the right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health has led to wider agreement that the right to health includes the social determinants of health such as access to various conditions, services, goods or facilities that are crucial for its implementation. The Reports of the Special Rapporteur on the right to health within the UN human rights system have contributed to the process of gaining the greater clarity about the right to health. It is obvious that achieving the highest attainable level of health depends on the principle of progressive implementation and the availability of the necessary health resources. The possibility individual complaints to be considered by the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights was introduced with the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, entered into force in 2013.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian MacNaughton ◽  
Mariah McGill
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Limited Capacity ◽  
United Nations High Commissioner ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Right

For over two decades, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has taken a leading role in promoting human rights globally by building the capacity of people to claim their rights and governments to fulfill their obligations. This chapter examines the extent to which the right to health has evolved in the work of the OHCHR since 1994, drawing on archival records of OHCHR publications and initiatives, as well as interviews with OHCHR staff and external experts on the right to health. Analyzing this history, the chapter then points to factors that have facilitated or inhibited the mainstreaming of the right to health within the OHCHR, including (1) an increasing acceptance of economic and social rights as real human rights, (2) right-to-health champions among the leadership, (3) limited capacity and resources, and (4) challenges in moving beyond conceptualization to implementation of the right to health.

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.”

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document