Human rights and citizenship-based claims for access to healthcare – evidence from policy makers, NGO, and healthcare workers across Europe

Involuntary isolation of people with tuberculosis is rarely medically required, ethically permitted or justified on the ground of human rights law. The rare circumstances that do call for involuntary isolation must only occur once a number of conditions are met. These include just procedural protections and ensuring that all other options have been exhausted before resorting to involuntary isolation. This article is intended to outline for healthcare workers, policy makers and advocates the ethical reasoning behind isolation and involuntary isolation, as well as describing the requisite human rights laws that impinge on the topic. Finally, we present a list of conditions that must be met to justify involuntary isolation on the grounds of both ethics and human rights.

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Addressing Future Epidemics: Historical Human Rights Lessons from the AIDS Pandemic

Pathogens and Immunity ◽

10.20411/pai.v1i1.60 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 1 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ambar Mehta ◽

Thomas C. Quinn

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Human Rights ◽

High Risk ◽

Federal Government ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

The United States ◽

Medical Community ◽

Policy Makers ◽

The Public ◽

Aids Pandemic

Introduction: The Ebola epidemic in West Africa sparked many ethical and polarizing public health questions on how to adequately control transmission of the virus. These deliberations had and will continue to influence patients, healthcare workers, public perceptions of disease, and governmental responses. Such extensive and potential ramifications warranted an analysis of prior epidemics to sufficiently inform policy makers and prepare them and other authorities for future epidemics. We analyzed how the general public, medical institutions, federal government, and patients themselves responded during the early stages of the AIDS pandemic in two different countries and cultures, the United States and India.Discussion: Our analysis identified four key findings pertaining to the human rights of patients and healthcare workers and to the crucial roles of the government and medical community. The first demands that authoritative officials acknowledge the presence of high-risk behaviors and properly educate the public without stigmatizing groups of individuals. For this task, the medical community and federal government must form and display to the public a respectful and collaborative partnership towards battling the epidemic. These two synergistic endeavors will then allow appropriate officials to implement effective, yet civil, interventions for limiting transmission. Finally, the same officials must ensure that their interventions maintain the human rights of high-risk populations and of healthcare workers.Conclusions: Applying these findings to future epidemics of infectious diseases can aid policy makers in navigating complicated ethical and public health questions, and help prevent them from repeating past mistakes in handling epidemics.

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Enabling Virtual Knowledge Networks for Human Rights Monitoring for People with Disabilities

International Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking ◽

10.4018/jvcsn.2012040101 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 1-17 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Christo El Morr ◽

Mihaela Dinca-Panaitescu ◽

Marcia Rioux ◽

Julien Subercaze ◽

Pierre Maret ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

People With Disabilities ◽

Knowledge Networks ◽

Knowledge Network ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Disability Rights ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Building Capacity ◽

Community People ◽

Operational Tool

Holistic disability rights monitoring is an imperative approach to permit translation of rights on paper into rights in reality for people with disabilities. However, evidence-based knowledge produced through such a holistic monitoring approach has to be accessible to a broad range of stakeholders, e.g., groups such as: researchers, representatives of disability community, people with disabilities, media, policy makers, and the general public. Besides, the collected evidence should contribute to building capacity within disability community around human rights questions. This article explains the design process of a Virtual Knowledge Network (VKN) as an operational tool to support mobilization and dissemination of evidence-based knowledge produced by the Disability Rights Promotion International Canada (DRPI-Canada) project. This VKN is embedded in the more general framework of DRPI, grounded in a human rights approach to disability that acknowledges the importance of creating knowledgeable communities in order to make the disability rights monitoring efforts sustainable.

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The Role of Human Rights in Long-Term Sentencing

Security and Human Rights ◽

10.1163/18750230-02602010 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 26 (2-4) ◽

pp. 281-293

Author(s):

Marieke Liem ◽

Jan Maarten Elbers

Keyword(s):

Risk Management ◽

Human Rights ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Shed Light

In recent decades, the number of long-term detainees held worldwide has increased significantly. Academics and policy makers have begun to challenge the widespread use and effectiveness of such severe sentences, however. This article aims to shed light on the role of human rights in imposing and executing long-term custodial sentences. There appears to be tension between ensuring that human rights are respected and provision of security through the incapacitation of offenders. This tension can only be understood properly in the context of contemporary risk-management associated with increased punitiveness.

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“Haitian Paradox” or Dark Side of the Security-Development Nexus? Canada’s Role in the Securitization of Haiti, 2004–2009

Alternatives Global Local Political ◽

10.1177/0304375411431760 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 273-287 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Kevin Walby ◽

Jeffrey Monaghan

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

International Development ◽

Development Aid ◽

Dark Side ◽

Police Reform ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Royal Canadian Mounted Police ◽

International Development Aid ◽

Government Records ◽

National Police

Drawing on analysis of government records obtained using Access to Information Act requests, the author examines the securitization of Canada’s aid program to Haiti between 2004 and 2009. The author discusses how Canadian agencies, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), and the Canadian International Development Agency, were involved in capacity-building initiatives that focused on police reform, border surveillance, and prison construction/refurbishment across Haiti in the aftermath of a coup that ousted the democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The author demonstrates how these efforts at securitization resulted in what officials referred to as the “Haitian Paradox,” whereby reorganization of the Haitian National Police force led to higher arrest rates and jail bloat, creating conditions that violated rather than ameliorated human rights. While the securitization project may have been based on the rule of law and human rights in Canadian policy makers’ official discourse, in practice these securitization efforts exacerbated jail overcrowding, distrust of police, and persecution of political opposition. The author therefore demonstrates one way that international development, aid, and criminal justice intersect, with emphasis on the transnational aspects of RCMP and CSC activities.

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Human Rights and Wrongs in Iran's Drug Diplomacy with Europe

The Middle East Journal ◽

10.3751/71.3.14 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 71 (3) ◽

pp. 403-432 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Janne Bjerre Christensen

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

United Nations ◽

Death Penalty ◽

Drug Trafficking ◽

Drug Control ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Human Rights Organizations ◽

History Of ◽

Drugs And Crime

Europe has a strong interest in and a history of assisting Iran in controlling inflows of drugs from Afghanistan. But due to Iran's increasing use of the death penalty in drug trafficking cases, Europe has terminated its cooperation. Based on interviews with Iranian policy-makers and representatives of both human rights organizations and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), this article presents Denmark's withdrawal of drug control funding in 2013 as a case study, analyzing the dilemmas and trajectories of joint Iranian-European drug diplomacy and the prospects for reengagement following the nuclear agreement.

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Shooting the Moon: Should states require the H1N1 vaccine for healthcare workers?

Journal of Emergency Management ◽

10.5055/jem.2009.0035 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 7 (6) ◽

pp. 11

Author(s):

Paris Nourmohammadi, JD ◽

Brigid Ryan, JD

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

New York State ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

World Health ◽

Health Departments ◽

State Health ◽

H1n1 Vaccine ◽

Policy Makers ◽

York State

On June 11, 2009, the director of the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the phase of alert in the Global Influenza Plan from level five to level six. The cause for this was the H1N1 virus which had already affected several countries. A level five alert is declared when more than one country in a single WHO geographic region is affected by the same virus. A level six declaration means that community outbreaks are occurring in at least two WHO geographic regions. Once such a declaration is made, little time remains before mitigation efforts must be planned and communicated to the public. In the wake of the WHO declaration, policy makers are clamoring for adequate disease mitigation strategies. Some health departments intend to require employees to wear personal protective equipment while on the job. Other state health departments are encouraging employees to stay home sick if they think they might have the flu. The New York State Health Department has issued an order requiring all healthcare workers to be vaccinated for H1N1 or risk being terminated. This article will explore the New York State policy and make recommendations to policy makers about how to prevent the spread of H1N1.

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State of Violence

French Historical Studies ◽

10.1215/00161071-4254607 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 41 (1) ◽

pp. 33-61 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Yan Slobodkin

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

West Africa ◽

Interwar Period ◽

Cote D'ivoire ◽

Ivory Coast ◽

Policy Makers ◽

French West Africa ◽

Administrative Practice ◽

Colonial Policy ◽

History Of

AbstractThis article highlights a moment in the history of French West Africa when violence was both ubiquitous and forbidden. During the interwar period, French reformers pushed for the elimination of the routine use of violence by colonial administrators. The intervention of activist journalists and human rights groups put pressure on colonial policy makers to finally bring administrative practice in line with imperial rhetoric. Local administrators, however, felt that such meddling interfered with their ability to govern effectively. A case of torture and murder by French functionaries in the Ivory Coast village of Oguiédoumé shows how struggles over antiviolence reform played out from the ground up.Cet article souligne un moment dans l'histoire de l'Afrique-Occidentale Française où la violence a été à la fois omniprésente et interdite. Pendant l'entre-deux-guerres, des réformistes français ont lutté pour éliminer la violence quotidienne commise par les administrateurs coloniaux. L'intervention des journalistes militants et des organisations des droits de l'homme a poussé l'Etat colonial à réaliser les promesses de la mission civilisatrice. Par contre, les administrateurs locaux sentaient que ce discours contre la violence limitait leur capacité de gouverner avec efficacité. Une affaire de torture et de meurtre commis en 1933 par des fonctionnaires français dans le village d'Oguiédoumé en Côte-d'Ivoire montre comment la lutte contre la violence a influencé la situation coloniale sur place.

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Ancestors, Computers, and Other Mixed Messages: Ambiguity and Euthanasia in Japan

Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics ◽

10.1017/s0963180101001086 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 62-71 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

SUSAN ORPETT LONG

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Assisted Suicide ◽

The United States ◽

Cultural Norms ◽

Ordinary People ◽

Physician Assisted Suicide ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Societal Level ◽

Mixed Messages

Ethical questions about end-of-life treatment present themselves at two levels. In clinical situations, patients, families, and healthcare workers sift through ambivalent feelings and conflicting values as they try to resolve questions in particular circumstances. In a very different way, at the societal level, policy makers, lawyers, and bioethicists attempt to determine the best policies and laws to regulate practices about which there are a variety of deeply held beliefs. In the United States we have tried a number of ways to resolve the societal-level issues. We have ignored them, argued to try to convince others of our beliefs, voted to let the majority determine what is right or wrong, and turned to the courts to decide, as in the cases of Karen Ann Quinlan, Nancy Cruzan, and Jack Kervorkian. Yet none of these approaches has yet left us with comfortable, unambiguous cultural norms about issues such as euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, which are readily assumed by “ordinary people” as they face individual and interpersonal dilemmas.

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