scholarly journals Menstruation and Human Rights: Can We Move Beyond Instrumentalization, Tokenism, and Reductionism?

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 244-51
Author(s):  
Inga T. Winkler
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
The Right ◽  
Rights Issue

With the current momentum around menstruation, it is increasingly framed as a human rights issue. We see such language in UN documents and many organizations adopt the framing of human rights. Scholars have argued that “framing the issue as being about the right to safe, healthy and dignified menstruation moves it from being a negative problem to be solved” to “an affirmative principle through which the facts of women and girls’ lives are acknowledged and validated.” This paper seeks to briefly unpack what it means to approach menstruation through the lens of human rights. First, I will discuss the predominant way in which human rights framing is presently used and how it is at risk of instrumentalization, tokenism, and reductionism. However, I will also provide a more optimistic view and discuss what the human rights framework has to offer, building on grassroots perspectives as well as normative arguments.

Ensuring Reproductive Rights of Women in Nepal: Law and Praxis

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-62
Author(s):  
D. N. Parajuli
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Reproductive Rights ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Reproductive Health Services ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
The Right ◽  
Health Rights

 Reproductive rights are fundamental rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world, but have a commonality about the protection, preservation and promotion of a woman‘s reproductive health rights. Reproductive rights include the right to autonomy and self-determination , the right of everyone to make free and informed decisions and have full control over their body, sexuality, health, relationships, and if, when and with whom to partner, marry and have children , without any form of discrimination, stigma, coercion or violence. The access and availability of reproductive health services are limited due to geography and other issues, non-availability and refusal of reproductive health services may lead to serious consequences. The State need to ensure accessibility, availability, safe and quality reproductive health services and address the lifecycle needs of women and girls and provide access of every young women and girls to comprehensive sexuality education based on their evolving capacity as their human rights, through its inclusion and proper implementation in school curriculum, community-based awareness program and youth led mass media. It is necessary for strengthening compliance, in a time-bound manner, with international human rights standards that Nepal has ratified that protect, promote, and fulfill the basic human rights and reproductive health rights in Nepal and also need to review standards and conventions that Nepal has had reservations about or those that have been poorly implemented in the country.

scholarly journals Medicine, torture, the death penalty and the democratic state: from collaboration to emancipation

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-28
Author(s):  
Dirceu Greco ◽  
James Welsh
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Populations At Risk ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Practice Of Medicine ◽  
Limited Power ◽  
The Right

Abstract Abuses of medicine have taken place over past decades in the context of torture and the death penalty. Serious and totally unacceptable breaches of medical ethics and human rights have occurred in institutions caring for vulnerable people. And yet there is still a need to make visible the whole spectrum of violence and breaches of human rights and to challenge them. This paper discusses a wide range of abuses in which medical professionals may take part whether as witnesses, bystanders or participants. It also addresses changes that are needed to benefit citizens at risk of abuse and to strengthen the ethical practice of medicine. The frequently-used term “empowerment” as applied to populations at risk signals a step in the right direction but usually involves the top-down giving of limited power to people. What oppressed people need is to claim their human rights – to emancipate themselves.

Laurie Salitan: Human Rights and the Republics

1990 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-20
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The People ◽  
The Right ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
Rights Issue

The human rights situation has continued to improve as glasnost matures and as Gorbachev's plan to establish a law-based society unfolds. The loosening of restraints, which has been linked to the process of democratization, has had a dramatic impact on human rights. At the same time, the nature of the human rights issue in the Soviet Union has shifted from what it was even last year. Large-scale demonstrations are now mundane events, as is the right to speak one's thoughts freely or to go to church. What has changed is that the process of enforcing or guaranteeing rights is now being generated from below, whereas in the beginning this process started from above. The reform process now has a life of its own among the people, who are demanding all sorts of things.

scholarly journals Two-Lane Blacktop: Refugees & Torture

2017 ◽  
pp. 49-66
Author(s):  
Jesús García Cívico
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Universal Declaration ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Immigration Policies ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
Degrading Treatment ◽  
The Right ◽  
Perverse Effect

The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and the right of asylum have, individually considered, an extensive field of application", but it is possible to point out some traits in common. Firsty, in both rights undelie the moral spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. At the same time, according to the recent reports of the main human rights organisations, both rights are in deep political crisis. Furthermore, is possible to see that sometimes they cross each other: there is a triple «zone of intersection between the right of asylum and the right not to suffer torture, inhuman or degrading treatment: one of the reasons for escaping from a country is to avoid suffering torture ("refuge after torture")  secondly, sometimes inhuman and degrading treatment occur precisely in the process of seeking asylum ("inhuman treatment in the refuge"), finally, there are countries with strong deficiencies in their immigration policies and this can produce a perverse effect: the transfer of potential asylum seekers to countries where they are at risk of torture or inhuman treatment again ("torture or inhuman and degrading treatment after asylum").

Legal capacity for people with dementia: a human rights approach

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eilionóir Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Legal Capacity ◽  
Strong Base ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
The World ◽  
The Right ◽  
Rights Issue

This chapter explores the right to legal capacity for people with dementia. The analysis focuses on General Comment 1 of the UN Committee on the rights of persons with disabilities. The chapter also provides some examples of law reform around the world on the issue of legal capacity and considers how these reforms may impact on people with dementia. Finally the chapter considers how the right to legal capacity may be framed in any new UN Convention on the rights of older persons. The chapter argues that legal capacity is a critical human rights issue in the context of dementia and that Article 12 (CRPD) and the general comment 1 provide a strong base for respecting the autonomy and self determination of people with dementia

Taxation as a Human Rights Issue

2019 ◽  
pp. 81-98
Author(s):  
Sandra Fredman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Value Added Tax ◽  
Substantive Equality ◽  
Indirect Taxes ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Right ◽  
Rights Issue

This chapter suggests a four-dimensional conception of substantive equality to evaluate the gendered impacts of taxation policies from a human rights perspective. The four-dimensional framework of substantive equality in relation to gender regards the right to equality as aiming to, first, redress disadvantage (the redistributive dimension); second, address stigma, stereotyping, prejudice, and hatred (the recognition dimension); third, facilitate participation and voice (the participative dimension); and, fourth, accommodate difference and transform gendered structures in society (the transformative dimension). This multidimensional conception of substantive equality functions as a valuable tool in evaluating taxation systems for their impact on gender. The chapter then looks at two particularly challenging aspects of taxation and gender: the role of care work, and the role of value-added tax (VAT) and other indirect taxes.

Human Rights Education

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Mihr
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Human Rights Education ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
The Right ◽  
Rights Issue

Human rights education (HRE) is a set of educational and pedagogical learning methods aimed at informing people and training them in their human rights. The earliest foundation of HRE is found under Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, which guarantees the right to education. HRE became a widespread concept in the 1990s with the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in 1994 on the UN Decade for Human Rights Education from 1995 to 2004. With this decade, all UN member states agreed to undertake measures to promote and incorporate HRE in the formal and non-formal education sectors. However, toward the end of the UN Decade it was clear that only a few governments had complied with these requests. Instead, most of the promotional work for HRE was done by non-governmental organizations (NGOs). NGOs, foundations, academic institutions, and international organizations have edited and published most of the literature in the field of HRE over the past four decades. Publication figures estimate over 2000 publications since 1965, and the number is growing, particularly in the non-English speaking world. Most materials focus on a particular human rights issue such as gender, children, torture, or freedom rights. In the future, HRE is expected to be more local and community based as well as more target group–orientated.

Conclusion

2019 ◽  
pp. 183-190
Author(s):  
Samy Cohen
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Major Change ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Peace Movements ◽  
Human Rights Organizations ◽  
Peace Activists ◽  
The Right ◽  
Peace Camp ◽  
Deep Fracture

One of the major consequences of the polarization within Israeli society is the deep fracture between the majority of Israelis and the various peace movements. The general public no longer has faith in its pacifists and appreciates human rights organizations even less. The peace camp is perceived as dangerous, ineffective, and at risk of corroding the Zionist narrative of the right to the land of Israel, which insists that there is only one victim in the conflict. Conversely, peace activists no longer expect support from their fellow citizens or their political leaders. Most now seek backing from abroad. This is a major change, which has nevertheless largely gone unnoticed.

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