Colonial Neglect and the Right to Health in Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria

2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (10) ◽  
pp. 1512-1518
Author(s):  
Samantha Rivera Joseph ◽  
Caroline Voyles ◽  
Kimberly D. Williams ◽  
Erica Smith ◽  
Mariana Chilton

The humanitarian crisis revealed as a result of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico demonstrates a long history of US colonial neglect and human rights violations. This reality has made it especially difficult for the people of Puerto Rico to achieve their right to the highest attainable standard of health. The impacts are pervasive, resulting in disparities in Puerto Rican health, including water access and quality; wealth, including economic loss and disinvestment; and sustainability of the island’s resources. As a result of failed governmental protection and support, public health issues related to access to care, a failing infrastructure, and discrimination all contributed to crisis on the island. A human rights framework is necessary to assess the ongoing human rights violations of the quality of life to support millions of American citizens on the island. This essay utilizes a rights-based approach to reveal historical disenfranchisement of Puerto Rico before the storms, identifies the specific human rights violations that resulted from the US government’s lack of emergency preparedness and responsiveness, and demands rebuilding the island to reconcile all that has been lost.

Author(s):  
I Putu Dwika Ariestu

Human Rights and the State could not be separated from one another. Both are interconnected in terms of how to ensure internal stability in a country. With the existence of human rights, it is hoped that state is not arbitrary to treat its people and is obliged to protect everyone in its territory including in this case Stateless persons mentioned in Article 7 paragraph 1 of the Convention relating Status of Stateless Persons in 1954. This study aims to analyze the obligations the State must take in relation to the protection of persons with stateless persons status, and to recognize the legal consequences and responsibilities of States in the event of omitting acts of human rights violations against people with stateless persons status. This paper using normative research methods with statute approach and conceptual approach. The study shows that in relation to the obligation of the state that each State shall be obliged to provide protection to persons with stateless persons status as stipulated in the 1954 Convention and the provisions of the International Human Rights Law, the obligations of state protection include the protection of the right to life, the right to employment and even the right to obtain citizenship status. The international legal consequences accepted by the state are listed in Article 39, Article 41, and 42 of the UN Charter. Then for state responsibility are listed under Article 35, Article 36, and Article 37 of UNGA 56/83 of 2001.   Hak Asasi Manusia dan Negara tidak bisa dipisahkan satu sama lain. Keduanya saling terkait dalam hal bagaimana menjamin stabilitas internal di suatu negara. Dengan adanya hak asasi manusia, diharapkan negara tidak sewenang-wenang memperlakukan rakyatnya dan berkewajiban melindungi semua orang di wilayahnya termasuk dalam hal ini para warga negara yang disebutkan dalam Pasal 7 ayat 1 Konvensi terkait Status Orang Tanpa Negara di tahun 1954. Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis kewajiban yang harus diambil Negara sehubungan dengan perlindungan orang-orang dengan status orang tanpa kewarganegaraan, dan untuk mengakui konsekuensi hukum serta tanggung jawab negara dalam hal melakukan  tindakan pelanggaran hak asasi manusia terhadap orang-orang dengan status  tanpa kewarganegaraan. Tulisan ini menggunakan metode penelitian normatif dengan pendekatan perundang-undangan dan pendekatan konseptual. Hasil studi menunjukkan bahwa sehubungan dengan kewajiban negara bahwa setiap Negara wajib memberikan perlindungan kepada orang-orang dengan status orang tanpa kewarganegaraan sebagaimana diatur dalam Konvensi 1954 dan ketentuan-ketentuan Hukum Hak Asasi Manusia Internasional, kewajiban perlindungan negara termasuk perlindungan hak untuk hidup, hak untuk bekerja dan bahkan hak untuk mendapatkan status kewarganegaraan. Konsekuensi hukum internasional yang diterima oleh negara tercantum dalam Pasal 39, Pasal 41, dan 42 Piagam PBB. Kemudian untuk tanggung jawab negara tercantum di bawah Pasal 35, Pasal 36, dan Pasal 37 UNGA 56/83 tahun 2001.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mkhululi Nyathi ◽  
Matshobana Ncube

November 2017 saw the Zimbabwean Defence Forces executing a military coup against Mr Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's long-serving President. The military sought to justify the coup on the basis that there were divisions in the party in government - ZANU-PF - and that it was stepping in to protect what it called the gains of the liberation struggle. The military demanded, among other things, the reinstatement of those ZANU-PF party members who had been removed from their government and party positions. By brazenly involving itself in politics, let alone aligning itself with a political party, the military violated a number of constitutional provisions that prohibit the involvement of the security services in politics. Several individual freedoms and liberties, including the right to liberty, freedom of expression, freedom of movement and the right to security and freedom from torture, were violated during the coup. There are also allegations that there was loss of life directly linked to the coup. In effecting the coup, the military immobilised the police service and arrogated to itself the role of civilian policing, including the setting up of roadblocks on major roads and arresting and detaining those it identified as 'criminal elements'. The Zimbabwean Defence Forces have a long history of serious human rights violations, including politically-related torture and murder. They also stand accused of chronic involvement in politics, including the unleashing of violence during elections on behalf of ZANU-PF. Therefore, there is no hope that human rights protection and promotion will be on the agenda of the post-coup government - itself consisting of the main coup leaders and most of the ministers that served in the repressive Mugabe government. There is a need to establish mechanisms to ensure that those responsible for the coup and its attendant human rights violations and crimes are brought to account.


Author(s):  
Gisela Hirschmann

How can international organizations (IOs) like the United Nations (UN) and their implementing partners be held accountable if their actions and policies violate fundamental human rights? Political scientists and legal scholars have shed a much-needed light on the limits of traditional accountability when it comes to complex global governance. However, conventional studies on IO accountability fail to systematically analyze a related, puzzling empirical trend: human rights violations that occur in the context of global governance do not go unnoticed altogether; they are investigated and sanctioned by independent third parties. This book puts forward the concept of pluralist accountability, whereby third parties hold IOs and their implementing partners accountable for human rights violations. We can expect pluralist accountability to evolve if a competitive environment stimulates third parties to enact accountability and if the implementing actors are vulnerable to human rights demands. Based on a comprehensive study of UN-mandated operations in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Kosovo, the European Union Troika’s austerity policy, and global public–private health partnerships in India, this book demonstrates how competition and human rights vulnerability shape the evolution of pluralist accountability in response to diverse human rights violations, such as human trafficking, the violation of the rights of detainees, economic rights, and the right to consent in clinical trials. While highlighting the importance of studying alternative accountability mechanisms, this book also argues that pluralist accountability should not be regarded as a panacea for IOs’ legitimacy problems, as it is often less legalized and might cause multiple accountability disorder.


Childhood ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 090756822110286
Author(s):  
Soledad Gesteira ◽  
Irene Salvo Agoglia ◽  
Carla Villalta ◽  
Karen Alfaro Monsalve

In this article we examine the process of construction and transformation of the meanings surrounding the serious violations of the Right to Identity in Argentina and Chile, which encompass from child appropriations during dictatorships to so called “irregular adoptions.” We inquire about how activists have built their public claims of justice and reparation. We discuss the singularities and differences of these processes in both countries and the current challenges, particularly in the construction of those affected as victims of human rights violations.


Histories ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-84
Author(s):  
Tiasa Basu Roy

It was from the middle of the eighteenth century that discussions regarding the strategies taken up by the Protestant missionaries to propagate the Gospel generated the issue of healthcare and medical facilities among people in India. Medical mission, which hitherto was not considered, started to gain importance and reaped positive results in terms of curing individuals and its trustworthiness among tribes residing in the frontier regions. However, this developed a separatist religious identity among the population, which apparently did not appear lethal, but later culminated in the fragmentation and impeachment of solidarity among the adivais (tribal) and vengeance from the Hindu population. This article will show how the Canadian Baptist Mission, with its primary aim of spreading the Kingdom of God among the tribal Savaras in the Ganjam district of Orissa, undertook measures for serving health issues and provided medical facilities to both the caste Oriyas and the tribal Savaras. Although medical activities oriented towards philanthropy and physical well-being, medical mission was not limited to healing illness and caring for all, but also extended to spreading the word of God and influencing the people to embrace Christianity as well, which invited political troubles into the region.


Author(s):  
Blerina Kellezi ◽  
Aurora Guxholli ◽  
Clifford Stevenson ◽  
Juliet Ruth Helen Wakefield ◽  
Mhairi Bowe ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hou Yuxin

Abstract The Wukan Incident attracted extensive attention both in China and around the world, and has been interpreted from many different perspectives. In both the media and academia, the focus has very much been on the temporal level of the Incident. The political and legal dimensions, as well as the implications of the Incident in terms of human rights have all been pored over. However, what all of these discussions have overlooked is the role played by religious force during the Incident. The village of Wukan has a history of over four hundred years, and is deeply influenced by the religious beliefs of its people. Within both the system of religious beliefs and in everyday life in the village, the divine immortal Zhenxiu Xianweng and the religious rite of casting shengbei have a powerful influence. In times of peace, Xianweng and casting shengbei work to bestow good fortune, wealth and longevity on both the village itself, and the individuals who live there. During the Wukan Incident, they had a harmonizing influence, and helped to unify and protect the people. Looking at the specific roles played by religion throughout the Wukan Incident will not only enable us to develop a more meaningful understanding of the cultural nature and the complexity of the Incident itself, it will also enrich our understanding, on a divine level, of innovations in social management.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 371
Author(s):  
Dewi Sukmaningsih

Indonesia is a country of law, and one of the characteristics of a state of law is the guarantee and protection of human rights, one of which is the right to obtain information, including the legal information that is information about the legislation both national and local. The principle of fiction (fictie) law states that any person considered to determine the existence of a legislation after its enactment, the ignorance of the people on the legislation, can not be excused. To that end, legislation information should be easily accessible. Issuance of Presidential Decree No. 33 of 2012 on Information and Documentation Network of National Law (JDIHN) isin order to fulfill the right to obtain legal information, especially information legislation. Management of Legal Documentation and Information Network by utilizing information and communication technology (ICT) makes legal information can be accessed quickly, easily, complete and accurate, thereby supporting the fulfillment of human rights, namely the right to obtain legal information properly.Keywords: Documentation and Legal Information Network, Efforts, Fulfillment, Human Rights


Obiter ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Abrahams ◽  
Tayla Dye

This article follows a previous article published in Obiter Vol 2 of 2016. In that article the concept of jus cogens and its role in the international community, together with the nature of the right to religion, were discussed. In Part Two, the seriousness of such human rights violations needs to be appreciated by the international community at large. To this end, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will serve as a case study, examining the extent of the DPRK’s compliance of its obligations vis-à-vis the right to religion. This should ultimately lead to an understanding as to why the right to religion emerging as a jus cogens norm will not solve the problem of enforcement, and even if it could, due to the uncertainty surrounding the formation of jus cogens it is unlikely that other human rights will be added to the list in the near future.


2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (05) ◽  
pp. 145-148
Author(s):  
Ниджат Рафаэль оглу Джафаров ◽  

It can be accepted that the classification of human rights, its division, types, and groups, is of particular importance. The syllogism for human rights can be taken as follows: law belongs to man; human beings are the highest beings on earth like living beings. Therefore, the regulation prevails. The right to freedom is conditional. Man is free. Consequently, human rights are dependent. Morality is the limit of the law. Morality is the limit and content of human actions. Therefore, the law is the limit of human activities. Morality is related to law. Law is the norm of human behavior. Thereby, human behavior and direction are related to morality. The people create the state. The state has the right. Therefore, the right of the state is the right of the people. The state is an institution made up of citizens. Citizens have the privilege. Such blessings as Dignity, honor, conscience, zeal, honor, etc., and values are a part of morality and spiritual life. Morality is united with law. Therefore, moral values are part of the law. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought and conscience. Space is about the law. Therefore, everyone has the right to opinion and conscience. Key words: human rights, freedom of conscience, conceptuality, citizenship


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