scholarly journals Physiotherapy for the sequelae of physical torture: Uganda’s experience

1999 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Mayanja Fred
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Professional Staff ◽  
Psychiatric Nurses ◽  
Community Leaders ◽  
Clinical Psychologist ◽  
Rehabilitation Services ◽  
The Public ◽  
Nongovernmental Organisation ◽  
Torture Victims

The paper discusses the African Centre for treatment and rehabilitation of torture victims (ACTV) which was established in Uganda in 1993. The ACTV is a nongovernmental organisation offering treatment to the victims of torture. Professional staff at the centre include a physiotherapist, clinical psychologist, social worker, psychiatrist and psychiatric nurses. Specialised medical services outside of these areas that may be required, are provided by outside specialists.Torture commonly involves both physical and psychological abuse and is often administered by individuals on behalf of an institution or organisation with the aim of punishing or intimidating a victim or attempting to obtain information from a victim. Physical torture may involve beatings, kickings, tyings, suspensions in forced positions, hard labour and other such physical abuse.Apart from offering treatment and rehabilitation services the ACTV aims to raise awareness in the public arena concerning the plight of torture victims through workshops and seminars conducted in hospitals, schools and other institutions. Services are carried out both at the centre and in the community where satellite centres have been established. Referrals to the ACTV come from a wide variety of sources including, hospitals, human rights institutions, community leaders and self-referral.From July to December 1997 the physiotherapist working at the centre conducted a survey of clients referred to the ACTV. During this period 309 people were referred to the centre; 45% male and 55% female. (See table below)In this survey approximately 90% of the clients were referred for physiotherapy and 10% were referred to other specialists. It was reported that 97% of the victims showed improvement following treatment although the criteria for this are not discussed.An emphasis regarding the respectful and ethical handling of clients is emphasised throughout the paper. For example, not pursuing a particular line of questioning should the client not want to answer a particular question; avoiding the use of equipment that may remind the client of their torture (eg. ropes and certain electrotherapy apparatus) and listening carefully to the client’s regarding their treatment.

Private Water, Public Good

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeline Baer
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Human Right ◽  
The Public ◽  
Strong State ◽  
Neoliberal Reforms ◽  
Narrow Definition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
State Interventions

Chapter 4 provides an in-depth case study of water policy in Chile from the 1970s to present, including an evaluation of the outcomes of water policy under the privatized system from a human rights perspective. The chapter interrogates Chile’s reputation as a privatization success story, finding that although Chile meets the narrow definition of the human right to water and sanitation in terms of access, quality, and price, it fails to meet the broader definition that includes citizen participation in water management and policy decisions. The chapter argues that Chile’s relative success in delivering water services is attributable to strong state capacity to govern the water sector in the public interest by embedding neoliberal reforms in state interventions. The Chile case shows that privatization is not necessarily antithetical to human rights-consistent outcomes if there is a strong state role in the private sector.

scholarly journals Making equal rights to health an election issue in NZ local body elections

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
P Stone ◽  
D e b Leyland
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Health Inequity ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
The Public ◽  
Local Body

Abstract In New Zealand there are 20 district health boards (DHBs) with local elections every 3 years. There is low voter turnout for these, we suspect because the public has low cognizance of the role DHBs have in governing their health and disability system. Good governance ensures everyone whatever ethnicity, gender or sexual proclivity, from birth to old age, able or disabled, mentally well or unwell, drugfree or addicted, has equal rights of dignified access to healthcare. Without public engagement in DHB elections, the community risks having candidates elected that also don't understand their role through a preventative public health framework or human rights lens. The United Community Action Network (UCAN) developed a human rights framework and Health Charter for people driven into poverty by the costs of staying well in NZ. The framework outlines 6 social determinants of health needing protection through policy, to ensure all enjoy their rights to health. UCAN and the Public Health Association of New Zealand (PHA) partnered to raise public and the candidates' awareness during 2019 elections, of these social determinants causing inequity in health outcomes. A series of short explainer-videos were created for sharing through social media during the election build-up period, helping to promote PHA Branches' public Meet the Candidates events. Post-election, a longer film was produced to send to the elected DHB members. Our theory of change centred on spotlighting health inequity for voters, so that they would elect DHB members who had the greatest understanding and commitment to addressing this issue. With shareable videos we aimed to attract audience, raise awareness and debate the policy solutions to health inequity with candidates, enabling more informed choice amongst the voting public. Post-election, we maintain supportive relationships with the elected DHB members that promised their commitment to our Health Charter during their campaigns. Key messages Using videos and social media, local body elections provide an opportunity to promote everyone’s right to affordable healthcare, supporting and informing voter decision-making. UCAN's Health Charter is an advocacy resource for raising awareness of the social determinants of health inequity and poverty for people with mental illness, addiction and disability.

Disciplinary Uniformity in Uniform—A Success of the Human Rights Act 1998?

2008 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Gale
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
World War ◽  
The Public ◽  
The First World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
Military Discipline ◽  
First World

Apart from an awareness of shameful treatment to some shell-shocked soldiers on active duty in the First World War, the subjects of military discipline in general and courts-martial in particular are unlikely to permeate the consciousness of the public at large or, indeed, the vast majority of criminal lawyers. This article explores some of the history of both, the current position in relation to courts-martial and the planned reforms under the Armed Forces Act 2006. That the Human Rights Act 1998 exposed some of the anomalities and worst practices of courts-martial is undeniable. It seems equally likely that the 1998 Act was at least a catalyst for the wholesale review and modernisation of military discipline carried out by the 2006 Act.

Domestic politics and the power to punish: The case of national human rights institutions

2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 385-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan M. Welch
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Domestic Institutions ◽  
Electoral Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Legal Punishment ◽  
International Pressure ◽  
National Human ◽  
National Human Rights Institutions

Why do states give institutions the ability to legally punish them? While past research focuses on international pressure to delegate authority to third parties, I argue that domestic politics plays a key role. By viewing domestic politics through a principal–agent framework, I argue that the more accountable individual legislators remain to the public, the more likely it is that the legislature will delegate legal punishment authority. I focus on National Human Rights Institutions—domestic institutions tasked with protection and promotion of human rights—to build the argument. Electoral institutions that decrease monitoring of legislator agents, or institutional makeup that allows the executive to displace the public as the principal lead to National Human Rights Institutions without punishment power. Using Bayesian logistic analyses I test four hypotheses, all of which are in agreement with the argument.

New protests in Chile

1982 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 17-19
Author(s):  
Malcolm Coad
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Unemployment Rate ◽  
Foreign Debt ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
The Public ◽  
Economic Miracle ◽  
The World ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
National Trade ◽  
The Church

Chile's military regime in 1982 celebrated its ninth anniversary to the accompaniment of the most widespread and publicly expressed opposition since the coup of 11 September 1973. The collapse of its much-vaunted ‘economic miracle’ … most painfully demonstrated by devastated national industries, an unemployment rate of 25%, and a foreign debt estimated by some economists as the highest per capita in the world … has brought criticism from even the most ardent supporters of General Pinochet. As legal labour representatives became more vocal, leaders of the largest union federation, the National Trade Union Co-ordinating Body (CNS), were jailed, while in February the outspoken President of the Public Servants Union, Tucapel Jimenez, was found dead and mutilated by a roadside near Santiago. In the first six months of this year 837 people were charged with political offences, an increase of more than a third over the same period in 1981, while thousands more were detained on suspicion and reports of torture increased. Relations between the regime and the Church worsened, despite the latter's reining in of some of its human rights activity.

Muslim Reformists, Female Citizenship, and the Public Accommodation of Islam in Liberal Democracy

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Fadel
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
The Public ◽  
European Court ◽  
Margin Of Appreciation ◽  
Gender Hierarchy ◽  
Normative Justification

AbstractThe European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in a trilogy of cases involving Muslim claimants, has granted state parties to the European Convention on Human Rights a wide margin of appreciation with respect to the regulation of public manifestations of Islam. The ECHR has justified its decisions in these cases on the grounds that Islamic symbols, such as the ḥijāb, or Muslim commitments to the shari‘a — Islamic law — are inconsistent with the democratic order of Europe. This article raises the question of what kinds of commitments to gender equality and democratic decision-making are sufficient for a democratic order, and whether modernist Islamic teachings manifest a satisfactory normative commitment in this regard. It uses the arguments of two modern Muslim reformist scholars — Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī and ‘Abd al-Ḥalīm Abū Shuqqa — as evidence to argue that if the relevant degree of commitment to gender equality is understood from the perspective of political rather than comprehensive liberalism, doctrines such as those elaborated by these two religious scholars evidence sufficient commitment to the value of political equality between men and women. This makes less plausible the ECHR's arguments justifying a different treatment of Muslims on account of alleged Islamic commitments to gender hierarchy. It also argues that in light of Muslim modernist conceptions of the shari‘a, there is no normative justification to conclude that faithfulness to the shari‘a entails a categorical rejection of democracy as the ECHR suggested.

Human rights restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland and Russia. Legal and comparative aspects

2021 ◽  
Vol 2(24) ◽  
pp. 323-340
Author(s):  
Marta Pietras-Eichberger
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
European Union ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
Safety And Health ◽  
Research Problems ◽  
The Impact

The study analyzed selected issues related to the scope of human rights and freedoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland and Russia. The author wanted to compare the regulations issued by a Member State of the European Union and a country outside the European Union, often using undemocratic methods of exercising power. The work focuses on research problems related to the principles of protection, the confrontation of individual interests with the public interest, and the impact of the regimes introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic on human rights law in both countries. The thesis of the study is that in the event of a threat to public health, analogous restrictions on human rights are introduced both in an undemocratic country and in a country belonging to international structures identifying with democratic values. The state of the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed, and in some area even contributed to the creation of mechanisms reserved for crisis situations, posing a direct and real threat to public safety and health.

Kuntoutukseen osallistuminen ja eri osajärjestelmien ristikkäiskäyttö

Kuntoutus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 6-20
Author(s):  
Hanna Rinne ◽  
Jenni Blomgren
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Pension System ◽  
Rehabilitation Services ◽  
Occupational Health Care ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Insurance Institution ◽  
The Social ◽  
The City

Tieto kuntoutuksen kentän kokonaisuudesta ja erilaisten kuntoutuspalveluiden käytöstä samoilla ihmisillä on varsin hajanaista ja puutteellista. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää kuntoutukseen osallistumisen yleisyyttä ja päällekkäisyyttä eri osajärjestelmissä Oulun asukkailla vuonna 2018 laajalla rekisteriaineistolla (N = 192 844). Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan julkisen sosiaali- ja terveyspalvelujärjestelmän kuntoutusta, Kelan kuntoutusta, työeläkekuntoutusta, työterveyshuollon fysioterapiaa ja Kelan korvaamaa yksityistä fysioterapiaa. Vuonna 2018 oululaisista 18 prosenttia sai vähintään yhden tutkitun osajärjestelmän kuntoutusta (N = 34 061). Yleisintä oli julkisen sosiaali- ja terveyspalvelujärjestelmän kuntoutus, harvinaisinta työeläkekuntoutus. Naiset osallistuivat kuntoutukseen miehiä yleisemmin. Kuntoutukseen osallistuminen oli miehillä yleisintä 65 vuotta täyttäneillä, naisilla 45–64-vuotiailla. Harvinaisinta se oli 16–24-vuotiailla miehillä ja alle 16-vuotiailla naisilla. Suurin osa (90 %) kuntoutukseen osallistuneista oli osallistunut vain yhden osajärjestelmän kuntoutukseen. Useamman osajärjestelmän kuntoutukseen osallistuminen oli naisilla miehiä yleisempää. Ikäryhmistä se oli yleisintä 45–64-vuotiailla ja harvinaisinta alle 16-vuotiailla. Vähintään kahden osajärjestelmän kuntoutukseen osallistuneet olivat keskimäärin vanhempia kuin vain yhden osajärjestelmän kuntoutukseen osallistuneet ja myös naisten osuus oli heillä suurempi. Rekisteritietoja kuntoutuksesta on hankala koota kattavasti, sillä järjestelmä on hyvin hajanainen ja toimijoita ja rekisterinpitäjiä on lukuisia. Myös kuntoutuksen määrittely aineistoista osoittautui vaikeaksi. Yhtenäiset tietojärjestelmät kuntoutuksesta palvelisivat paitsi tutkijoita, myös kuntoutujia. Abstract Prevalence and overlap of participation in rehabilitation in different subsystems – a register-based study among residents of the city of Oulu, Finland, in 2018 Knowledge of the whole spectrum of rehabilitation and of the use of different rehabilitation services by the same individuals is quite fragmented and incomplete. The aim of this study is to examine the prevalence and overlap of participation in rehabilitation in different subsystems among residents of the city of Oulu, Finland, in 2018 using extensive register-based data (N=192,844). The study examines rehabilitation organized by the public social and health care system, by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, by the earnings-related pension system, as well as physiotherapy in occupational health care and private physiotherapy reimbursed by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland. In 2018, 18 per cent of the residents of Oulu received rehabilitation of at least one of the examined subsystems (N=34,061). Receiving rehabilitation of public social and health care was the most common; the rarest was rehabilitation within the earnings-related pension system. Women participated in rehabilitation more often than men. Using rehabilitation services was most common in men aged 65 and over, and in women aged 45–64. It was least common in men aged 16–24 years and in women under 16 years of age. The majority (90%) of those who participated in rehabilitation had participated in rehabilitation of only one subsystem. Participation in rehabilitation of several subsystems was more common in women than in men. It was most common in those aged 45–64 years and least common in those under 16 years of age. Those who received rehabilitation of at least two subsystems were, on average, older than those who received rehabilitation of only one subsystem, and more often women. It is difficult to compile comprehensive register data on rehabilitation, as the system is very fragmented and there are many organizers and registrars. Defining rehabilitation from the data also proved difficult. Unified information systems on rehabilitation would serve not only researchers but also rehabilitees. Keywords: rehabilitation, register-based research, Finland

Business and Human Rights – Recent Trends in Germany

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-72
Author(s):  
Marlen Vesper-Gräske
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
The Public ◽  
Legislative Action ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
Corporate Social

There is an undeniable, growing trend in the current Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) discussions: the responsibility of corporations to abide by and to protect human rights. This discussion includes potential criminal liability for corporations as well as their management for human rights violations. This article will survey the legal status quo of corporate responsibility in the context of human rights protection in Germany. It will then outline two drafts of legislation: a first draft leaked to the press in February 2019 that did not result in further legislative action, and a second draft recently leaked to the public that included key points for such a legislation to become the new German Human Rights Supply Chain Due Diligence Law.

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