WorldWideScience

Sample records for sustainable human rights-based

  1. Identifying a Human Right to Access Sustainable Energy Services in International Human Rights Law (SDG 7)? (LRN Law and Sustainability Conference)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hesselman, Marlies

    2017-01-01

    This paper assessed whether a right to sustainable energy services access can be found in international human rights law, possibly in support of achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 7. According to SDG 7.1, States are expected to strive for the implementation of "universal access to modern,

  2. The human right to sustainable development in solidarity with Nature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anya Teresa Parrilla Díaz

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This article addresses the issue of human development as a universal right subjected to the welfare of Nature. Nature is presented as supporter of life and supplier of the essential resources needed to achieve a complete human development. In light of the global ecological crisis, the author proposes sustainable development as the central framework for a new human development that can be fairer to Nature and to mankind. The challenge of sustainable human development consists in viewing Nature from an ethical perspective of human rights and solidarity.

  3. Tourism And Environment: Toward Promoting Sustainable Development Of Tourism: A Human Rights Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ni Ketut Supasti Dharmawan

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Tourism activities in era globalization bring positive and negative impacts especially for the host countries destination. To minimize the negative impacts it is very important to always promote the sustainable development of tourism including from a human rights perspective. This paper will discuss concerning who have responsibility to promote a human rights related with sustainable development of tourism. To explore the topic in this article, Author will study both international human rights instruments and environmental convention as well as the soft law regarding the tourism sector such as the UN WTO Global Code Of Ethics. The Law No. 10 Year 2009 concerning Indonesia Tourism Law is also part of legal material studied in this paper. There are national, international legal instruments of the human rights as well as UNWTO Global Codes of Ethics which can be utilized to promote sustainable tourism through human rights perspective. It is considered that all stakeholders have responsibility to promote sustainable development of tourism.

  4. Rights-Based Approach: The Hub of Sustainable Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choondassery, Yesudas

    2017-01-01

    A rights-based approach to the environmental issues has been gaining momentum since the United Nations' Environmental Agency proposed a new rights-based agenda for sustainable development in the document, "Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" (UN, 2015). Our moral responsibility toward the environment is…

  5. Human rights-based approach to unintentional injury prevention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacKay, J Morag; Ryan, Mark Andrew

    2018-06-01

    Unintentional injury remains an important global public health issue, and efforts to address it are often hampered by a lack of visibility, leadership, funding, infrastructure, capacity and evidence of effective solutions. The growing support for a socioecological model and a systems approach to prevention-along with the acknowledgement that injury prevention can be a byproduct of salutogenic design and activities-has increased opportunities to integrate unintentional injury prevention into other health promotion and disease prevention agendas. It has also helped to integrate it into the broader human development agenda through the Sustainable Development Goals. This growing support provides new opportunities to use a human rights-based approach to address the issue. The human rights-based approach is based on the idea that all members of society have social, economic and cultural rights and that governments are responsible and accountable for upholding those rights. It incorporates a systems approach, addresses inequity and places an emphasis on the most vulnerable corners of humanity. It also leverages legal statutes and provides organisations with the opportunity to build existing international goals and benchmarks into their monitoring efforts. This paper describes the approach and highlights how it can leverage attention and investment to address current challenges for unintentional injury. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  6. Social education, human rights and sustainability in community development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Antonio CARIDE GÓMEZ

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The article places its contributions in a reflection of a pedagogical and social nature about the links that are established between social education, human rights and sustainability in community development. In this regard, in a historical and prospective key, it places emphasis on the need to promote educational actions that, being consistent with the principles of equity and justice, make it possible to build a more democratic, inclusive and cohesive local-global society.A future expectation that must be confined to educational theories and practices where local communities assume the role they play in their own development processes, with an alternative vision to the ways of educating people and themselves on a daily basis, respectful of human and ecological rights. A line of action that coincides with the commitments made at the Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development, adopted by UNESCO, and Resolution A/70/1 adopted by the General Assembly in 2015, Transform our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, guaranteeing lifelong learning for all.In this objective beats a decisive, although not explicit, of a pedagogical-social vocation: to train citizens that, individually and collectively being aware of their role in socio-environmental changes, assume the responsibilities inherent to the values that sustain life in all its diversity. Social education and community development that, by projecting initiatives in different times and social spaces, allows formative opportunities to be expanded beyond the school system and its curricular practices. The Environmental Education and the Local Agenda 21 continue being two references main for the reflection-action educational and community.

  7. Incorporating Human Rights into the Sustainability Agenda: A Commentary on "Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights and Business Schools' Responsibility to Teach It"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrew, Jane

    2013-01-01

    In her commentary of McPhail's 2013 article "Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights and Business Schools' Responsibility to Teach It: Incorporating Human Rights into the Sustainability Agenda," Jane Andrew begins by highlighting a number of McPhail's primary arguments. She points out that McPhail sets out to achieve two things…

  8. Concept of environment, sustainable development and respect for human rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Urjana ÇURI

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The insistence on the definition of environmental protection is an aspiration which has served as prerequisites to the implementation of human rights in a global economic crises. European Regional System has traditionally been focused on the protection of civil and political rights. In the wake of environmental risks that imply the violation of human rights, the emphasis has been placed more on the social, economic and cultural. Collective mechanisms to appeal to the United Nations and the European Court of Human Rights, gave a number of decisions on matters implicating environmental laws and policies. What is to be noted, is the evolution of the guarantees provided under the European Convention on Human Rights, which refers to a substantial understanding of environmental protection, and also including procedural aspects related to the protection of the right to life, privacy, property, information and effective means of appeal. This evolution has been launched by the growing need for states to take preventive measures and policies to the requirements for a balanced sustainable economic development, avoiding environmental risks that imply the violation of human rights. Proportionality in the protection of the interests in this respect creates a context for a fair trial, but also promotes an open and constructive dialogue between judges and lawmakers to protect the public interest.

  9. A Human Rights Lens on Full Employment and Decent Work in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diane F. Frey

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available On September 25, 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs as the blueprint for a global partnership for peace, development, and human rights for the period 2016 to 2030. The 2030 agenda follows on the heels of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, adopted in 2001, which set the international development agenda for the period 2001 to 2015. This article uses a human rights lens to demonstrate that the MDGs and the SDGs have not addressed full employment and decent work in a manner that is consistent with the Decent Work Agenda of the International Labour Organization and international human rights legal obligations of the UN member countries. It concludes that the new 2030 development agenda sadly aligns with market-based economic growth strategies rather than the realization of the human rights to full employment and decent work for all.

  10. World Heritage Protection and the Human Right to Development: Reconciling Competing or Complimentary Narratives Using a Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Josephine Gillespie

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available In the pursuit of the protection of places worthy of World Heritage designation, controls are placed on human activities. Regulations are put in place to curb the extent to which these places of heritage significance might be compromised by inappropriate human uses. For the most part, this conservation exercise takes the form of a regulatory regime that, in reality, imposes localized restrictions on how people interact with the protected site. Such restrictions can come at considerable expense to pre-existing users, and arguably, in some instances, these restrictions may also act to simultaneously restrict “rights”. These rights arise by virtue of a raft of international and regional commitments to human rights that, in essence, aim to preserve human dignity for all. This paper explores the nexus between conservation and development through a “rights” paradigm. Arguably, it is untenable to sustain a situation in which heritage trumps user-rights without due regard for some of the rights articulated within the human rights narrative. Heritage protection must be seen as a question of balance wherein conservation, development and rights are reconciled. It is argued that the adoption of a human rights-based approach (HRBA to conservation may aid in the reconciliation of these goals.

  11. Intergenerational Efforts to Develop a Healthy Environment for Everyone: Sustainability as a Human Rights Issue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kruger, Tina M; Savage, Caroline E; Newsham, Patrick

    2014-12-01

    As climate change proceeds at an unprecedented rate, concern for the natural environment has increased. The world's population aging also continues to rise at an unprecedented rate, giving greater attention to the implications of an older population. The two trends are linked through the fact that changes to the environment affect older adults, and older adults affect the environment. Sustainability is, therefore, an intergenerational phenomenon, and protecting resources today leaves a positive legacy and enhances quality of life for future generations. Older adults have much to share with younger generations about behaviors that promote sustainable living, yet few sustainability efforts are intergenerational in nature. As large numbers of people currently subsist without secure access to basic needs, ensuring equitable resource consumption for all generations is urgent and aligns with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Through exploring linkages between aging and sustainability, we identify intergenerational strategies to protect the environment and promote human rights and quality of life for older adults. © The Author(s) 2015.

  12. Human rights literacy: Moving towards rights-based education and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Hennie

    Edu-HRight Research Unit, Faculty of Education Sciences, North-West University Potchefstroom Campus, ... Finally, recommendations are made regarding human rights and rights-based .... serve as guidelines for our actions and attitudes.

  13. Sustainable access to safe drinking water: fundamental human right in the international and national scene

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Celso Maran de Oliveira

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Access to potable water is absolutely essential to the maintenance of life, as well as to provide regular exercise of other human rights. The lack of access to water in sufficient quantity or access to non-potable water may cause serious and irreparable damage to people. This paper investigates the evolution of international and national recognition of this fundamental human right, whether implicit or explicit. This was accomplished by the study of international human rights treaties, bibliographic information on water resources and their corresponding legal systems, national and international. The results suggest that sustainable access to drinking water is a fundamental human right in the context of international relations and the State. Further, even without explicitly stating this right in the Constitution of 1988, Brazil has incorporated the main international provisions on the subject, but this right must be acknowledged according to the principles of non-typical fundamental rights and the dignity of the human person. This right should be universally guaranteed by the Government in sufficient quantity and quality, regardless of the economic resources of individuals.

  14. Human rights literacy: Moving towards rights-based education and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Our theoretical framework examines the continual process of moving towards an open and democratic society through the facilitation of human rights literacy, rights-based education and transformative action. We focus specifically on understandings of dignity, equality and freedom, as both rights (legal claims) and values ...

  15. Interpreting the International Right to Health in a Human Rights-Based Approach to Health

    OpenAIRE

    Hunt, Paul

    2016-01-01

    Abstract This article tracks the shifting place of the international right to health, and human rights-based approaches to health, in the scholarly literature and United Nations (UN). From 1993 to 1994, the focus began to move from the right to health toward human rights-based approaches to health, including human rights guidance adopted by UN agencies in relation to specific health issues. There is a compelling case for a human rights-based approach to health, but it runs the risk of playing...

  16. The right of all nations to access science, new technologies and sustainable development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majidi, Mohammad Reza; Dehshiri, Mohammad Reza

    2009-01-01

    This article explores the need for reflection on the right of developing countries to science and technology in addition to explaining the place of the scientific rights of nations in human rights as a whole. The discussion was conducted in relation to sustainable development. Through the examination of the current situation and the challenges to sustainable development, and taking into account the imbalance in the distribution of the benefits of science and new technologies, the authors advocate a comprehensive approach to promote cooperation and capacity-building in this area. They argue that linkages should be adopted between micro-levels and macro-levels of analysis by elevating rights and related issues from individuals to the national level in the field of the right to science and technology, and from the national to the international level in the field of sustainable development in order to institutionalise and ensure individual and national rights to science, technology and sustainable development. The authors also believe in a multidimensional perspective based on the balanced flourishing of the material and immaterial aspects of humankind in order to realise these rights in the context of dialogue and cultural diversity and to promote the culture of sustainable and dynamic peace based on justice in knowledge societies.

  17. New Humanism and Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Han d'Orville

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The call for a new humanism in the 21st century roots in the conviction that the moral, intellectual and political foundations of globalization and international cooperation have to be rethought. Whilst the historic humanism was set out to resolve tensions between tradition and modernity and to reconcile individual rights with newly emerging duties of citizenship, the new humanism approach goes beyond the level of the nation state in seeking to unite the process of globalization with its complex and sometimes contradictory manifestations. The new humanism therefore advocates the social inclusion of every human being at all levels of society and underlines the transformative power of education, sciences, culture and communications. Therefore, humanism today needs to be perceived as a collective effort that holds governments, civil society, the private sector and human individuals equally responsible to realize its values and to design creatively and implement a humanist approach to a sustainable society, based on economic, social and environmental development. New humanism describes the only way forward for a world that accounts for the diversity of identities and the heterogeneity of interests and which is based on inclusive, democratic, and, indeed, humanist values. Humanism did evolve into the grand movement of human spiritual and creative liberation, which enabled an unparalleled acceleration of prosperity and transformation of civilizations. In line with humanist ethics, the material growth was understood as a collective good, which was to serve all participants of a community and meant to enable the socio-economic progress of society. The exact definition of humanism has historically fluctuated in accordance with successive and diverse strands of intellectual thought. The underlying concept rests on the universal ideas of human emancipation, independence and social justice. Humanism can hence be understood as a moral inspiration for

  18. A decision model for the sustainable protection of human rights in Italian Prison System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonio Maturo

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The work starts from an analysis of the critical problems of the prison system in Italy. It aims to develop a decision-making model to address the issue of sustainable protection of human rights in prisons. It shows how, using the Saaty AHP procedure, it is possible to have an analytical reasoning guideline for the understanding of the validity of the various alternative choices, in order to facilitate the situation of the prisoners and their reintegration into society.

  19. Human Rights-Based Approaches to Mental Health: A Review of Programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Porsdam Mann, Sebastian; Bradley, Valerie J; Sahakian, Barbara J

    2016-06-01

    The incidence of human rights violations in mental health care across nations has been described as a "global emergency" and an "unresolved global crisis." The relationship between mental health and human rights is complex and bidirectional. Human rights violations can negatively impact mental health. Conversely, respecting human rights can improve mental health. This article reviews cases where an explicitly human rights-based approach was used in mental health care settings. Although the included studies did not exhibit a high level of methodological rigor, the qualitative information obtained was considered useful and informative for future studies. All studies reviewed suggest that human-rights based approaches can lead to clinical improvements at relatively low costs. Human rights-based approaches should be utilized for legal and moral reasons, since human rights are fundamental pillars of justice and civilization. The fact that such approaches can contribute to positive therapeutic outcomes and, potentially, cost savings, is additional reason for their implementation. However, the small sample size and lack of controlled, quantitative measures limit the strength of conclusions drawn from included studies. More objective, high quality research is needed to ascertain the true extent of benefits to service users and providers.

  20. Facing negative reactions to sexuality education through a Multicultural Human Rights framework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paiva, Vera; Silva, Valeria N

    2015-11-01

    Sexuality education, its protocols and planning are contingent on an ever-changing political environment that characterizes the field of sexuality in most countries. In Brazil, human rights perspectives shaped the country's response to the AIDS epidemic, and indirectly influenced the public acceptability of sexuality education in schools. Since 2011, however, as multiple fundamentalist movements emerged in the region, leading to recurrent waves of backlashes in all matters related to sexuality, both health and educational policies have begun to crawl backwards. This article explores human rights-based approaches to health, focusing on a multicultural rights-based framework and on productive approaches to broadening the dialogue about sustained consent to sexuality education. Multicultural human rights (MHR) approaches are dialogical in two domains: the communication process that guarantees consent and community agreements and the constructionist psychosocial-educational methodologies. In its continuous process of consent, the MHR approach allowed for distinct values translation and diffused the resistance to sexuality education in the participant schools/cities, successfully sustaining notions of equality and protection of the right to a comprehensive sexuality education that does not break group solidarity and guarantees acceptability of differences. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Business and Human Rights

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buhmann, Karin

    This article analyses the United Nations (UN) Guidelines on Business and Human Rights adopted in 2011 by the UN Human Rights Council from the perspective of Transnational Business Governance Interactions (TBGI) analytical framework (Eberlein et al. 2014). The article identifies and discusses...... that the UN Guiding Principles are unique in several respects of relevance to transnational business governance interaction and indicate the relevance of the TBGI approach to public regulatory transnational business governance initiatives. The analysis of the Guiding Principles as interactional transnational...... business governance suggests that this form of governance offers prospects for public institutions as a means towards regulating global sustainability concerns....

  2. "Rights-based approaches": any new thing under the sun?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gaay Fortman, B. de

    2000-01-01

    After infra-structure development, community development, integrated rural development, basic needs, structural adjustment, human development and sustainable development -not to speak of "sustainable human development"- a new "approach" is gaining ground: human rights. The Human Development Report

  3. Human rights literacy: Moving towards rights-based education and transformative action through understandings of dignity, equality and freedom

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne Becker

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The twentieth century has been characterised by the proliferation of human rights in the discursive practices of the United Nations (Baxi, 1997. In this article, we explore the continual process of rights-based education towards transformative action, and an open and democratic society, as dependent upon the facilitation of human rights literacy in teacher training. Our theoretical framework examines the continual process of moving towards an open and democratic society through the facilitation of human rights literacy, rights-based education and transformative action. We focus specifically on understandings of dignity, equality and freedom, as both rights (legal claims and values (moral action across horizontal and vertical applications, considering the internalisation and implementation of dignity, equality and freedom towards transformative action. Our analysis of data stemming from a project funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF entitled 'Human Rights Literacy: A quest for meaning', brought student-teachers' understandings into conversation with the proposed theoretical framework. In terms of understandings related to dignity, equality and freedom, participants seemingly understand human rights either as legal interests, or alternatively, as they pertain to values such as caring, ubuntu, respect, human dignity and equality. Legal understandings primarily focus on the vertical application of the Bill of Rights (RSA, 1996a and the role of government in this regard, whereas understandings related to the realisation of values tended to focus on the horizontal applications of particularly dignity and equality as the product of the relation between self and other. We conclude the article by linking the analysis and the theoretical framework to education as a humanising practice within human rights as a common language of humanity. In so doing, we argue that human rights literacy and rights-based education transcend knowledge about human

  4. Accommodating the Right to Development in Kosovo: A Human Rights Perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Remzije Istrefi

    2017-01-01

    The right to development is the right of individuals and peoples to an enabling environment for development that is equitable, sustainable, and participatory and in accordance with the full range of human rights and fundamental freedoms. A wide range of international law on development exists, and numerous Declarations and Programs of Action from the UN World Conferences have been proclaimed. Nevertheless, due to its nature and its legal status the right to development continues t...

  5. Human rights and the new sustainable mechanism of the Paris ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Looking back at the experience of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol, which bears great resemblance to the SDM, as well as to the human rights concerns raised during its implementation, the integration of human rights considerations into the SDM and its governing rules seems to be ...

  6. Human dignity according to international instruments on human rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Pablo Alzina de Aguilar

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available According to international instruments on human rights, the dignity of the human person is the foundation of human rights, and both human dignity and human rights are inherent to the human being, universal and inviolable. This understanding of human dignity is not a fruitless truism, but the solid foundation on which to build a world community under the rule of the new ius gentium: the International Law for Humankind. Moreover, it is the clue to answer many questions raised by the new world of globalization and of the exponential growth of international rules.Consequently, there is a need to a common doctrine on a notion of human dignity which will allow the implementation and adjudication of the aforementioned instruments, at the service of the human person and in conformity with the juridical conscience which they reflect. Philosophy of Law concepts which can be traced back to Aristotle provide that notion. According to these concepts, the demanding nature of “human dignity” sustains the notion of “legal personhood”, and both notions pertain to the realm of Law and Right, not of Morale and Values. Thus, human dignity and human rights are and must be, respectively, a basic principle and a necessary part of any Law system, including international law

  7. Towards an integrative post-2015 sustainable development goal framework: Focusing on global justice – peace, security and basic human rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George R. Lueddeke

    2015-12-01

    To strengthen the likelihood of realizing the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, particularly with regard to “planet and population” health and well-being , UN and other decision-makers are urged to consider the adoption of an integrated SDG framework that is based on (i a vision of global justice - underpinned by peace, security and basic human rights; (ii the development of interdependent and interconnected strategies for each of the eleven thematic indicators identified in the UN document The World We Want; and (iii the application of guiding principles to measure the impact of SDG strategies in terms of holism, equity, sustainability, ownership, and global obligation. While current discussions on the SDGs are making progress in a number of areas, the need for integration of these around a common global vision and purpose seems especially crucial to avoid MDG shortcomings.

  8. Assessing the universal health coverage target in the Sustainable Development Goals from a human rights perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chapman, Audrey R

    2016-12-15

    The UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in September 2015, include a comprehensive health goal, "to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being at all ages." The health goal (SDG 3) has nine substantive targets and four additional targets which are identified as a means of implementation. One of these commitments, to achieve universal health coverage (UHC), has been acknowledged as central to the achievement of all of the other health targets. As defined in the SDGs, UHC includes financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services, and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all. This article evaluates the extent to which the UHC target in the SDGs conforms with the requirements of the right to health enumerated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and other international human rights instruments and interpreted by international human rights bodies. It does so as a means to identify strengths and weaknesses in the framing of the UHC target that are likely to affect its implementation. While UHC as defined in the SDGs overlaps with human rights standards, there are important human rights omissions that will likely weaken the implementation and reduce the potential benefits of the UHC target. The most important of these is the failure to confer priority to providing access to health services to poor and disadvantaged communities in the process of expanding health coverage and in determining which health services to provide. Unless the furthest behind are given priority and strategies adopted to secure their participation in the development of national health plans, the SDGs, like the MDGs, are likely to leave the most disadvantaged and vulnerable communities behind.

  9. Global health governance in the sustainable development goals: Is it grounded in the right to health?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van de Pas, Remco; Hill, Peter S; Hammonds, Rachel; Ooms, Gorik; Forman, Lisa; Waris, Attiya; Brolan, Claire E; McKee, Martin; Sridhar, Devi

    2017-01-01

    This paper explores the extent to which global health governance - in the context of the early implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals is grounded in the right to health. The essential components of the right to health in relation to global health are unpacked. Four essential functions of the global health system are assessed from a normative, rights-based, analysis on how each of these governance functions should operate. These essential functions are: the production of global public goods, the management of externalities across countries, the mobilization of global solidarity, and stewardship. The paper maps the current reality of global health governance now that the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals are beginning to be implemented. In theory, the existing human rights legislation would enable the principles and basis for the global governance of health beyond the premise of the state. In practice, there is a governance gap between the human rights framework and practices in global health and development policies. This gap can be explained by the political determinants of health that shape the governance of these global policies. Current representations of the right to health in the Sustainable Development Goals are insufficient and superficial, because they do not explicitly link commitments or right to health discourse to binding treaty obligations for duty-bearing nation states or entitlements by people. If global health policy is to meaningfully contribute to the realization of the right to health and to rights based global health governance then future iterations of global health policy must bridge this gap. This includes scholarship and policy debate on the structure, politics, and agency to overcome existing global health injustices.

  10. A human rights based approach to project induced displacement and resettlement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Ploeg, Lidewij; Vanclay, Frank

    2017-01-01

    AbstractRespecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights must become more prominent in both the processes and outcomes of resettlement. We have developed a Human Rights-Based Approach to Resettlement for use by project operators, rights holders and governments so that they can better understand

  11. A human rights based approach to project induced displacement and resettlement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Ploeg, Lidewij; Vanclay, Frank

    2017-01-01

    Respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights must become more prominent in both the processes and outcomes of resettlement. We have developed a Human Rights-Based Approach to Resettlement for use by project operators, rights holders and governments so that they can better understand what the

  12. Accommodating the Right to Development in Kosovo: A Human Rights Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Remzije Istrefi

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The right to development is the right of individuals and peoples to an enabling environment for development that is equitable, sustainable, and participatory and in accordance with the full range of human rights and fundamental freedoms. A wide range of international law on development exists, and numerous Declarations and Programs of Action from the UN World Conferences have been proclaimed. Nevertheless, due to its nature and its legal status the right to development continues to be one of the most contested rights in academic and political circles. The conflicting interpretation of the right to development and its contested legal status affects realization of development to which every human person is entitled by virtue of the right to development. But, if the right to development is read through the human rights “lenses”, it can result in an interpretation that can be most helpful for its realization in practice. The relevance of interpretation of the right to development as a human right becomes imperative in transitional society such as the one in Kosovo where the environment continues to encounter legal and structural obstacles to development. In light of this situation the present paper analyses the relationship between human rights and development, the relevance of development in post conflict society and its impact on overcoming the transition and securing a lasting peace.

  13. Bridging international law and rights-based litigation: mapping health-related rights through the development of the Global Health and Human Rights Database.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meier, Benjamin Mason; Cabrera, Oscar A; Ayala, Ana; Gostin, Lawrence O

    2012-06-15

    The O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, the World Health Organization, and the Lawyers Collective have come together to develop a searchable Global Health and Human Rights Database that maps the intersection of health and human rights in judgments, international and regional instruments, and national constitutions. Where states long remained unaccountable for violations of health-related human rights, litigation has arisen as a central mechanism in an expanding movement to create rights-based accountability. Facilitated by the incorporation of international human rights standards in national law, this judicial enforcement has supported the implementation of rights-based claims, giving meaning to states' longstanding obligations to realize the highest attainable standard of health. Yet despite these advancements, there has been insufficient awareness of the international and domestic legal instruments enshrining health-related rights and little understanding of the scope and content of litigation upholding these rights. As this accountability movement evolves, the Global Health and Human Rights Database seeks to chart this burgeoning landscape of international instruments, national constitutions, and judgments for health-related rights. Employing international legal research to document and catalogue these three interconnected aspects of human rights for the public's health, the Database's categorization by human rights, health topics, and regional scope provides a comprehensive means of understanding health and human rights law. Through these categorizations, the Global Health and Human Rights Database serves as a basis for analogous legal reasoning across states to serve as precedents for future cases, for comparative legal analysis of similar health claims in different country contexts, and for empirical research to clarify the impact of human rights judgments on public health outcomes. Copyright © 2012 Meier, Nygren

  14. The future of human rights impact assessments of trade agreements

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Walker, S.M.

    2009-01-01

    The Future of Human Rights Impact Assessments of Trade Agreements develops a methodology for human rights impact assessments of trade agreements and considers whether there is any value in using the methodology on a sustained basis to ensure that the human dimensions of international trade are taken

  15. Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights and Business Schools' Responsibility to Teach It: Incorporating Human Rights into the Sustainability Agenda

    Science.gov (United States)

    McPhail, Ken

    2013-01-01

    The Preamble to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UNDHR) calls on every organ of society to teach and educate for the promotion of the rights it contains. However, few if any business schools have any systematic or critical human rights content in their accounting and business curricula. This oversight is increasingly problematic as…

  16. Human Rights Discourse in the Sustainable Development Agenda Avoids Obligations and Entitlements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Carmel; Blaiklock, Alison

    2016-01-01

    Our commentary on Forman et al paper explores their thesis that right to health language can frame global health policy responses. We examined human rights discourse in the outcome documents from three 2015 United Nations (UN) summits and found rights-related terms are used in all three. However, a deeper examination of the discourse finds the documents do not convey the obligations and entitlements of human rights and international human rights law. The documents contain little that can be used to empower the participation of those already left behind and to hold States and the private sector to account for their human rights duties. This is especially worrying in a neoliberal era. PMID:27285518

  17. The Human Right to Access Electricity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tully, Stephen

    2006-04-15

    Electricity access is already well established within the framework of human rights, either as an implicit attribute of a pre-existing right (such as non-discrimination or sustainable development) or explicitly in the context of eliminating discrimination against women. There is also broad acknowledgement by states of the desirability of eliminating energy poverty - for all, but particularly for the rural poor, and women. (author)

  18. Assessing the Impact of a Human Rights-Based Approach across a Spectrum of Change for Women's, Children's, and Adolescents' Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Rebekah; Kuruvilla, Shyama; Hinton, Rachel; Jensen, Steven L B; Magar, Veronica; Bustreo, Flavia

    2015-12-10

    Global momentum around women's, children's, and adolescents' health, coupled with the ambitious and equalizing agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has exposed a tension between the need for comprehensive, multi-actor, rights-based approaches that seek to "close the gaps" and a growing economic and political imperative to demonstrate efficiency, effectiveness, and returns on specific investments. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a framework to measure "results" in a way that offers a more nuanced understanding of the impact of human rights-based approaches and their complexity, as well as their contextual, multi-sectoral, and evolving nature. We argue that the impact of human rights-based approaches is best measured across a spectrum of change-at the individual, programmatic, structural, and societal levels. Such an analysis would allow for more accurate assessments of the cumulative effect of these changes. The paper also underscores the long-overdue need to better define the parameters of a human rights-based approach to health. This is an important part of the research agenda on human rights and health in the context of the SDGs and the Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health, and amid calls for better measurement and greater accountability for resources, results, and rights at all levels. While this paper focuses on women's, children's, and adolescents' health, the proposed framework can apply as readily to other areas of health and provides a new frame of reference for assessing the impact of human rights-based approaches. Copyright © 2015 Thomas, Kuruvilla, Hinton, Jensen, Magar, Bustreo. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

  19. Tools and approaches to operationalize the commitment to equity, gender and human rights: towards leaving no one behind in the Sustainable Development Goals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zamora, Gerardo; Koller, Theadora Swift; Thomas, Rebekah; Manandhar, Mary; Lustigova, Eva; Diop, Adama; Magar, Veronica

    2018-01-01

    The objective of this article is to present specific resources developed by the World Health Organization on equity, gender and human rights in order to support Member States in operationalizing their commitment to leave no one behind in the health Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and other health-related goals and targets. The resources cover: (i) health inequality monitoring; (ii) barrier analysis using mixed methods; (iii) human rights monitoring; (iv) leaving no one behind in national and subnational health sector planning; and (v) equity, gender and human rights in national health programme reviews. Examples of the application of the tools in a range of country contexts are provided for each resource.

  20. Monitoring sanitation and hygiene in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: A review through the lens of human rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giné-Garriga, Ricard; Flores-Baquero, Óscar; Jiménez-Fdez de Palencia, Alejandro; Pérez-Foguet, Agustí

    2017-02-15

    International monitoring of drinking water and sanitation has been jointly carried out by WHO and UNICEF through their Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP). With the end of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) era in 2015, the JMP has proposed a post-2015 framework for integrated monitoring of water and sanitation targets included in the Sustainable Development Goal no. 6. This article discusses how each element of the proposed sanitation target and corresponding indicators can be understood from a human rights perspective. Building on the MDGs, and although some of the weaknesses and gaps persist, the discussion suggests that the post-2015 proposal is a step forward towards a monitoring framework where human rights elements related to sanitation are effectively promoted. In addition, to support the interpretation and implementation of the normative content of human rights obligations related to sanitation, the study proposes a reduced set of easy-to-assess indicators to measure the normative criteria of this right, which are then grouped in a multidimensional framework to describe increasing levels of sanitation service. To do this, the study combines literature review and specific local experience from three case studies. It is shown that the proposed monitoring tools, namely the indicators and the multidimensional indicator framework, provide guidance on monitoring the human right to sanitation. In doing so, they might ultimately help sector stakeholders in the realization of this right. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Human Rights Literacy: Moving towards Rights-Based Education and Transformative Action through Understandings of Dignity, Equality and Freedom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Becker, Anne; de Wet, Annamagriet; van Vollenhoven, Willie

    2015-01-01

    The twentieth century has been characterised by the proliferation of human rights in the discursive practices of the United Nations (Baxi, 1997). In this article, we explore the continual process of rights-based education towards transformative action, and an open and democratic society, as dependent upon the facilitation of human rights literacy…

  2. Education and language: A human right for sustainable development in Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babaci-Wilhite, Zehlia; Geo-JaJa, Macleans A.; Lou, Shizhou

    2012-10-01

    Pre-colonial Africa was neither an educationally nor a technologically unsophisticated continent. While education was an integral part of the culture, issues of language identification and standardisation which are subject to contentious debate today were insignificant. Children learned community knowledge and history by asking questions instead of being taught in a hegemonic alien language. This article argues that education and development should take place in a broader context of human rights, and explores the links between three areas often dealt with separately, namely: language, education and development. The authors of this paper demonstrate that changing the face of the multi-dimensionalities of poverty within societies is possible only when education is constructed in a rights perspective over the favoured colonial languages, which are not an integral part of the culture and resources of a community. The authors make a distinction between the right to education and rights in education, the latter of which are found to be more significant for the challenges Africa faces. It is argued here that the elements of Amartya Sen's "threshold" conditions for inclusion in human rights and self-development in education are essential, and that a more promising architecture of education would include what the authors term meta-narrative frameworks, i.e. interrelated policies. The authors contend that the neoliberal commodification of the knowledge sector has only exacerbated human rights and capabilities deprivation - which encompasses both human and income poverty.

  3. "Taking the human out of human rights" human rights or group rights?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bojanić Petar

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available What interest me are the reasons why “human” or “human rights” could be important or possibly most important in constituting a group (hence the introduction of the complicated word “group” and “group right(s” in the subtitle. If I had to justify the existence of the latest debates on nature, justification and universality of human rights, on their distinction from other normative standards, on the philosophy and (legal foundation of human rights, on “Human Rights without (or with Foundations” (Raz, Tasioulas, Besson, then I would immediately conclude that this “process of grandiose concretization” of a complete fabrication is far from over. Despite the innumerable pacts and international conventions established after World War II, the slew of obligations to which states have agreed in the last few decades, the establishment of rights to secession or humanitarian intervention it is as if the constitution of classification of basic human rights and their universality is far from over. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 43007

  4. Realizing Universal Health Coverage in East Africa: the relevance of human rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamin, Alicia Ely; Maleche, Allan

    2017-08-03

    Applying a robust human rights framework would change thinking and decision-making in efforts to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and advance efforts to promote women's, children's, and adolescents' health in East Africa, which is a priority under the Sustainable Development Agenda. Nevertheless, there is a gap between global rhetoric of human rights and ongoing health reform efforts. This debate article seeks to fill part of that gap by setting out principles of human rights-based approaches (HRBAs), and then applying those principles to questions that countries undertaking efforts toward UHC and promoting women's, children's and adolescents' health, will need to face, focusing in particular on ensuring enabling legal and policy frameworks, establishing fair financing; priority-setting processes, and meaningful oversight and accountability mechanisms. In a region where democratic institutions are notoriously weak, we argue that the explicit application of a meaningful human rights framework could enhance equity, participation and accountability, and in turn the democratic legitimacy of health reform initiatives being undertaken in the region.

  5. Right to Development and Right to the City : A Proposal of Human Rights Categories Universal as assumptions Citizenship

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alessandra Danielle Carneiro dos Santos Hilário

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available This article discusses the Right to the City, in a conceptual dimension and wide, and his dialectical relationship with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and its universalism and cultural relativism categories. The Right to the City (RtC is capitula- ted as one of the categories of the Human Right to Development from the compartments on Human Rights to descend from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Linked to this assumption, the discussion of universalism and cultural relativism theories bring to the fore important questions and considerations as to RtC condition, since in its current design and trampled by an evil legacy of neoliberalism, this right has demonstrated the need for authoritative action of the State, given the nature of fundamental human right of the third dimension. Through RtC, boasts up of economic, social and cultural rights, requiring a positive action of the state as compliance guarantee this human right. In this bias, relevant are discussions about the concept of law, morality, liberalism, effectiveness and universality of human rights theories and cultural relativism in dialectic with the RtC and its complexity. It starts from the assumption that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other statements which have descended universality (despite criticism, however, this har- vest, it is imperative closer examination of the concept, forecast, guarantee and effective- ness fundamental human rights, which may lead to a mixed application of universalistic and relativistic theories when analyzed from the perspective of these institutes. The Hu- man Right to Development (RtD presupposes notions of environmental sustainability and economic democracy, with qualified participation of social subjects (wide citizenship, seen continuous and articulated perspective as guiding the development process.

  6. Human Rights Discourse in the Sustainable Development Agenda Avoids Obligations and Entitlements Comment on "Rights Language in the Sustainable Development Agenda: Has Right to Health Discourse and Norms Shaped Health Goals?".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Carmel; Blaiklock, Alison

    2016-03-05

    Our commentary on Forman et al paper explores their thesis that right to health language can frame global health policy responses. We examined human rights discourse in the outcome documents from three 2015 United Nations (UN) summits and found rights-related terms are used in all three. However, a deeper examination of the discourse finds the documents do not convey the obligations and entitlements of human rights and international human rights law. The documents contain little that can be used to empower the participation of those already left behind and to hold States and the private sector to account for their human rights duties. This is especially worrying in a neoliberal era. © 2016 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

  7. A Human Rights-Based Approach to Poverty Reduction: The Role of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A Human Rights-Based Approach to Poverty Reduction: The Role of the Right of ... remain among the greatest challenges faced by today's developing countries. The World Health Organisation estimates that about one-third of the world's ...

  8. Identity and the Hegemony of Universal Human Rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tony Evans

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Human rights are commonly portrayed as a narrative that passes through several chapters before reaching its inevitable conclusion. This narrative begins with the horror of Nazism, moves to the centrality of human rights in the UN Charter, eulogizes the Universal Declaration, celebrates the achievements of standard setting as set out in the major covenants, offers detailed analysis of methods of monitoring and, finally, speculates on the future of compliance. This narrative is sustained, firstly, by ‘naturalist’ foundationalism and, secondly, by a widely held assumptions about the move towards ‘settled norms’ in the contemporary world order. Although some pessimism is voiced over continued reports of torture, genocide, structural economic deprivation, disappearances, ethnic cleansing, political prisoners, the suppression of trade union rights, gender inequality, religious persecution, and many other violations of internationally agreed human rights, most commentators and activists tacitly adopt an optimistic stance that envisages a future rights based international order. The still prevalent naturalist account of human rights, together with a narrative that boasts ‘settled norms’, suggests that the human rights regime represents a final ‘truth’ about the essential nature of all humankind; a common identity that describes the individual in an increasingly globalized world. This paper interrogates the ‘naturalist-settled norm’ account of human rights from the perspective of power and knowledge. It begins by distinguishing between the international human rights regime and the global discourse of human rights. The former adopts a legal approach, where the neutral, value-free, unbiased and impartial nature of the law is tacitly accepted. The latter refers to human rights as social, political and economic practice, and must therefore include an account of power. From this perspective, the discourse of human rights might be said to

  9. Rights-Based Approaches to Ensure Sustainable Nutrition Security.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banerjee, Sweta

    2016-01-01

    In India, a rights-based approach has been used to address large-scale malnutrition, including both micro- and macro-level nutrition deficiencies. Stunting, which is an intergenerational chronic consequence of malnutrition, is especially widespread in India (38% among children under 5 years old). To tackle this problem, the government of India has designed interventions for the first 1,000 days, a critical period of the life cycle, through a number of community-based programs to fulfill the rights to food and life. However, the entitlements providing these rights have not yet produced the necessary changes in the malnutrition status of people, especially women and children. The government of India has already implemented laws and drafted a constitution that covers the needs of its citizens, but corruption, bureaucracy, lack of awareness of rights and entitlements and social discrimination limit people's access to basic rights and services. To address this crisis, Welthungerhilfe India, working in remote villages of the most backward states in India, has shifted from a welfare-based approach to a rights-based approach. The Fight Hunger First Initiative, started by Welthungerhilfe in 2011, is designed on the premise that in the long term, poor people can only leave poverty behind if adequate welfare systems are in place and if basic rights are fulfilled; these rights include access to proper education, sufficient access to adequate food and income, suitable health services and equal rights. Only then can the next generation of disadvantaged populations look forward to a new and better future and can growth benefit the entire society. The project, co-funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, is a long-term multi-sectoral program that involves institution-building and empowerment. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  10. The dynamic influence of human resources on evidence-based intervention sustainability and population outcomes: an agent-based modeling approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKay, Virginia R; Hoffer, Lee D; Combs, Todd B; Margaret Dolcini, M

    2018-06-05

    Sustaining evidence-based interventions (EBIs) is an ongoing challenge for dissemination and implementation science in public health and social services. Characterizing the relationship among human resource capacity within an agency and subsequent population outcomes is an important step to improving our understanding of how EBIs are sustained. Although human resource capacity and population outcomes are theoretically related, examining them over time within real-world experiments is difficult. Simulation approaches, especially agent-based models, offer advantages that complement existing methods. We used an agent-based model to examine the relationships among human resources, EBI delivery, and population outcomes by simulating provision of an EBI through a hypothetical agency and its staff. We used data from existing studies examining a widely implemented HIV prevention intervention to inform simulation design, calibration, and validity. Once we developed a baseline model, we used the model as a simulated laboratory by systematically varying three human resource variables: the number of staff positions, the staff turnover rate, and timing in training. We tracked the subsequent influence on EBI delivery and the level of population risk over time to describe the overall and dynamic relationships among these variables. Higher overall levels of human resource capacity at an agency (more positions) led to more extensive EBI delivery over time and lowered population risk earlier in time. In simulations representing the typical human resource investments, substantial influences on population risk were visible after approximately 2 years and peaked around 4 years. Human resources, especially staff positions, have an important impact on EBI sustainability and ultimately population health. A minimum level of human resources based on the context (e.g., size of the initial population and characteristics of the EBI) is likely needed for an EBI to have a meaningful impact on

  11. Comment: The Normative Framework of the African Human Rights ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    political landscape of the continent. The protection of minorities is without doubt crucial to securing sustainable peace, economic development as well as protection and enforcement of human rights. Even though domestic mechanisms of ...

  12. Conservation and human rights: the need for international standards

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oviedo, Gonzalo [International Union for the Conservation of Nature (International organizations without location); Pabon, Luis [The Nature Conservancy (United States); Painter, Michael; Redford, Kent [The Wildlife Conservation Society (United States); Siegele, Linda [Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (United Kingdom); Springer, Jenny [WWF-US (United States); Thomas, David [Birdlife International (International organizations without location); Painemilla, Kristen Walker [Conservation International (United States); Roe, Dilys

    2010-05-15

    Conservation doesn't happen in a vacuum. In recent years, awareness has grown of the relationship of international conservation practice to indigenous peoples and local communities, and especially the links between conservation and human rights. The impacts protected areas can have on rural communities – such as evictions and lost access to natural resources – are now under particular scrutiny. Concern is meanwhile rising over the human rights implications of some climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. But awareness is also growing of the positive contributions of nature conservation to the rights of people to secure their livelihoods, enjoy healthy and productive environments, and live with dignity. International NGOs can play a central role in supporting and promoting conservation actions that respect the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, and help sustain their livelihoods. Many conservation organisations have long worked towards this. It is vital that they hold to consistent principles and implement measures that ensure their application, so their action on conservation remains accountable, transparent and sustainable.

  13. Health Rights and Realization Comment on "Rights Language in the Sustainable Development Agenda: Has Right to Health Discourse and Norms Shaped Health Goals?".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rushton, Simon

    2016-02-29

    In their hypothesis published in IJHPM, Lisa Forman and colleagues examined the prominence of the right to health and sexual and reproductive health rights (as well as related language) in four of the key reports that fed into the process of negotiating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Now that the SDGs have been formally adopted, this comment builds on some of the insights of Forman and colleagues to examine the extent to which those rights have been incorporated in SDGs 3 and 5. I argue that sexual and reproductive health rights are relatively well-covered within the SDGs. In terms of the right to health, however, the picture is much less clear. Some of the elements that make up that right are present and correct, but the SDGs have delivered no coherent vision of how a 'right to health' might actually be realized. An important task facing global health and human rights advocates is to continue pushing human rights framings so that progress is made both on meeting the SDGs and on realizing the right to health. © 2016 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

  14. Human Rights Discourse in the Sustainable Development Agenda Avoids Obligations and Entitlements Comment on “Rights Language in the Sustainable Development Agenda: Has Right to Health Discourse and Norms Shaped Health Goals?”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carmel Williams

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Our commentary on Forman et al paper explores their thesis that right to health language can frame global health policy responses. We examined human rights discourse in the outcome documents from three 2015 United Nations (UN summits and found rights-related terms are used in all three. However, a deeper examination of the discourse finds the documents do not convey the obligations and entitlements of human rights and international human rights law. The documents contain little that can be used to empower the participation of those already left behind and to hold States and the private sector to account for their human rights duties. This is especially worrying in a neoliberal era.

  15. Communication Capacity Research in the Majority World: Supporting the human right to communication specialist services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hopf, Suzanne C

    2018-02-01

    Receipt of accessible and appropriate specialist services and resources by all people with communication and/or swallowing disability is a human right; however, it is a right rarely achieved in either Minority or Majority World contexts. This paper considers communication specialists' efforts to provide sustainable services for people with communication difficulties living in Majority World countries. The commentary draws on human rights literature, particularly Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Communication Capacity Research program that includes: (1) gathering knowledge from policy and literature; (2) gathering knowledge from the community; (3) understanding speech, language and literacy use and proficiency; and (4) developing culturally and linguistically appropriate resources and assessments. To inform the development of resources and assessments that could be used by speech-language pathologists as well as other communication specialists in Fiji, the Communication Capacity Research program involved collection and analysis of data from multiple sources including 144 community members, 75 school students and their families, and 25 teachers. The Communication Capacity Research program may be applicable for achieving the development of evidence-based, culturally and linguistically sustainable SLP services in similar contexts.

  16. Human Rights/Human Needs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canning, Cynthia

    1978-01-01

    The faculty of Holy Names High School developed an interdisciplinary human rights program with school-wide activities focusing on three selected themes: the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in conjunction with Human Rights Week; Food; and Women. This article outlines major program activities. (SJL)

  17. Where Public Health Meets Human Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiragu, Karusa; Sawicki, Olga; Smith, Sally; Brion, Sophie; Sharma, Aditi; Mworeko, Lilian; Iovita, Alexandrina

    2017-01-01

    Abstract In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) initiated a process for validation of the elimination of mother-to-child transmission (EMTCT) of HIV and syphilis by countries. For the first time in such a process for the validation of disease elimination, WHO introduced norms and approaches that are grounded in human rights, gender equality, and community engagement. This human rights-based validation process can serve as a key opportunity to enhance accountability for human rights protection by evaluating EMTCT programs against human rights norms and standards, including in relation to gender equality and by ensuring the provision of discrimination-free quality services. The rights-based validation process also involves the assessment of participation of affected communities in EMTCT program development, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. It brings awareness to the types of human rights abuses and inequalities faced by women living with, at risk of, or affected by HIV and syphilis, and commits governments to eliminate those barriers. This process demonstrates the importance and feasibility of integrating human rights, gender, and community into key public health interventions in a manner that improves health outcomes, legitimizes the participation of affected communities, and advances the human rights of women living with HIV. PMID:29302179

  18. Rural and remote speech-language pathology service inequities: An Australian human rights dilemma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Debra M; McAllister, Lindy; Lyle, David M

    2018-02-01

    Access to healthcare is a fundamental human right for all Australians. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights acknowledges the right to freedom of opinion and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas. Capacities for self-expression and effective communication underpin the realisation of these fundamental human rights. For rural and remote Australian children this realisation is compromised by complex disadvantages and inequities that contribute to communication delays, inequity of access to essential speech-language pathology services and poorer later life outcomes. Localised solutions to the provision of civically engaged, accessible, acceptable and sustainable speech-language pathology services within rural and remote Australian contexts are required if we are to make substantive human rights gains. However, civically engaged and sustained healthcare can significantly challenge traditional professionalised perspectives on how best to design and implement speech-language pathology services that seek to address rural and remote communication needs and access inequities. A failure to engage these communities in the identification of childhood communication delays and solutions to address these delays, ultimately denies children, families and communities of their human rights for healthcare access, self-expression, self-dignity and meaningful inclusion within Australian society.

  19. Human Rights in Prisons

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jefferson, Andrew M.; Gaborit, Liv Stoltze

    Drawing on participatory action research conducted in Sierra Leone, Kosovo and the Philippines, Human Rights in Prisons analyses encounters between rights-based non-governmental organisations and prisons. It explores the previously under-researched perspectives of prison staff and prisoners...

  20. Public health nursing, ethics and human rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ivanov, Luba L; Oden, Tami L

    2013-05-01

    Public health nursing has a code of ethics that guides practice. This includes the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nurses, Principles of the Ethical Practice of Public Health, and the Scope and Standards of Public Health Nursing. Human rights and Rights-based care in public health nursing practice are relatively new. They reflect human rights principles as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and applied to public health practice. As our health care system is restructured and there are new advances in technology and genetics, a focus on providing care that is ethical and respects human rights is needed. Public health nurses can be in the forefront of providing care that reflects an ethical base and a rights-based approach to practice with populations. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. Population, sexual and reproductive health, rights and sustainable development: forging a common agenda.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newman, Karen; Fisher, Sarah; Mayhew, Susannah; Stephenson, Judith

    2014-05-01

    This article suggests that sexual and reproductive health and rights activists seeking to influence the post-2015 international development paradigm must work with sustainable development advocates concerned with a range of issues, including climate change, environmental issues, and food and water security, and that a way of building bridges with these communities is to demonstrate how sexual and reproductive health and rights are relevant for these issues. An understanding of population dynamics, including urbanization and migration, as well as population growth, can help to clarify these links. This article therefore suggests that whether or not sexual and reproductive health and rights activists can overcome resistance to discussing "population", become more knowledgeable about other sustainable development issues, and work with others in those fields to advance the global sustainable development agenda are crucial questions for the coming months. The article also contends that it is possible to care about population dynamics (including ageing and problems faced by countries with a high proportion of young people) and care about human rights at the same time. It expresses concern that, if sexual and reproductive health and rights advocates do not participate in the population dynamics discourse, the field will be left free for those for whom respecting and protecting rights may be less of a priority. Copyright © 2014 Reproductive Health Matters. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. The human right of access to drinking water: a continental analysis based on World Water Forums

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lorenzo Zorzi

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available At the end of the 1980s, development and human rights were treated as separate issues, with distinct and divergent strategies and goals. After two decades, our understanding of the issue has evolved, and it has become clear that there is no way to separate the two issues. Currently, interest in human rights is increasing, and is focusing particularly on developing a consensus based upon international standards in order to promote and protect such rights. In this context, after numerous negotiations, the right to access potable water has come to be understood as a human right. This paper discusses the issue of water as a human right based upon the analysis of the World Water Forum which has existed since 1997 and involves the public, private and scientific sectors. The qualitative textual analysis was based upon documentation of these events.

  3. Human Rights Texts: Converting Human Rights Primary Source Documents into Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fariss, Christopher J; Linder, Fridolin J; Jones, Zachary M; Crabtree, Charles D; Biek, Megan A; Ross, Ana-Sophia M; Kaur, Taranamol; Tsai, Michael

    2015-01-01

    We introduce and make publicly available a large corpus of digitized primary source human rights documents which are published annually by monitoring agencies that include Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, and the United States Department of State. In addition to the digitized text, we also make available and describe document-term matrices, which are datasets that systematically organize the word counts from each unique document by each unique term within the corpus of human rights documents. To contextualize the importance of this corpus, we describe the development of coding procedures in the human rights community and several existing categorical indicators that have been created by human coding of the human rights documents contained in the corpus. We then discuss how the new human rights corpus and the existing human rights datasets can be used with a variety of statistical analyses and machine learning algorithms to help scholars understand how human rights practices and reporting have evolved over time. We close with a discussion of our plans for dataset maintenance, updating, and availability.

  4. Remembering a sociology of Human Rights

    OpenAIRE

    Levy, Daniel; Sznaider, Natan

    2014-01-01

    A sociology of human rights sounds almost like a contradiction in terms. Sociology is about social groups, about particular experiences, about how people, embedded in space and time, make sense of their lives and give meaning to their world. It deals with power and interest and the social bases of our experiences. On the other hand, human rights are about human beings in general, without temporal or spatial references, not about groups and their boundaries. Human rights are about humanity, lo...

  5. The nature of human rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Krivokapić Boris

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In the first part of the paper, the author points out that, unlike in the past, in our time human rights developed into a fair legal institution, and even a special system. They are formulated and protected both internally and internationally. The second part deals with the approach according to which human rights are part of the so-called. natural law. The author notes that the theory of natural law can not be accepted for many reasons. It is pure construction, which is far from reality, and besides it is unnecessary. Law and thus human rights as a part of it, is a social creation, developing along with the society itself, whereby, in the longer term, advanced norms in the matter of human rights replace obsolete ones. Life and human needs are the ones who impose such development. In the third part the writer notes that since under human rights one can have in mind various things, at least such a special concept and, on the other hand, specific rights, it is not possible to give a single answer to what is the nature of human rights. It is even harder as human rights, have a variety of dimensions - legal, philosophical, ideological, political, economic, social, educational, etc. However, he gives his view of the main characteristics of the modern concept of human rights. In the fourth part, the author notes that, speaking not about the concept, but human rights as such, their main characteristics are that they are: 1 source - belong to anyone on the grounds that he is a human being (general rights or a member specific vulnerable groups (special rights; 2 universal - belong to everyone or all members of vulnerable groups, without any discrimination based on personal characteristics, and on the other hand, the most important such rights shall be recognized in all states; 3 inalienable - one can not give up or else share his basic human rights, such as the right to life, the right to vote, etc.; 4 somewhat different - although, in principle, all

  6. The evolution of human rights in World Health Organization policy and the future of human rights through global health governance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meier, B M; Onzivu, W

    2014-02-01

    The World Health Organization (WHO) was intended to serve at the forefront of efforts to realize human rights to advance global health, and yet this promise of a rights-based approach to health has long been threatened by political constraints in international relations, organizational resistance to legal discourses, and medical ambivalence toward human rights. Through legal research on international treaty obligations, historical research in the WHO organizational archives, and interview research with global health stakeholders, this research examines WHO's contributions to (and, in many cases, negligence of) the rights-based approach to health. Based upon such research, this article analyzes the evolving role of WHO in the development and implementation of human rights for global health, reviews the current state of human rights leadership in the WHO Secretariat, and looks to future institutions to reclaim the mantle of human rights as a normative framework for global health governance. Copyright © 2013 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Human-Nature for Climate Action: Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helen Santiago Fink

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The global climate change agenda proceeds at an incremental pace while the Earth is approaching critical tipping points in its development trajectory. Climate action at this pinnacle juncture needs to be greatly accelerated and rooted in the fundamentals of the problem—human beings’ disconnection from nature. This paper underscores the valuable role nature and nature-based solutions can play in addressing climate change at the city scale and its implications for broader sustainability. Urban ecosystems (nature in cities are seen as an integral part of a proposed local climate action rubric wherein policy measures and integrated planning guide lowcarbon/impact development to create more resilient and sustainable urban environments. The use of green infrastructure is highlighted as a cost-effective means to contribute to mitigation and adaptation needs as well as to promote human wellbeing. The paper takes an exploratory view of the influence of ecosystem services, particularly cultural services, and its economics in relation to the individual and society to understand how biophilia can be nurtured to promote environmental stewardship and climate action.

  8. From the rights of man to the human rights: Man - nation - humanity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zaharijević Adriana

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available The insistence on the fact that human rights and the rights of man (codified in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, respectively are not one and the same, which could be deduced from the notion of man common to both terms, is the key thesis of this text. By developing this motive, I try to determine the following: that the notion of man, by definition inclusive and abstractly non-discriminative term, is in fact established on tacit exclusions in the time of its inception (Enlightenment revolutinary era, and it was only upon these exclusions that the term man could have signified "the free and equal". Although the parallel or simultaneous evolution and implementation of the rights of man and national rights might seem contradictory, I seek to demonstrate that this paradox is only ostensible, arguing that the notion of man is itself limited and exclusionary, and is therefore compatible with the exclusivity which is the conditio sine qua non of nation. The consequences of nationalism - World Wars, primarily - proved that the conception of liberty and equality, based on the conception of fraternity of men (white European males, and of partial democracy pretending to be universal, cannot be maintained any further. Codification of universal human rights represents a reaction to this internal discrepancy inasmuch as it is a reaction to the destructiveness of all kinds of nationalisms. The notion of life, developed in this text, corresponds to the fundamental requirement for the right to life (as the first and the most basic of all human rights, which no longer belongs to "man", but to everyone.

  9. Assessing corporate project impacts in changeable contexts: A human rights perspective

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Salcito, Kendyl, E-mail: kendyl.salcito@unibas.ch [Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel (Switzerland); University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel (Switzerland); NomoGaia, 1900 Wazee Street, Suite 303, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); NewFields, LLC, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); Singer, Burton H., E-mail: bhsinger@epi.ufl.edu [Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610 (United States); Krieger, Gary R., E-mail: gkrieger@newfields.com [NewFields, LLC, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); Weiss, Mitchell G., E-mail: mitchell-g.weiss@unibas.ch [Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel (Switzerland); University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel (Switzerland); Wielga, Mark, E-mail: wielga@nomogaia.org [NomoGaia, 1900 Wazee Street, Suite 303, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); NewFields, LLC, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); Utzinger, Jürg, E-mail: juerg.utzinger@unibas.ch [Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel (Switzerland); University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel (Switzerland)

    2014-07-01

    Project-level impact assessment was originally conceived as a snapshot taken in advance of project implementation, contrasting current conditions with a likely future scenario involving a variety of predicted impacts. Current best practice guidance has encouraged a shift towards longitudinal assessments from the pre-project stage through the implementation and operating phases. Experience and study show, however, that assessment of infrastructure-intensive projects rarely endures past the project's construction phase. Negative consequences for environmental, social and health outcomes have been documented. Such consequences clarify the pressing need for longitudinal assessment in each of these domains, with human rights impact assessment (HRIA) as an umbrella over, and critical augmentation of, environmental, social and health assessments. Project impacts on human rights are more closely linked to political, economic and other factors beyond immediate effects of a company's policy and action throughout the project lifecycle. Delineating these processes requires an adequate framework, with strategies for collecting longitudinal data, protocols that provide core information for impact assessment and guidance for adaptive mitigation strategies as project-related effects change over time. This article presents general principles for the design and implementation of sustained, longitudinal HRIA, based on experience assessing and responding to human rights impact in a uranium mining project in Malawi. The case study demonstrates the value of longitudinal assessment both for limiting corporate risk and improving human welfare. - Graphical abstract: Assessing changes in human rights condition as affected by both project and context, over time. - Highlights: • Corporate capital projects affect human rights in myriad ways. • Ongoing, longitudinal impact assessment techniques are needed. • We present an approach for conducting longitudinal human rights impact

  10. Assessing corporate project impacts in changeable contexts: A human rights perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salcito, Kendyl; Singer, Burton H.; Krieger, Gary R.; Weiss, Mitchell G.; Wielga, Mark; Utzinger, Jürg

    2014-01-01

    Project-level impact assessment was originally conceived as a snapshot taken in advance of project implementation, contrasting current conditions with a likely future scenario involving a variety of predicted impacts. Current best practice guidance has encouraged a shift towards longitudinal assessments from the pre-project stage through the implementation and operating phases. Experience and study show, however, that assessment of infrastructure-intensive projects rarely endures past the project's construction phase. Negative consequences for environmental, social and health outcomes have been documented. Such consequences clarify the pressing need for longitudinal assessment in each of these domains, with human rights impact assessment (HRIA) as an umbrella over, and critical augmentation of, environmental, social and health assessments. Project impacts on human rights are more closely linked to political, economic and other factors beyond immediate effects of a company's policy and action throughout the project lifecycle. Delineating these processes requires an adequate framework, with strategies for collecting longitudinal data, protocols that provide core information for impact assessment and guidance for adaptive mitigation strategies as project-related effects change over time. This article presents general principles for the design and implementation of sustained, longitudinal HRIA, based on experience assessing and responding to human rights impact in a uranium mining project in Malawi. The case study demonstrates the value of longitudinal assessment both for limiting corporate risk and improving human welfare. - Graphical abstract: Assessing changes in human rights condition as affected by both project and context, over time. - Highlights: • Corporate capital projects affect human rights in myriad ways. • Ongoing, longitudinal impact assessment techniques are needed. • We present an approach for conducting longitudinal human rights impact assessment

  11. Mental Health Functioning in the Human Rights Field: Findings from an International Internet-Based Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joscelyne, Amy; Knuckey, Sarah; Satterthwaite, Margaret L; Bryant, Richard A; Li, Meng; Qian, Meng; Brown, Adam D

    2015-01-01

    Human rights advocates play a critical role in promoting respect for human rights world-wide, and engage in a broad range of strategies, including documentation of rights violations, monitoring, press work and report-writing, advocacy, and litigation. However, little is known about the impact of human rights work on the mental health of human rights advocates. This study examined the mental health profile of human rights advocates and risk factors associated with their psychological functioning. 346 individuals currently or previously working in the field of human rights completed an internet-based survey regarding trauma exposure, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), resilience and occupational burnout. PTSD was measured with the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C) and depression was measured with the Patient History Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). These findings revealed that among human rights advocates that completed the survey, 19.4% met criteria for PTSD, 18.8% met criteria for subthreshold PTSD, and 14.7% met criteria for depression. Multiple linear regressions revealed that after controlling for symptoms of depression, PTSD symptom severity was predicted by human rights-related trauma exposure, perfectionism and negative self-appraisals about human rights work. In addition, after controlling for symptoms of PTSD, depressive symptoms were predicted by perfectionism and lower levels of self-efficacy. Survey responses also suggested high levels of resilience: 43% of responders reported minimal symptoms of PTSD. Although survey responses suggest that many human rights workers are resilient, they also suggest that human rights work is associated with elevated rates of PTSD and depression. The field of human rights would benefit from further empirical research, as well as additional education and training programs in the workplace about enhancing resilience in the context of human rights work.

  12. Mental Health Functioning in the Human Rights Field: Findings from an International Internet-Based Survey.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amy Joscelyne

    Full Text Available Human rights advocates play a critical role in promoting respect for human rights world-wide, and engage in a broad range of strategies, including documentation of rights violations, monitoring, press work and report-writing, advocacy, and litigation. However, little is known about the impact of human rights work on the mental health of human rights advocates. This study examined the mental health profile of human rights advocates and risk factors associated with their psychological functioning. 346 individuals currently or previously working in the field of human rights completed an internet-based survey regarding trauma exposure, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD, resilience and occupational burnout. PTSD was measured with the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C and depression was measured with the Patient History Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9. These findings revealed that among human rights advocates that completed the survey, 19.4% met criteria for PTSD, 18.8% met criteria for subthreshold PTSD, and 14.7% met criteria for depression. Multiple linear regressions revealed that after controlling for symptoms of depression, PTSD symptom severity was predicted by human rights-related trauma exposure, perfectionism and negative self-appraisals about human rights work. In addition, after controlling for symptoms of PTSD, depressive symptoms were predicted by perfectionism and lower levels of self-efficacy. Survey responses also suggested high levels of resilience: 43% of responders reported minimal symptoms of PTSD. Although survey responses suggest that many human rights workers are resilient, they also suggest that human rights work is associated with elevated rates of PTSD and depression. The field of human rights would benefit from further empirical research, as well as additional education and training programs in the workplace about enhancing resilience in the context of human rights work.

  13. Human Rights and Human Function

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohsen Javadi

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper firstly explores some theories of Human Rights justification and then assents to the theory that Human Rights is based on justified moral values. In order to justify moral values, Aristotle’s approach called “Function Argument” is reviewed. Propounding this argument, the writer attempts to show that all analysis of human identity will directly contribute to the man’s view of his rights. Not only Human rights is really determined by human function or human distinguishing characteristic i.e. human identity, but in the world of knowledge the proper method to know human rights is to know human being himself. n cloning violates man’s rights due to two reasons: damage of human identity and violation of the right to be unique. Attempting to clarify the nature of human cloning, this article examines the aspects to be claimed to violate human rights and evaluates the strength of the reasons for this claim. این مقاله پس از بررسی اجمالی برخی از نظریه‌های توجیه حقوق بشر، نظریة ابتنای آن بر ارزش‌های اخلاقی موجّه را می‌پذیرد. دربارة چگونگی توجیه ارزش اخلاقی، رویکرد ارسطو که به «برهان ارگن» موسوم است، مورد بحث و بررسی قرار می‌گیرد. مؤلف با طرح این برهان می‌کوشد نشان دهد ارائه هرگونه تحلیل از هویت انسان در نگرش آدمی به حقوق خود تأثیر مستقیم خواهد گذاشت. حقوق آدمی نه فقط از ناحیة کارویژه یا فصل ممیز وی (هویت انسان تعیّن واقعی می‌گیرد، بلکه در عالم معرفت هم راه درست شناخت حقوق بشر، شناخت خود انسان است.

  14. Human rights, State Violence and Political Resistance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Signe Larsen

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available This article investigates Hannah Arendt’s and Giorgio Agamben’s critiques of human rights and argues that the two thinkers share a blind spot with regard to the radical potentials of human rights. The problem is that they do not break with two fixed imaginaries which still haunt liberal democracies: (1 the historical essentialist understanding of human rights and (2 nation-states and individuals as the principal loci for political rights, power, and action. Based on the work of Jacques Rancière, Costas Douzinas, and Étienne Balibar this article argues that human rights can be thought of as a constituent part of a radical political praxis and resistance movement. If human rights are thought of as a praxis of “right-ing” (Douzinas or a “dissensus” (Rancière, which both contest the current “distribution of the sensible,” a new “cosmopolitics of human rights” can be imagined where human rights are conceived as a borderline concept (Balibar.

  15. Human rights barriers for displaced persons in southern Sudan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pavlish, Carol; Ho, Anita

    2009-01-01

    This community-based research explores community perspectives on human rights barriers that women encounter in a postconflict setting of southern Sudan. An ethnographic design was used to guide data collection in five focus groups with community members and during in-depth interviews with nine key informants. A constant comparison method of data analysis was used. Atlas.ti data management software facilitated the inductive coding and sorting of data. Participants identified three formal and one set of informal community structures for human rights. Human rights barriers included shifting legal frameworks, doubt about human rights, weak government infrastructure, and poverty. The evolving government infrastructure cannot currently provide adequate human rights protection, especially for women. The nature of living in poverty without development opportunities includes human rights abuses. Good governance, protection, and human development opportunities were emphasized as priority human rights concerns. Human rights framework could serve as a powerful integrator of health and development work with community-based organizations. Results help nurses understand the intersection between health and human rights as well as approaches to advancing rights in a culturally attuned manner.

  16. School-Based Human Rights Education: Young Bahrainis' Knowledge and Understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eid, Fatima H.

    2014-01-01

    The growing interest in Human Rights Education (HRE) is linked in this paper to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989). The linkage between citizenship education and HRE is also highlighted, along with the necessary critiques of human rights pronouncements regarding the situation of HRE in Bahrain while the challenges ahead in…

  17. Social Injustice, Human Rights-Based Education and Citizens' Direct Action to Promote Social Transformation in the Philippines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ty, Reynaldo

    2011-01-01

    This article opens with a proposed framework for human rights education (HRE), which synthesizes ideas drawn from Zinn's people's history, Sen's theory of justice and Freire's critical pedagogy. A review of the literature on HRE and human rights-based learning suggests three existent interrelated models of HRE. Drawing on human rights-based…

  18. Informal Justice Systems: Charting a Course for Human Rights-Based Engagement

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kerrigan, Fergus; McKay, Anne Louise; Kristiansen, Annali

    engagement with informal justice systems can build greater respect and protection for human rights. It highlights the considerations that development partners should have when assessing whether to implement programmes involving informal justice systems, the primary consideration being that engagement......Providing accessible justice is a state obligation under international human rights standards, but this obligation does not require that all justice be provided through formal justice systems. If done in ways to respect and uphold human rights, the provision of justice through informal justice...... systems is not against human rights standards and can be a mechanism to enhance the fulfilment of human rights obligations by delivering accessible justice to individuals and communities where the formal justice system does not have the capacity or geographical reach. This study seeks to identify how...

  19. Lundbeck's Pentobarbital Human Rights Dilemma or When Good Intentions Turn Lethal

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buhmann, Karin; Rasmussen, Line Pedini

    2015-01-01

    of situations based on Lundbeck’s handling of the issue and the evolution of stakeholder reactions. Based on interviews with top management in the firm, the case offers learning from the perspective of the Vice President of Corporate Communication in Lundbeck. It invites students to look beyond...... the communication perspective to grasp how CSR issues and commitments challenge management decisions in relation to stakeholders, sustainability and the value chain. The case offers learning in treatment of CSR challenges as issue management that requires a firm to understand and relate to diverse stakeholder...... by CSR standards and guidance, such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights and the UN Global Compact’s ten principles....

  20. THE RIGHT TO SUTURES: SOCIAL EPIDEMIOLOGY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venkatapuram, Sridhar; Bell, Ruth; Marmot, Michael

    2013-01-01

    The article examines the convergences and contrasts between social epidemiology, social medicine, and human rights approaches toward advancing global health and health equity. The first section describes the goals and work of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health. The second section discusses the role of human rights in the Commission’s work. The third section evaluates, from the perspective of social epidemiology, two rights-based approaches to advancing health and health equity as compared to a view that focuses more broadly on social justice. The concluding section identifies four areas where social epidemiologists, practitioners of social medicine, and health and human rights advocates can and must work together in order to make progress on health and health equity. PMID:21178186

  1. Human rights

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gaay Fortman, B. de

    2006-01-01

    Human rights reflect a determined effort to protect the dignity of each and every human being against abuse of power. This endeavour is as old as human history. What is relatively new is the international venture for the protection of human dignity through internationally accepted legal standards

  2. Legal pluralism in the area of human rights: water and sanitation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Obani, P.; Gupta, J.

    2014-01-01

    Access to clean drinking water and adequate sanitation and hygiene facilities is crucial to achieving social and environmental sustainability. We examine the global human water and sanitation right from a legal pluralism perspective to see if it is indifferent to, competes with, accommodates, or is

  3. With eloquence and humanity? Human factors/ergonomics in sustainable human development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Dave; Barnard, Tim

    2012-12-01

    This article is based on a keynote presentation given at the 18th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association in Recife, Brazil, February 2012. It considers new, and not so new, approaches and practical roles for the emerging field of human factors/ergonomics (HFE) in sustainable development (SD).The material for this article was largely drawn from the literature in the fields of human development, sustainability, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and social/environmental impact assessment. Identifying the role of HFE in SD is not a simple one and from the outset is complicated by the widely differing ideas in the sustainability literature about what exactly it is we are hoping to sustain. Is it individual companies, business models, cultures, or the carrying capacity of our planet? Or combinations of these? For the purposes of this article, certain assumptions are made, and various emerging opportunities and responsibilities associated with our changing world of work are introduced. First, there are new versions of traditional tasks for us, such as working with the people and companies in the renewable energy sectors. Beyond this, however, it is suggested that there are emerging roles for HFE professionals in transdisciplinary work where we might play our part, for example, in tackling the twinned issues of climate change and human development in areas of significant poverty. In particular we have the tools and capabilities to help define and measure what groups have reason to value, and wish to sustain. It is suggested, that to do this effectively, however, will require a philosophical shift, or perhaps just a philosophical restatement at a collective level, regarding who and what we ultimately serve.

  4. Philosophical foundations of human rights

    CERN Document Server

    Liao, Matthew S

    2015-01-01

    What makes something a human right? What is the relationship between the moral foundations of human rights and human rights law? What are the difficulties of appealing to human rights? This book offers the first comprehensive survey of current thinking on the philosophical foundations of human rights. Divided into four parts, this book focusses firstly on the moral grounds of human rights, for example in our dignity, agency, interests or needs. 'Secondly, it looks at the implications that different moral perspectives on human rights bear for human rights law and politics. Thirdly, it discusses specific and topical human rights including freedom of expression and religion, security, health and more controversial rights such as a human right to subsistence. The final part discusses nuanced critical and reformative views on human rights from feminist, Kantian and relativist perspectives among others. The essays represent new and canonical research by leading scholars in the field. Each part is comprised of a set...

  5. Foucault and Human Rights: Seeking the Renewal of Human Rights Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zembylas, Michalinos

    2016-01-01

    This article takes up Foucault's politics of human rights and suggests that it may constitute a point of departure for the renewal of HRE, not only because it rejects the moral superiority of humanism--the grounding for the dominant liberal framework of international human rights--but also because it makes visible the complexities of human rights…

  6. Social and environmental sustainability in large-scale coastal zones: Taking an issue-based approach to the implementation of the Prince William Sound sustainable human use framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dale J. Blahna; Aaron Poe; Courtney Brown; Clare M. Ryan; H. Randy Gimblett

    2017-01-01

    Following the grounding of the Exxon Valdez in 1989, a sustainable human use framework (human use framework) for Prince William Sound (PWS), AK was developed by the Chugach National Forest after concerns emerged about the social and environmental impacts of expanding human use due to cleanup activities and increased recreation visitation. A practical, issue-based...

  7. Do we need sustainability as a new approach in human factors and ergonomics?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zink, Klaus J; Fischer, Klaus

    2013-01-01

    The International Ergonomics Association Technical Committee 'Human Factors and Sustainable Development' was established to contribute to a broad discourse about opportunities and risks resulting from current societal 'mega-trends' and their impacts on the interactions among humans and other elements of a system, e.g. in work systems. This paper focuses on the underlying key issues: how do the sustainability paradigm and human factors/ergonomics interplay and interact, and is sustainability necessary as a new approach for our discipline? Based on a discussion of the sustainability concept, some general principles for designing new and enhancing existent approaches of human factors and ergonomics regarding their orientation towards sustainability are proposed. The increasing profile of sustainability on the international stage presents new opportunities for human factors/ergonomics. Positioning of the sustainability paradigm within human factors/ergonomics is discussed. Approaches to incorporating sustainability in the design of work systems are considered.

  8. Negative Emissions Technologies, the Paris Agreement, and the Need for a Human-Rights Based Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burns, W. C. G.

    2016-12-01

    The new Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change contemplates that its prospective Parties will balance emissions and sinks by 2050 as a means to effectuate the goal of holding temperature increases to well below 2°C from pre-industrial levels, as well as the more aspirational goal of holding temperature increases to 1.5°C. Most of the IPCC's AR5 scenarios that achieve these objectives contemplate the large-scale deployment of so-called "negative emissions technologies," with an emphasis on bioenergy and carbon capture and storage (BECCS), and to a lesser degree afforestation. BECCS could assuredly help society avoid passing critical climatic thresholds, or address overshoot scenarios in this century and beyond. However, it could also profound implications for food production, the status of forests, access to lands for livelihoods by vulnerable populations, and the integrity of critical ecosystems. This, in turn could have serious ramifications for human rights of some of the world's most vulnerable populations, including the rights to food, water, livelihoods and the benefits of biodiversity. The Preamble to the Paris Agreement acknowledges the need to take into consideration the potential impact of responses to climate change, providing that "Parties should, when taking action to address climate change, respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights." This presentation will outline how application of a human rights-based approach to assessing such options could help to reconcile the objectives of ameliorating potential climatic impacts while protecting the human rights of potentially affected individuals and groups. This will include the potential role of Human Rights Impacts Assessments and potential configuration of HRIAs at the national and international level. It will also briefly suggest how to operationalize this approach within the Paris Agreement framework, including institutional

  9. Special Section: Human Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frydenlund, Knut; And Others

    1978-01-01

    Eleven articles examine human rights in Europe. Topics include unemployment, human rights legislation, role of the Council of Europe in promoting human rights, labor unions, migrant workers, human dignity in industralized societies, and international violence. Journal available from Council of Europe, Directorate of Press and Information, 67006…

  10. The right to health of prisoners in international human rights law.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lines, Rick

    2008-01-01

    This paper explores the health rights of prisoners as defined in international law, and the mechanisms that have been used to ensure the rights of persons in detention to realise the highest attainable standard of health. It examines this right as articulated within United Nations and regional human rights treaties, non-binding or so-called soft law instruments from international organisations and the jurisprudence of international human rights bodies. It explores the use of economic, social and cultural rights mechanisms, and those within civil and political rights, as they engage the right to health of prisoners, and identifies the minimum legal obligations of governments in order to remain compliant with human rights norms as defined within the international case law. In addressing these issues, this article adopts a holistic approach to the definition of the highest attainable standard of health. This includes a consideration of adequate standards of general medical care, including preventative health and mental health services. It also examines the question of environmental health, and those poor conditions of detention that may exacerbate health decline, disease transmission, mental illness or death. The paper examines the approach to prison health of the United Nations human rights system and its various monitoring bodies, as well as the regional human rights systems in Europe, Africa and the Americas. Based upon this analysis, the paper draws conclusions on the current fulfilment of the right to health of prisoners on an international scale, and proposes expanded mechanisms under the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment to monitor and promote the health rights of prisoners at the international and domestic levels.

  11. Pattern Analyses Reveal Separate Experience-Based Fear Memories in the Human Right Amygdala.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braem, Senne; De Houwer, Jan; Demanet, Jelle; Yuen, Kenneth S L; Kalisch, Raffael; Brass, Marcel

    2017-08-23

    Learning fear via the experience of contingencies between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) is often assumed to be fundamentally different from learning fear via instructions. An open question is whether fear-related brain areas respond differently to experienced CS-US contingencies than to merely instructed CS-US contingencies. Here, we contrasted two experimental conditions where subjects were instructed to expect the same CS-US contingencies while only one condition was characterized by prior experience with the CS-US contingency. Using multivoxel pattern analysis of fMRI data, we found CS-related neural activation patterns in the right amygdala (but not in other fear-related regions) that dissociated between whether a CS-US contingency had been instructed and experienced versus merely instructed. A second experiment further corroborated this finding by showing a category-independent neural response to instructed and experienced, but not merely instructed, CS presentations in the human right amygdala. Together, these findings are in line with previous studies showing that verbal fear instructions have a strong impact on both brain and behavior. However, even in the face of fear instructions, the human right amygdala still shows a separable neural pattern response to experience-based fear contingencies. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In our study, we addressed a fundamental problem of the science of human fear learning and memory, namely whether fear learning via experience in humans relies on a neural pathway that can be separated from fear learning via verbal information. Using two new procedures and recent advances in the analysis of brain imaging data, we localized purely experience-based fear processing and memory in the right amygdala, thereby making a direct link between human and animal research. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/378116-15$15.00/0.

  12. Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Amsinck Boie, Hans Nikolaj; Torp, Kristian

    adequately be addressed without including the approach to the problem taken in practice; Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR. The book therefore draws upon the concept of CSR and the approaches developed here and discusses whether states may utilize the CSR-based concept of human rights due diligence...

  13. Searching for the Right to Health in the Sustainable Development Agenda Comment on "Rights Language in the Sustainable Development Agenda: Has Right to Health Discourse and Norms Shaped Health Goals?".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawkes, Sarah; Buse, Kent

    2016-02-24

    The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Agenda offers an opportunity to realise the right to health for all. The Agenda's "interlinked and integrated" Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide the prospect of focusing attention and mobilising resources not just for the provision of health services through universal health coverage (UHC), but also for addressing the underlying social, structural, and political determinants of illness and health inequity. However, achieving the goals' promises will require new mechanisms for inter-sectoral coordination and action, enhanced instruments for rational priority-setting that involve affected population groups, and new approaches to ensuring accountability. Rights-based approaches can inform developments in each of these areas. In this commentary, we build upon a paper by Forman et al and propose that the significance of the SDGs lies in their ability to move beyond a biomedical approach to health and healthcare, and to seize the opportunity for the realization of the right to health in its fullest, widest, most fundamental sense: the right to a health-promoting and health protecting environment for each and every one of us. We argue that realizing the right to health inherent in the SDG Agenda is possible but demands that we seize on a range of commitments, not least those outlined in other goals, and pursue complementary openings in the Agenda - from inclusive policy-making, to novel partnerships, to monitoring and review. It is critical that we do not risk losing the right to health in the rhetoric of the SDGs and ensure that we make good on the promise of leaving no one behind. © 2016 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

  14. The Discourse on Human Rights and the International Regime of Human Rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eyassu Gayim

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The international regime of human rights governs the kinds of freedoms, liberties, benefits, autonomy and protection which human beings are entitled to, what kind of obligations we have in this connection and what the roles of states are in recognizing and protecting these rights. Yet, the sources, foundation and justifications for these rights and who we are by nature to deserve some rights has been contentious over the centuries, not least because we live in social context, which requires balancing rights by meeting the broader community interests: political order, stability, and satisfying the general welfare. This paper re-visits the major contentious positions in the discourse on human rights for purposes of explaining how the international community has navigated when shaping the contours of the international regime of human rights. Has this regime endorsed, rejected or avoided some of these positions? Does it follow a clear political ideology?

  15. Heads of household programme in Argentina: a human rights-based policy?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colina, Jorge; Giordano, Osvaldo; Torres, Alejandra; Cárdenas, Marcelo

    2009-01-01

    This study analyses the consultative councils (CC) of the Argentinian conditional cash transfer heads of household programme as an institutional innovation directed to put into practice some of the principles of the human rights' approach for eradicating poverty. Since the main responsibilities assigned to the CCs coincided with some of the main principles of the human rights' approach, the research is focused on how CCs responded in practice. Using a case study methodology we show that even when, in theory, the CCs incorporate some of the principles of the human rights' approach to the programme, they deviated from this purpose due to a persistent phenomenon in the social policy arena in developing countries: political clientelism. Policy recommendations are formulated in order to deal with clientelism in the framework of the human rights' approach.

  16. Making a human right to tobacco control: expert and advocacy networks, framing and the right to health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reubi, David

    2012-01-01

    This article addresses the proliferation of human rights in international public health over the last 20 years by examining recent attempts at framing the global smoking epidemic as a human rights problem. Rather than advocating in favour or against human rights-based approaches, the article purports to understand how and why such approaches are being articulated and disseminated. First, it argues that the representation of the global smoking epidemic as a human rights issue has been the product of a small, international network of public health experts and lawyers: the human rights and tobacco control collective or community (HTC). The article describes in particular the HTC's membership, its style of thinking and its efforts to articulate and disseminate human rights-based approaches to tobacco control. Second, the article argues that the aim of the HTC when framing tobacco control as a human rights issue was not to generate public attention for and the political will to tackle the global smoking epidemic, as the literature on framing and human rights presupposes. Instead, as the article shows, the HTC framed tobacco control as a human rights problem to tap into the powerful, judicial monitoring and enforceability mechanisms that make up international human rights.

  17. UN human rights council

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vuksanović Mlrjana

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with the structure, mechanisms, practices and perspectives of the Human Rights Council, the UN body that, at universal level is the most important body in this area. Introductory section provides for a brief overview of the origins of human rights and the work of the Commission on Human Rights, in whose jurisdiction were questions of human rights before the establishment of the Council. After the introductory section the author gives an analysis of the structure, objectives, mandate and main procedures for the protection of human rights within the united Nations. In the final section the authorpoints out the advantages of this authority and criticism addressed to it, with emphasis on the possibility and the need for its reform.

  18. Evolving International Practices for Protection of Human Rights- the UN Human Rights Advisory Panel and EU Human Rights Review Panel

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Remzije ISTREFI

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available This article analyses the unique development of the international human rights non judicial protection mechanism in Kosovo. Since 1999 Kosovo has been placed under international supervision carried out by international organizations, namely the United Nations and the European Union. The UN’s Mission in Kosovo (UNMK was unprecedented both in scope and structural complexity. After the Declaration of Independence by Kosovo authorities on 17 February 2008, the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo EULEX took over to assist and support the Kosovo authorities in the rule of law area, specifically in the areas of the police, the judiciary and customs. The UNMIK’s extensive mandate and EULEXs limited executive powers in practice have affected human rights of Kosovars as a consequence of the UNMIK and EULEX actions and inactions in the course of exercise of their mandates. This study will try to reveal the processes that lead to establishment of these two unique international human rights Panels and their impact on human rights protection of individuals under international administration. The main question to be addressed is if these two human rights panels are providing the adequate remedy for addressing human rights violations by international actors in a post conflict Kosovo.

  19. Human rights of persons with mental disabilities. The European Convention of Human Rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gostin, L O

    2000-01-01

    It is not necessary to recount the numerous charters and declarations ... to understand human rights.... All persons are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Everyone ... is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in the international human rights instruments without discrimination, such as the rights to life, liberty, security of the person, privacy, health, education, work, social security, and to marry and found a family. Yet, violations of human rights are a reality to be found in every corner of the globe.

  20. Pragmatic Challenges to Human Rights

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schaumburg-Müller, Sten

    2007-01-01

    Pragmatism offers a platform for posing relevant questions. This article uses a pragmatic point of departure to question a natural law conception of human rights and to take a closer look at three pressing human rights problems: The human rights situation in states with little or no state capacity......; the revision and adaptation of human rights law; and the not straightforward relationship betweemn human rights and democracy....

  1. Human rights at work: Physical standards for employment and human rights law.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, Eric M

    2016-06-01

    This review focuses on the human rights dimensions of creating and implementing physical standards for employment for prospective and incumbent employees. The review argues that physical standards for employment engage two fundamental legal concepts of employment law: freedom of contract and workplace human rights. While the former promotes an employer's right to set workplace standards and make decisions of whom to hire and terminate, the latter prevents employers from discriminating against individuals contrary to human rights legislation. With reference to applicable human rights legislative regimes and their judicial interpretation in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, this review demonstrates the judicial preference for criterion validation in testing mechanisms in the finding of bona fide occupational requirements. With particular attention to the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Meiorin, this review argues that an effective balance between workplace safety and human rights concerns can be found, not in applying different standards to different groups of individuals, but in an approach that holds employers to demonstrating a sufficient connection between a uniform physical standard of employment and the actual minimum requirements to perform the job safety and efficiently. Combined with an employer's duty to accommodate, such an approach to lawful physical standards for employment conceives of worker and public safety and workplace diversity as emanating from a shared concern for human rights.

  2. Enhancing Environmental Protection and Socio-Economic Development in Africa: A Fresh Look at the Right to a General Satisfactory Environment under the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emeka Polycarp Amechi

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available The African Charter to Human and Peoples' Rights is an innovative document as it is the first human rights albeit regional instrument to provide for a substantive right to environment. However, the right as provided under the Charter is encumbered as it is linked to the promotion of development. Such linkage has led to the argument that the right can only be invoked where it will not infringe the requirements of socio-economic development. While this issue appears to have engaged the attention of most commentators, there has not been much enquiry into what the right aims to achieve and the implication for the achievement of sustainable development objectives including environmental protection and poverty reduction in Africa. This article therefore seeks to evaluate the utility of the right to the pursuit of sustainable development objectives in Africa.

  3. Deuteronomy and Human Rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. Braulik

    1998-08-01

    Full Text Available If one compares the articles of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" dated December 10th, 1948, with the regulations of the book of Deuteronomy, one detects a surprising abundance of correspondences, or at least of similar tendencies, between them. As the social theorists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the architects of the catalogue of Human Rights, knew the Scripture very well. References to Deuteronomy are historically well probable and factually hardly coincidental. Deuteronomy rightly boasts about its social laws (4:8 that are unique in the Ancient Near East. The paper orientates itself to the short formula of Human Rights and at the same time to the normative basic character of each human right, as it is formulated in the first article of the declaration: "liberty", "equality", "fraternity". Each of these basic categories are concretised in terms of several Deuteronomic regulations and prove themselves to be central matters of concern within the YHWH religion. Finally, it is outlined how the connection between Deuteronomy and modem expressions of human rights might be explained, and further it is shown what actually makes up the peculiarity of biblical thinking on human rights.

  4. THE ROLE OF MICROFINANCE IN RIGHT-BASED APPROACH TO FOOD IN AFRICA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mago Stephen

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of microfinance to food security using the lens of the Right-Based Approach to food. The paper adopts a qualitative research methodology, following an exploratory research design. The research findings show that microfinance has a positive contribution towards rights to food and food security. However, in other African contexts, microfinance worsening the status of the poor. It was thus established that proper management of microfinance programs is likely to bring more benefits than problems. Making the ‘right to food’ and the ‘right to credit’ aspects of human rights will strengthen the productive systems of food to ensure sustainable supplies for effective food security mechanisms. The paper recommends that the linkage between microfinance and food rights be escalated to policy level discussions. Policies that promote a combination of the two rights need to be developed.

  5. Perspective Intercultural Bioethics and Human Rights: the search for instruments for resolving ethical conflicts culturally based.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aline ALBUQUERQUE

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available This article aims to contribute to a deeper reflection on intercultural conflicts within the bioethics scope, and to point out the problem of using human rights as a theoretical normative mediator of the conflicts in bioethics that bear elements of interculturalism. The methodological steps adopted in this inquiry were: analysis of the concept of intercultural conflict in bioethics, from the perception developed by Colectivo Amani; study of human rights as tools of the culture of human beings, based on Bauman’s and Beauchamp’s theories; investigation of the toolsthat human rights offer so as to solve intercultural conflicts in bioethics. It was concluded that intercultural bioethics must incorporate to its prescriptive and descriptive tasks norms and institutions of human rights that ensure the participation and social integration of the individuals from communities that are in cultural conflict. Such measure will act as instrumentsfor the solution of intercultural conflicts.

  6. Human Rights Act, 12 February 1987.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1987-01-01

    This document reprints major provisions of the Yukon's (Canada) 1987 Human Rights Act. The Act furthers the public policy that every individual is free and equal in dignity and rights, seeks to discourage and eliminate discrimination, and promotes the underlying principles of Canadian and international human rights instruments. Part 1 contains a Bill of Rights that protects the right to freedom of: 1) religion and conscience, 2) expression, 3) assembly and association, and 4) to enjoyment and disposition of property. Part 2 prohibits discrimination based on ancestry (including color and race), national origin, ethnic or linguistic background or origin, age, sex (including pregnancy), and marital or family status. Discrimination is also prohibited when offering services, goods, or facilities to the public; in connection with employment; in connection with membership in trade unions or trade, occupational, or professional associations; and in negotiation or performance of public contracts. The Bill of Rights lists reasonable causes for discrimination as well as exemptions, including preferential treatment for organization or family members or employment in a private home. Special programs and affirmative action programs are specifically not considered discrimination under this Act. The Act sets forth rules for providing equal pay for work of equal value and creates a Yukon Human Rights Commission to promote human rights and assist adjudication of complaints.

  7. Human Rights Arrangement on Indonesian Law

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Masribut Sardol

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Article 1 paragraph (3 of the Constitution of 1945 (UUD 1945 stated that Indonesia is a Rule of Law. One feature of the Rule of Law is the existence of human rights in the state administration. Indonesia, since independence on August 17, 1945 has asserted the defense of human rights as stated in the opening clause and in the torso of the 1945 Constitution Article 27-34. In the era of reform, on the Government of President Habibie, the President and the Parliament ratified the UN convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading human dignity into Law number 5 of 1998. Then the MPR also publishes the statutes of MPR No. XVII/MPR/1998 on Human Rights, which was followed up with the appearance of Law No. 39 of 1999 on human rights. In accordance with the law in Indonesia based on the sort of Law No. 12 of 2011, the actual products that have been issued by the Government (the MPR, DPR and President that follow up the substance of Human Rights in the Constitution with established Assembly and the law is already correct. But when the MPR then does the second amendment to the Constitution on August 18, 2000 by adding a special article chapters and contains about Human Rights (as mentioned in Chapter X-A section 28 A-J, have made the complexity hierarchy of law in Indonesia because it is not in accordance with the substance of article 7 of Law No. 12 of 2011. How To Cite: Sardol, S. (2014. Human Rights Arrangement on Indonesian Law. Rechtsidee, 1(1, 85-100. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.21070/jihr.v1i1.105

  8. Human Rights, History of

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Baets, Antoon; Wright, James

    2015-01-01

    In this article, six basic debates about human rights are clarified from a historical perspective: the origin of human rights as moral rights connected to the natural law doctrine and opposed to positive rights; the wave of criticism of their abstract and absolute character by nineteenth-century

  9. Data Rights and Responsibilities: A Human Rights Perspective on Data Sharing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Theresa L; Wyndham, Jessica M

    2015-07-01

    A human-rights-based analysis can be a useful tool for the scientific community and policy makers as they develop codes of conduct, harmonized standards, and national policies for data sharing. The human rights framework provides a shared set of values and norms across borders, defines rights and responsibilities of various actors involved in data sharing, addresses the potential harms as well as the benefits of data sharing, and offers a framework for balancing competing values. The right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications offers a particularly helpful lens through which to view data as both a tool of scientific inquiry to which access is vital and as a product of science from which everyone should benefit. © The Author(s) 2015.

  10. The Right of the Child to Information: The Role of Public Libraries in Human Rights Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koren, Marian

    Information and education are crucial for child development. The child's right to information and education protect human values and the human dignity of the child. Formal and non-formal forms of education by parents, friends, schools, and libraries should be based on human rights. The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child…

  11. Poverty, disability and human rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Beatriz Martínez Ríos

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available It is estimated that persons with disabilities represent 15% of the world population. There is a strong link between poverty and disability. Population with disabilities is among the most disadvantaged and discriminated. However, development economic theories have forgotten essential matters about this population, contributing towards their invisibility and poverty. The Capability Approach from a Human Rights based approach brings us a new dimension. The extraordinary costs that arise from a disability and from the psychological, physical and social barriers that persons with disabilities face, contribute to their poverty, lack of freedom and vulneration of human rights, as put forward by current studies on this subject. International co-operation becomes a very valuable tool to be used for the promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities and overcoming poverty.

  12. Human rights and access to AIDS treatment in Mozambique | Høg ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This article explores key issues related to the agitation for human rights in Mozambique and its weak performance power. I define human rights in the context of HIV/AIDS as well as rights-based approaches to development and health. Based on fieldwork, I describe and analyse how human rights are received and applied in ...

  13. Development cooperation in water and sanitation: is it based on the human rights framework?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Colin; Heller, Léo

    2017-07-01

    The water and sanitation sector is verifiably receiving increased attention and funding through international development cooperation. Not least because of the way that it affects incentives and institutions in partner countries, development cooperation can have either positive or negative effects on human rights though. The consolidated frameworks for the human rights to water and sanitation is becoming linked to the international community's coordinated development efforts, as evidenced notably in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, a review of major funders' official policies for development cooperation in the sector suggests that many only partially endorse the frameworks for the human rights to water and sanitation. An observation of development cooperation flows to the sector allows the hypothesis to be advanced that worldwide inequalities in access to these services may be reduced through a full and clear application of the human rights framework in development cooperation activities. The article presents findings of this research and explores key stakes for development cooperation in the water and sanitation sector that are relevant for their ability to either negatively or positively contribute to the realization of human rights. Resumen El sector de agua y saneamiento ha recibido creciente atención y financiación a través de la cooperación internacional para el desarrollo. La cooperación para el desarrollo puede tener efectos tanto positivos cuanto negativos sobre los derechos humanos. El hito que consolida los derechos humanos al agua y al saneamiento están articulados a esfuerzos de cooperación para el desarrollo promovidos por la comunidad internacional, como se evidencia en la Agenda 2030 para el Desarrollo Sostenible. Sin embargo, una revisión de las políticas oficiales de los principales financiadores del sector sugiere que muchos de ellos aprueban solo parcialmente los hitos de los derechos humanos al agua y el

  14. Human Rights: The Essential Reference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devine, Carol; Hansen, Carol Rae; Wilde, Ralph; Bronkhorst, Daan; Moritz, Frederic A.; Rolle, Baptiste; Sherman, Rebecca; Southard, Jo Lynn; Wilkinson, Robert; Poole, Hilary, Ed.

    This reference work documents the history of human rights theory, explains each article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, explores the contemporary human rights movement, and examines the major human rights issues facing the world today. This book is the first to combine historical and contemporary perspectives on these critical…

  15. Review of sustainability indices and indicators: Towards a new City Sustainability Index (CSI)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mori, Koichiro, E-mail: kmori@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp [Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo (Japan); Christodoulou, Aris, E-mail: aris.christodoulou@ucl.ac.uk [Centre for Transport Studies, University College London (United Kingdom)

    2012-01-15

    The purpose of this paper is to discuss conceptual requirements for a City Sustainability Index (CSI) and to review existing major sustainability indices/indicators in terms of the requirements. The following indices are reviewed: Ecological Footprint (EF), Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), Dashboard of Sustainability (DS), Welfare Index, Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare, City Development Index, emergy/exergy, Human Development Index (HDI), Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI), Environmental Policy Index (EPI), Living Planet Index (LPI), Environmentally-adjusted Domestic Product (EDP), Genuine Saving (GS), and some applications of composite indices or/and multivariate indicators to local or regional context as case studies. The key conceptual requirements for an adequate CSI are: (i) to consider environmental, economic and social aspects (the triple bottom line of sustainability) from the viewpoint of strong sustainability; (ii) to capture external impacts (leakage effects) of city on other areas beyond the city boundaries particularly in terms of environmental aspects; (iii) to create indices/indicators originally for the purpose of assessing city sustainability; and (iv) to be able to assess world cities in both developed and developing countries using common axes of evaluation. Based on the review, we conclude that it is necessary to create a new CSI that enables us to assess and compare cities' sustainability performance in order to understand the global impact of cities on the environment and human life as compared with their economic contribution. In the future, the CSI will be able to provide local authorities with guidance toward sustainable paths. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We derive the four key requirements for a new City Sustainability Index (CSI) system. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer First, the triple bottom line must be considered in terms of strong sustainability. Black-Right

  16. Cyclic Variations in Sustained Human Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aue, William R.; Arruda, James E.; Kass, Steven J.; Stanny, Claudia J.

    2009-01-01

    Biological rhythms play a prominent role in the modulation of human physiology and behavior. [Smith, K., Valentino, D., & Arruda, J. (2003). "Rhythmic oscillations in the performance of a sustained attention task." "Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology," 25, 561-570] suggested that sustained human performance may systematically…

  17. Remembering a sociology of Human Rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Levy, Daniel

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available A sociology of human rights sounds almost like a contradiction in terms. Sociology is about social groups, about particular experiences, about how people, embedded in space and time, make sense of their lives and give meaning to their world. It deals with power and interest and the social bases of our experiences. On the other hand, human rights are about human beings in general, without temporal or spatial references, not about groups and their boundaries. Human rights are about humanity, located in the world and connected to an inviolable nature. Global media representations, among others, create new cosmopolitan memories, providing new epistemological vantage points and emerging moral-political interdependencies. As such, memories of the Holocaust contribute to the creation of a common European cultural memory based on the abstract notion of human rights. Sociologically, a theory of human rights has to show how universal and particular memories co-exist, are reconciled etc. and what it means for the recognition of the “other”, and the broadening of circles of solidarity.Una sociología de los derechos humans suena casi como un oxímoron. La sociología se fija en los grupos sociales, en las experiencias particulares, y en cómo las personas, marcadas por el espacio y el tiempo, dan sentido a sus vidas y atribuyen un significado al mundo. Trata del poder, el interés y la base social de nuestras experiencias. Contrariamente, los derechos humanos se refieren a humanos en general, sin referencias temporales ni espaciales, y no a grupos y sus límites. Los derechos humanos tratan de la humanidad, ubicado en el mundo y conectado con su naturaleza inviolable. Representaciones mediáticas globales, entre otras, crean memorias cosmopólitas nuevas, disponiendo nuevos puntos de vista epistemológicos y interdependencias morales-políticas emergentes. Así, las memorias del Holocausto contribuyen a la creación de una memoria cultural europea com

  18. UNIFEM, CEDAW and the Human Rights-based Approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    H.M. Hintjens (Helen)

    2008-01-01

    textabstractGlobal governance in an era of human rights is beset by a number of unavoid- able paradoxes. One is that as more states are increasingly held accountable for fulfilling legal obligations towards citizens, the same states are also obliged to collude in economic and financial deregulation

  19. UNIFEM, CEDAW and the Human Rights-based Approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    H.M. Hintjens (Helen)

    2008-01-01

    textabstractGlobal governance in an era of human rights is beset by a number of unavoidable paradoxes. One is that as more states are increasingly held accountable for fulfilling legal obligations towards citizens, the same states are also obliged to collude in economic and financial deregulation

  20. Searching for the Right to Health in the Sustainable Development Agenda; Comment on “Rights Language in the Sustainable Development Agenda: Has Right to Health Discourse and Norms Shaped Health Goals?”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah Hawkes

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The United Nations (UN Sustainable Development Agenda offers an opportunity to realise the right to health for all. The Agenda’s “interlinked and integrated” Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs provide the prospect of focusing attention and mobilising resources not just for the provision of health services through universal health coverage (UHC, but also for addressing the underlying social, structural, and political determinants of illness and health inequity. However, achieving the goals’ promises will require new mechanisms for inter-sectoral coordination and action, enhanced instruments for rational priority-setting that involve affected population groups, and new approaches to ensuring accountability. Rights-based approaches can inform developments in each of these areas. In this commentary, we build upon a paper by Forman et al and propose that the significance of the SDGs lies in their ability to move beyond a biomedical approach to health and healthcare, and to seize the opportunity for the realization of the right to health in its fullest, widest, most fundamental sense: the right to a healthpromoting and health protecting environment for each and every one of us. We argue that realizing the right to health inherent in the SDG Agenda is possible but demands that we seize on a range of commitments, not least those outlined in other goals, and pursue complementary openings in the Agenda – from inclusive policy-making, to novel partnerships, to monitoring and review. It is critical that we do not risk losing the right to health in the rhetoric of the SDGs and ensure that we make good on the promise of leaving no one behind.

  1. Wood-Based Nanotechnologies toward Sustainability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Feng; Li, Tian; Li, Yiju; Zhang, Ying; Gong, Amy; Dai, Jiaqi; Hitz, Emily; Luo, Wei; Hu, Liangbing

    2018-01-01

    With over 30% global land coverage, the forest is one of nature's most generous gifts to human beings, providing shelters and materials for all living beings. Apart from being sustainable, renewable, and biodegradable, wood and its derivative materials are also extremely fascinating from a materials aspect, with numerous advantages including porous and hierarchical structure, excellent mechanical performance, and versatile chemistry. Here, strategies for designing novel wood-based materials via advanced nanotechnologies are summarized, including both the controllable bottom-up assembly from the highly crystalline nanocellulose building block and the more efficient top-down approaches directly from wood. Beyond material design, recent advances regarding the sustainable applications of these novel wood-based materials are also presented, focusing on areas that are traditionally dominated by man-made nonrenewable materials such as plastic, glass, and metals, as well as more advanced applications in the areas of energy storage, wastewater treatment and solar-steam-assisted desalination. With all recent progress pertaining to materials' design and sustainable applications presented, a vision for the future engineering of wood-based materials to promote continuous and healthy progress toward true sustainability is outlined. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  2. What do human rights bring to discussions of power and politics in health policy and systems?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forman, Lisa

    2017-12-13

    Scholarly interrogations of power and politics are not endemic to the disciplines primarily tasked with exploring health policy and planning in the domestic or global domains. Scholars in these domains have come late to investigating power, prompted in part by the growing focus in domestic and global health research on the intersections between governance, globalization and health inequities. Recent prominent reports in this area increasingly point to human rights as important norms capable of responding in part to power differentials that sustain and exacerbate health inequities. Yet human rights law is not traditionally incorporated into health policy scholarship or education, despite offering important normative and strategic frameworks for public and global health, with distinctive contributions in relation to identifying and challenging certain forms of power disparity. This paper overviews two of these reports and how they see power functioning to sustain health inequities. It then turns to investigate what human rights and the right to health in particular may offer in addressing and challenging power in the health policy context.

  3. Did the right to health get across the line? Examining the United Nations resolution on the Sustainable Development Goals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brolan, Claire E; Te, Vannarath; Floden, Nadia; Hill, Peter S; Forman, Lisa

    2017-01-01

    Since the new global health and development goal, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, and its nine targets and four means of implementation were introduced to the world through a United Nations (UN) General Assembly resolution in September 2015, right to health practitioners have queried whether this goal mirrors the content of the human right to health in international law. This study examines the text of the UN SDG resolution, Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development , from a right to health minimalist and right to health maximalist analytic perspective. When reviewing the UN SDG resolution's text, a right to health minimalist questions whether the content of the right to health is at least implicitly included in this document, specifically focusing on SDG 3 and its metrics framework. A right to health maximalist, on the other hand, queries whether the content of the right to health is explicitly included. This study finds that whether the right to health is contained in the UN SDG resolution, and the SDG metrics therein, ultimately depends on the individual analyst's subjective persuasion in relation to right to health minimalism or maximalism. We conclude that the UN General Assembly's lack of cogency on the right to health's position in the UN SDG resolution will continue to blur if not divest human rights' (and specifically the right to health's) integral relationship to high-level development planning, implementation and SDG monitoring and evaluation efforts.

  4. Speaking Truth to Power: Women's Rights as Human Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crocco, Margaret Smith

    2007-01-01

    The author considers the treatment of women's rights as human rights in the social studies curriculum. She discusses the role of the United Nations in promoting women's rights since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. She also reviews the treatment of women's rights within social studies curriculum today through a…

  5. Where Public Health Meets Human Rights: Integrating Human Rights into the Validation of the Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV and Syphilis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kismödi, Eszter; Kiragu, Karusa; Sawicki, Olga; Smith, Sally; Brion, Sophie; Sharma, Aditi; Mworeko, Lilian; Iovita, Alexandrina

    2017-12-01

    In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) initiated a process for validation of the elimination of mother-to-child transmission (EMTCT) of HIV and syphilis by countries. For the first time in such a process for the validation of disease elimination, WHO introduced norms and approaches that are grounded in human rights, gender equality, and community engagement. This human rights-based validation process can serve as a key opportunity to enhance accountability for human rights protection by evaluating EMTCT programs against human rights norms and standards, including in relation to gender equality and by ensuring the provision of discrimination-free quality services. The rights-based validation process also involves the assessment of participation of affected communities in EMTCT program development, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. It brings awareness to the types of human rights abuses and inequalities faced by women living with, at risk of, or affected by HIV and syphilis, and commits governments to eliminate those barriers. This process demonstrates the importance and feasibility of integrating human rights, gender, and community into key public health interventions in a manner that improves health outcomes, legitimizes the participation of affected communities, and advances the human rights of women living with HIV.

  6. Accountability for the human right to health through treaty monitoring: Human rights treaty bodies and the influence of concluding observations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meier, Benjamin Mason; De Milliano, Marlous; Chakrabarti, Averi; Kim, Yuna

    2017-11-04

    Employing novel coding methods to evaluate human rights monitoring, this article examines the influence of United Nations (UN) treaty bodies on national implementation of the human right to health. The advancement of the right to health in the UN human rights system has shifted over the past 20 years from the development of norms under international law to the implementation of those norms through national policy. Facilitating accountability for this rights-based policy implementation under the right to health, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) monitors state implementation by reviewing periodic reports from state parties, engaging in formal sessions of 'constructive dialogue' with state representatives, and issuing concluding observations for state response. These concluding observations recognise the positive steps taken by states and highlight the principal areas of CESCR concern, providing recommendations for implementing human rights and detailing issues to be addressed in the next state report. Through analytic coding of the normative indicators of the right to health in both state reports and concluding observations, this article provides an empirical basis to understand the policy effects of the CESCR monitoring process on state implementation of the right to health.

  7. A Human Rights Glossary.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flowers, Nancy

    1998-01-01

    Presents a human rights glossary that includes definitions of basic terms, treaties, charters, and groups/organizations that have been featured in previous articles in this edition of "Update on Law-Related Education"; the human rights terms have been compiled as part of the celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights…

  8. HUMAN CAPITAL IN ECO-ECONOMY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF ROMANIA

    OpenAIRE

    Ion PETRESCU

    2013-01-01

    The current modern civilization and, in this context, the Romanian one, faces a great challenge in finding the most effective and practical methods of implying the human capital in the process of ensuring the eco-economic progress and the sustainable development one in which people to live in communion with nature. In our communication we aim to analyze issues related to human capital involvement in eco-economy and sustainable development of Romania, based on the assessment of the impact of t...

  9. Human Rights and History Education: An Australian Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burridge Nina; Buchanan, John; Chodkiewicz, Andrew

    2014-01-01

    The place of education for and about human rights within the school curriculum remains contested and this paper reports on the first national cross-sectoral investigation of its place in Australian curricula and more specifically in national and state History curriculum documents. Opportunities for the inclusion of human rights based studies were…

  10. Multinational corporations and infectious disease: Embracing human rights management techniques.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salcito, Kendyl; Singer, Burton H; Weiss, Mitchell G; Winkler, Mirko S; Krieger, Gary R; Wielga, Mark; Utzinger, Jürg

    2014-01-01

    Global health institutions have called for governments, international organisations and health practitioners to employ a human rights-based approach to infectious diseases. The motivation for a human rights approach is clear: poverty and inequality create conditions for infectious diseases to thrive, and the diseases, in turn, interact with social-ecological systems to promulgate poverty, inequity and indignity. Governments and intergovernmental organisations should be concerned with the control and elimination of these diseases, as widespread infections delay economic growth and contribute to higher healthcare costs and slower processes for realising universal human rights. These social determinants and economic outcomes associated with infectious diseases should interest multinational companies, partly because they have bearing on corporate productivity and, increasingly, because new global norms impose on companies a responsibility to respect human rights, including the right to health. We reviewed historical and recent developments at the interface of infectious diseases, human rights and multinational corporations. Our investigation was supplemented with field-level insights at corporate capital projects that were developed in areas of high endemicity of infectious diseases, which embraced rights-based disease control strategies. Experience and literature provide a longstanding business case and an emerging social responsibility case for corporations to apply a human rights approach to health programmes at global operations. Indeed, in an increasingly globalised and interconnected world, multinational corporations have an interest, and an important role to play, in advancing rights-based control strategies for infectious diseases. There are new opportunities for governments and international health agencies to enlist corporate business actors in disease control and elimination strategies. Guidance offered by the United Nations in 2011 that is widely embraced

  11. Teaching Human Rights Law.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berman, Howard R.

    1985-01-01

    The international community has developed a system of human rights law relevant to many areas of legal encounter, which American law schools have been slow to incorporate into curricula. Teaching human rights law provides an opportunity for law schools to enrich the learning process and contribute creatively to the respect for rights in society.…

  12. Discursive Framings of Human Rights

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    What does it mean to be a subject of human rights? The status of the subject is closely connected with the form and rhetoric of the framing discourse, and this book investigates the relationship between the status of the subject and the form of human rights discourse, in differing aesthetic...... and social contexts. Historical as well as contemporary declarations of rights have stressed both the protective and political aspects of human rights. But in concrete situations and conflictual moments, the high moral legitimacy of human rights rhetoric has often clouded the actual character of specific...... interventions, and so made it difficult to differentiate between the objects of humanitarian intervention and the subjects of politics. Critically re-examining this opposition – between victims and agents of human rights – through a focus on the ways in which discourses of rights are formed and circulated...

  13. An African Perspective on Human Rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shiman, David

    1992-01-01

    Presents a series of classroom activities comparing differing views of human rights in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and People's Rights. Includes excerpts from the African Charter on Human and People's Rights and the full text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (CFR)

  14. Human rights and the right to abortion in Latin America.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zúñiga-Fajuri, Alejandra

    2014-03-01

    The scope of this study is to question the fact that in some countries in Latin America (Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic) abortion is still forbidden in all situations. Even after all the debate on this thorny issue, the theory of human rights is not often used in the defense of abortion. This is clearly related to the pervasive, albeit unspoken belief that, due to their condition, pregnant women inherently lose their full human rights and should surrender and even give up their lives in favor of the unborn child. This article seeks to show that an adequate reading of the theory of human rights should include abortion rights through the first two trimesters of pregnancy, based on the fact that basic liberties can only be limited for the sake of liberty itself. It also seeks to respond to those who maintain that the abortion issue cannot be resolved since the exact point in the development of the embryo that distinguishes legitimate from illegitimate abortion cannot be determined. There are strong moral and scientific arguments for an approach capable of reducing uncertainty and establishing the basis for criminal law reforms that focus on the moral importance of trimester laws.

  15. Human rights and the right to abortion in Latin America

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alejandra Zúñiga-Fajuri

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available The scope of this study is to question the fact that in some countries in Latin America (Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic abortion is still forbidden in all situations. Even after all the debate on this thorny issue, the theory of human rights is not often used in the defense of abortion. This is clearly related to the pervasive, albeit unspoken belief that, due to their condition, pregnant women inherently lose their full human rights and should surrender and even give up their lives in favor of the unborn child. This article seeks to show that an adequate reading of the theory of human rights should include abortion rights through the first two trimesters of pregnancy, based on the fact that basic liberties can only be limited for the sake of liberty itself. It also seeks to respond to those who maintain that the abortion issue cannot be resolved since the exact point in the development of the embryo that distinguishes legitimate from illegitimate abortion cannot be determined. There are strong moral and scientific arguments for an approach capable of reducing uncertainty and establishing the basis for criminal law reforms that focus on the moral importance of trimester laws.

  16. Reasserting the primacy of human needs to reclaim the 'lost half' of sustainable development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Everard, Mark; Longhurst, James W S

    2018-04-15

    The concept of sustainable development evolved from growing awareness of the interdependence of social and economic progress with the limits of the supporting natural environment, becoming progressively integrated into global agreements and transposition into local regulatory and implementation frameworks. We argue that transposition of the concept into regulation and supporting tools reduced the focus to minimal environmental and social standards, perceived as imposing constraints rather than opportunities for innovation to meet human needs. The aspirational 'half' of the concept of sustainable development specifically addressing human needs was thus lost in transposing high ideals into regulatory instruments. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) restore focus on interlinked human needs, stimulating innovation of products and processes to satisfy them. Through three case studies - PVC water pipes, river quality management in England, and UK local air quality management - we explore the current operationalisation of the concept in diverse settings, using the SDG framework to highlight the broader societal purposes central to sustainable development. Partnerships involving civil society support evolution of regulatory instruments and their implementation, optimising social and ecological benefits thereby serving more human needs. Restoring the visionary 'lost half' of sustainable development - meeting human needs in sustainable ways - creates incentives for innovation and partnership; an innovation framework rather than a perceived constraint. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Human Rights and Cultural Identity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John-Stewart Gordon

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Universal human rights and particular cultural identities, which are relativistic by nature, seem to stand in conflict with each other. It is commonly suggested that the relativistic natures of cultural identities undermine universal human rights and that human rights might compromise particular cultural identities in a globalised world. This article examines this supposed clash and suggests that it is possible to frame a human rights approach in such a way that it becomes the starting point and constraining framework for all non-deficient cultural identities. In other words, it is possible to depict human rights in a culturally sensitive way so that universal human rights can meet the demands of a moderate version of meta-ethical relativism which acknowledges a small universal core of objectively true or false moral statements and avers that, beyond that small core, all other moral statements are neither objectively true nor false.

  18. The Humanities, Human Rights, and the Comparative Imagination

    OpenAIRE

    McClennen, Sophia A.

    2007-01-01

    In her paper "The Humanities, Human Rights, and the Comparative Imagination" Sophia A. McClennen argues that understanding the relationship between culture and human rights depends on humanist perspectives attentive to the relationship between storytelling and identity, mass culture and ideology, text and audience, critical thinking and engaged citizenship. After briefly considering how the divide between the humanities and human rights advocates developed and how it might best be overcome, s...

  19. “GAY RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS”: : THE FRAMING OF NEW INTERPRETATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS NORMS

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Holzhacker, Ron

    2014-01-01

    “Gay Rights are Human Rights” may have begun as a slogan chanted in the street, but academics and human rights organizations began to use the international human rights frame systematically in the 1990s to argue for universal human rights to fully apply to LGBT persons. This framing gradually began

  20. 3 CFR 8464 - Proclamation 8464 of December 9, 2009. Human Rights Day, Bill of Rights Day, And Human Rights...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... culture is unique, certain rights are universal: the freedom of people—including women and ethnic and... 3 The President 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Proclamation 8464 of December 9, 2009. Human Rights Day, Bill of Rights Day, And Human Rights Week, 2009 8464 Proclamation 8464 Presidential Documents...

  1. Communication rights: Fundamental human rights for all.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McLeod, Sharynne

    2018-02-01

    The right to communicate includes the right to "freedom of opinion and expression" and rights and freedoms "without distinction of … language". The 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a time to celebrate and reflect on communication as a human right, particularly with respect to Article 19 and its relationship to national and international conventions, declarations, policies and practices. This review profiles articles from the special issue of International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (volume 20, issue 1) addressing communication rights from four perspectives: (1) communication rights of all people; (2) communication rights of people with communication disabilities; (3) communication rights of children and (4) communication rights relating to language. Divergent perspectives from across the globe are considered. First-hand accounts of people whose right to communicate is compromised/upheld are included and perspectives are provided from people with expertise and advocacy roles in speech-language pathology, audiology, linguistics, education, media, literature and law, including members of the International Communication Project. Three steps are outlined to support communication rights: acknowledge people - adjust the communication style - take time to listen. Future advocacy for communication rights could be informed by replicating processes used to generate the Yogyakarta Principles.

  2. Women's rights are human rights : The practice of the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Leeuwen, F.C.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/265778646

    2009-01-01

    ‘Women’s rights are human rights!’ This notion may seem self evident, as the international system for the promotion and the protection of human rights that was installed under the auspice of the United Nations (UN) builds on the idea of equality in dignity and rights of men and women. Yet, as was

  3. Humanity and Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shu-Kun Lin

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available So far our open access publishing company MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute has published mainly science, medicine and technology journals. To become a multidisciplinary publisher, we launched the journal Sustainability [1]. More recently, we started to run several social science journals, including Societies [2], Religions [3], Administrative Sciences [4] and Behavioral Sciences [5]. Today we published the first paper [6] of the inaugural issue of Humanities (ISSN 2076-0787. This will be an international open access journal, publishing scholarly papers of high quality across all humanities disciplines. As a publisher, I would like to publish journals surrounding the topics of sustainability and I believe the humanities as a discipline of academic studies are very important. As a scientist, I believed science and technology will only benefit human beings. I was raised in a small village, living a very primitive life in a peasant family: no electricity, no machines, of course no TV and no refrigerator. Now, the life of my children is completely different. Even my own life has completely changed. I have witnessed very rapid changes: more and more machines are used to consume mineral resources and energy and to pollute the environment, in order to produce more and more powerful machines (we are also launching a journal titled Machines, in which the relationship between Man and machine should be an interesting topic.. Machines are more and more like human individuals consuming resources themselves (we are launching a journal titled Resources. [...

  4. Biotechnology and human rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feuillet-Le Mintier, B

    2001-12-01

    Biotechnology permits our world to progress. It's a tool to better apprehend the human being, but as well to let him go ahead. Applied to the living, biotechnologies present the same finality. But since their matter concerns effectively the living, they are the sources of specific dangers and particularly of that one to use the improvements obtained on the human to modify the human species. The right of the persons has to find its place to avoid that the fundamental rights of the human personality shall undergo harm. This mission assigned to the right of the persons is as so much invaluable that the economical stakes are particularly important in the domain of the biotechnologies.

  5. Kingdom, covenant, and human rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Koos Vorster

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available This research revisits the idea of a Christian perspective on human rights. Departing from a hermeneutics of trust, this article considers the concept of human rights from the perspective of revelation history. Revelation history departs from the consent of the parts of Scripture, irrespective of differences in dating, original languages, canonical differentiation, cultural, social and historical contexts. Scripture offers a theological unity consisting of various topics which are developed continuing and purposeful throughout the biblical revelation. Two of the major topics in Scripture as they are revealed by a revelation historical survey are the concepts kingdom of God and the covenant of God with God’s people. In this article these two concepts will be used as a foundation for a Christian theory of human rights both as legal human rights and moral human rights. The central theoretical argument of this investigation is that both the concepts kingdom and covenant are essentially about justice and relationships – the justice of the kingdom and the relation between God and humankind, the relation between people and the relation between humans and creation. These relations are the essence of the rights people have, vis-à-vis the authority of the day and other people. These rights, which deal with the orderly maintenance of relationships, can be formalised in legal human rights and should be nurtured and protected by the civil authorities. Christians and churches as moral agents in society have the calling to promote the idea of human rights in constitutional democracies.

  6. Human Rights Here and Now: Celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flowers, Nancy, Ed.

    Although December 10, 1998, marked the 50th anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), most people living in the United States remain unaware of this document, the foundation stone of all human rights. Intended for use by both community groups and teachers in elementary and secondary schools, this educational…

  7. Child rights, right to water and sanitation, and human security.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pink, Ross

    2012-06-15

    The article explores the intersection between child rights, water scarcity, sanitation, and the human security paradigm. The recognition of child rights has been advanced through the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international legal instruments, while water rights are increasingly affirmed in international law and through the historic July 2010 United Nations General Assembly resolution that strengthened the legal foundation for water security and human rights. Yet there remains a development gap in terms of child access to clean and secure water sources for basic human development needs. The human security paradigm provides a legal and humanitarian foundation for the extension of child rights related to water and sanitation. Copyright © 2012 Pink.

  8. Oil companies and human rights

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chandler, Geoffrey

    1997-01-01

    This article highlights the need for oil companies in the future to take into account human rights in corporate decision making. The influence oil companies can bring to bear on government violating human rights, excuses for not voicing condemnation of abuses, and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights are discussed. (UK)

  9. Corporate Sustainable Development Assessment Base on the Corporate Social Responsibility

    OpenAIRE

    Sun Mei; Nagata Katsuya; Onoda Hiroshi

    2011-01-01

    With the resource exhaustion, bad affections of human activities and the awakening of the human rights, the corporate social responsibility became popular corporate strategy achieving sustainable development of both corporation and society. The issue of Guideline of Chinese Corporate Social Responsibility Report promotes greatly corporation to take social responsibility. This paper built the index system according to this guideline and takes the textile industry as an exa...

  10. Pursuing the Right to an Effective Remedy for Human Rights ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Undoubtedly, global and regional human rights instruments clearly entrench the right to an effective remedy for a human rights violation. The substantive nature of the right to an effective remedy makes it relevant to the realisation of the right to equality as well as the right to equal protection under the law. Cameroon, as a ...

  11. Human rights of refugee-survivors of sexual and gender-based violence with communication disability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marshall, Julie; Barrett, Helen

    2018-02-01

    Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1948 ) states that all people have the right to seek, receive and impart information using any means. Ensuring that people with communication disability achieve this right is inherently challenging. For people with communication disability, who are refugee-survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), additional human rights are challenged, including the right to education, protection from discrimination, a safe place to live, security of person and legal protection. Their experiences and needs, however, are poorly understood. This paper reports on a literature review of the intersectionality between SGBV, being a refugee and having a communication disability, and a preliminary investigation of the situation of refugee-survivors of SGBV with communication disability, in Rwanda. The project involved 54 participants, including 50 humanitarian and partner organisation staff and four carers of refugees with communication disabilities, from two locations (camp-based and urban refugees). Findings from both revealed that, for people with communication disability, barriers are likely to occur at each step of preventing and responding to SGBV. Moreover, stigmatisation of people with communication disability challenges SGBV prevention/support and people with communication disability may be targeted by SGBV perpetrators. SGBV service providers acknowledge their lack of knowledge and skills about communication disability, but wish to learn. Findings highlight the need for increased knowledge and skill development, in order to improve the situation for refugee-survivors of SGBV with communication disability.

  12. Human Rights and Public Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowring, Bill

    2012-01-01

    This article attempts a contrast to the contribution by Hugh Starkey. Rather than his account of the inexorable rise of human rights discourse, and of the implementation of human rights standards, human rights are here presented as always and necessarily scandalous and highly contested. First, I explain why the UK has lagged so far behind its…

  13. Urbanization and human rights

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mihr, A.

    Urban governance on the basis of human rights can help to set up problem solving mechanisms to guarantee social peace, economic growth and political participation.If states both integrate more in international or regional human rights regime and give more autonomy to urban governments and local

  14. Human Rights, Mineral Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This view of the company is often described under the concept of corporate social responsibility. This Paper assesses the nature of corporate social responsibility in Ghana primarily focusing on the mining industry. The Paper outlines the various human rights and mineral rights in Ghana and the effects of mining on human ...

  15. The human rights and the terrorism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hamidreza Rafiei Fanood

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Regarding Human rights has been emphasized by governments through universal declaration human rights and its violations faced the global reaction in any case. From this perspective; the necessity of observing human rights against terrorism has been emphasized by many resolutions of the General Assembly, the Security Council and many regional resolutions. But, today especially after the September 11 events and America unilateral attacks by resorting to human rights and of course by considering the lack of international agreement on the norms, strategies and principles of human rights, the campaign against terrorism has started on the basis of its obligations, regardless to existing norms. So it would be said that today; the war against terrorism more than any other terrorist attacks threatens the security and human rights. However, human rights framework has never prevented effective and legitimate actions to the terrorist attacks. In other words; in the human right framework, there is no conflict with the campaign against terrorism, it emphasizes on identifying and fighting and even it guarantees the effectiveness of such a fight. As a result, Human rights violations at the expense of security, certainly associated with the destruction of both.

  16. China and Africa: Human Rights Perspective

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    significant concept behind that of power and sovereignty is national interest. ..... of whom deny that modern states have a moral or legal authority to represent them in ... protection of human rights based on cultural relativism would then only be.

  17. Human Rights, Human Needs, Human Development, Human Security

    OpenAIRE

    Gasper, Des

    2009-01-01

    Human rights, human development and human security form increasingly important, partly interconnected, partly competitive and misunderstood ethical and policy discourses. Each tries to humanize a pre-existing and unavoidable major discourse of everyday life, policy and politics; each has emerged within the United Nations world; each relies implicitly on a conceptualisation of human need; each has specific strengths. Yet mutual communication, understanding and co-operation are deficient, espec...

  18. Fundamental Human Rights under the Nigerian Constitution: Right ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    It is almost tempting to apologise for returning to the subject of human rights, but the temptation ought to be resisted. The question of the recognition and protection of Human rights, a perennial, worldwide problem since the immediate aftermath of the Second World War in particular, has played a leading role in international, ...

  19. Grassroots responsiveness to human rights abuse: history of the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanders, Laura; Martinez, Ramiro; Harner, Margaret; Harner, Melanie; Horner, Pilar; Delva, Jorge

    2013-04-01

    The purpose of this article is to discuss how a community agency based in Washtenaw County, the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigration Rights (WICIR), emerged in response to increasing punitive immigration practices and human rights abuses toward the Latino community. The article discusses how WICIR is engaged in advocacy, community education on immigration issues, and political action toward a more humane immigration reform. Detailed examples of human rights abuses and the WICIR activities described in response to the abuses serve as illustrations of social work advocacy, education, and policy formulation that affect the general public, policymakers, and law enforcement officials.

  20. Macro- and Micro-Political Vernaculizations of Rights: Human Rights and Abortion Discourses in Northern Ireland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pierson, Claire; Bloomer, Fiona

    2017-06-01

    How abortion is dealt with in law and policy is shaped through the multiple political and societal discourses on the issue within a particular society. Debate on abortion is constantly in flux, with progressive and regressive movements witnessed globally. This paper examines the translation of human rights norms into discourses on abortion in Northern Ireland, a region where abortion is highly restricted, with extensive contemporary public debate into potential liberalization of abortion law. This paper emanates from research examining political debates on abortion in Northern Ireland and contrasts findings with recent civil society developments, identifying competing narratives of human rights with regard to abortion at the macro- and micro-political level. The paper identifies the complexities of using human rights as a lobbying tool, and questions the utility of rights-based arguments in furthering abortion law reform. The paper concludes that a legalistic rights-based approach may have limited efficacy in creating a more nuanced debate and perspective on abortion in Northern Ireland but that it has particular resonance in arguing for limited reform in extreme cases.

  1. State Democratic Rights as Current Political Power Limit and a New Culture for Social Promotion of Development and Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cátia Rejane Liczbinski Sarreta

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The proposed study relates to the democracy and political power considering the implementation of sustainability. Presented as theoretical basis the democratic principle itself, as well as the realization of human and fundamental rights. Exploring the possibility of re (construction of the state and own power and political and social culture of democracy through the promotion of development and sustainability. In a democratic state the appropriate political power embodies the rights of the citizen. A key element that should be considered is education for training social actors capable of promoting the transformation of dominant practices and that take important roles in politics and influence the state and society. The method used is deductive.

  2. Teachers and Human Rights Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osler, Audrey; Starkey, Hugh

    2010-01-01

    Why do teachers need to be familiar with human rights? In multicultural societies, whose values take precedence? How do schools resolve tensions between children's rights and teachers' rights? Campaigners, politicians and the media cite human rights to justify or challenge anything from peaceful protest to military action. The phrase "human…

  3. Human rights to in vitro fertilization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zegers-Hochschild, Fernando; Dickens, Bernard M; Dughman-Manzur, Sandra

    2013-10-01

    The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (the Court) has ruled that the Supreme Court of Costa Rica's judgment in 2000 prohibiting in vitro fertilization (IVF) violated the human right to private and family life, the human right to found and raise a family, and the human right to non-discrimination on grounds of disability, financial means, or gender. The Court's conclusions of violations contrary to the American Convention on Human Rights followed from its ruling that, under the Convention, in vitro embryos are not "persons" and do not possess a right to life. Accordingly, the prohibition of IVF to protect embryos constituted a disproportionate and unjustifiable denial of infertile individuals' human rights. The Court distinguished fertilization from conception, since conception-unlike fertilization-depends on an embryo's implantation in a woman's body. Under human rights law, legal protection of an embryo "from conception" is inapplicable between its creation by fertilization and completion of its implantation in utero. © 2013.

  4. What Constitutes Evidence in Human Rights-Based Approaches to Health? Learning from Lived Experiences of Maternal and Sexual Reproductive Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Unnithan, Maya

    2015-12-10

    The impact of human rights interventions on health outcomes is complex, multiple, and difficult to ascertain in the conventional sense of cause and effect. Existing approaches based on probable (experimental and statistical) conclusions from evidence are limited in their ability to capture the impact of rights-based transformations in health. This paper argues that a focus on plausible conclusions from evidence enables policy makers and researchers to take into account the effects of a co-occurrence of multiple factors connected with human rights, including the significant role of "context" and power. Drawing on a subject-near and interpretive (in other words, with regard to meaning) perspective that focuses on the lived experiences of human rights-based interventions, the paper suggests that policy makers and researchers are best served by evidence arrived at through plausible, observational modes of ascertaining impact. Through an examination of what human rights-based interventions mean, based on the experience of their operationalization on the ground in culturally specific maternal and reproductive health care contexts, this paper contributes to an emerging scholarship that seeks to pluralize the concept of evidence and to address the methodological challenges posed by heterogeneous forms of evidence in the context of human rights as applied to health. Copyright © 2015 Unnithan. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

  5. Teaching Human Rights: Confronting the Contradictions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John L. Hammond

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Teaching human rights means taking on a series of controversies over what human rights are, how they are determined, and how they are (or are not upheld.  The "possession paradox" is that often human rights are declared but many, or even most, people do not actually enjoy them.  In teaching human rights we must convey both the promise of human rights and the discrepancy between that promise and their fulfillment.  I review a number of controversies in the current application of human rights, many of which arise from that discrepancy.  I then suggest the use of literary works and simulation games that can sometimes convey meanings more effectively than expository material.

  6. Applying human rights to improve access to reproductive health services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaw, Dorothy; Cook, Rebecca J

    2012-10-01

    Universal access to reproductive health is a target of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5B, and along with MDG 5A to reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters, progress is currently too slow for most countries to achieve these targets by 2015. Critical to success are increased and sustainable numbers of skilled healthcare workers and financing of essential medicines by governments, who have made political commitments in United Nations forums to renew their efforts to reduce maternal mortality. National essential medicine lists are not reflective of medicines available free or at cost in facilities or in the community. The WHO Essential Medicines List indicates medicines required for maternal and newborn health including the full range of contraceptives and emergency contraception, but there is no consistent monitoring of implementation of national lists through procurement and supply even for basic essential drugs. Health advocates are using human rights mechanisms to ensure governments honor their legal commitments to ensure access to services essential for reproductive health. Maternal mortality is recognized as a human rights violation by the United Nations and constitutional and human rights are being used, and could be used more effectively, to improve maternity services and to ensure access to drugs essential for reproductive health. Copyright © 2012 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Human trafficking in Germany: strengthening victim's human rights

    OpenAIRE

    Follmar-Otto, Petra; Rabe, Heike

    2009-01-01

    The first study - "A human rights approach against human trafficking - International obligations and the status of implementation in Germany" - analyses how the prohibition of human trafficking and the resulting state obligations are anchored in human rights. The more recent specialised international agreements on human trafficking and law-making in the European Union are then presented. The emphasis is on the Council of Europe Convention, which professes to treat human trafficking in a human...

  8. The Human Right to Peace

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Villán Durán

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The international codification of the human right to peace was brought to the United Nations by civil society organizations. The draft declaration submitted to the States has a holistic nature, is very rooted in the international human rights law, and considers peace as the absence of all forms of violence (Santiago Declaration on the Human Right to Peace of 10 December 2010. A working group appointed by the UN Human Rights Council should achieve a new and consensual text to bridge the existing gap between developed and developing States in this field, the former being more supportive of the thesis maintained by civil society.

  9. Human rights abuses and concerns about women's health and human rights in southern Iraq.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amowitz, Lynn L; Kim, Glen; Reis, Chen; Asher, Jana L; Iacopino, Vincent

    2004-03-24

    Although human rights abuses have been reported in Iraq, the full scope of these abuses has not been well documented. To assess the prevalence of human rights abuses since 1991 in southern Iraq, along with attitudes about women's health and human rights and women's rights and roles in society, to inform reconstruction and humanitarian assistance efforts in Iraq. Cross-sectional, randomized survey of Iraqi men and women conducted in July 2003 using structured questionnaires. Three major cities in 3 of the 9 governorates in southern Iraq. A total of 1991 respondents representing 16 520 household members. Respondent demographics, information on human rights abuses that occurred among household members since 1991, women's health and human rights, opinions regarding women's rights and roles in society, and conditions for community health and development. Respondents were a mean age of 38 years and were mostly of Arab ethnicity (99.7% [1976/1982]) and Muslim Shi'a (96.7% [1906/1971]). Overall, 47% of those interviewed reported 1 or more of the following abuses among themselves and household members since 1991: torture, killings, disappearance, forced conscription, beating, gunshot wounds, kidnappings, being held hostage, and ear amputation, among others. Seventy percent of abuses (408/586) were reputed to have occurred in homes. Baath party regime-affiliated groups were identified most often (95% [449/475]) as the perpetrators of the abuses; 53% of the abuses occurred between 1991 and 1993, following the Shi'a uprising, and another 30% between 2000 and the first 6 months of 2003. While the majority of men and women expressed support for women's equal opportunities for education, freedom of expression, access to health care, equality in deciding marriage and the number and spacing of children, and participation in community development decisions, there was less support among both men and women for women's freedom of movement, association with people of their choosing, and

  10. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Landorf, Hilary

    2012-01-01

    A study of human rights prepares students for their role as global citizens and their study of practices in the world's countries that relate to the rights of human beings. Today, when one talks of human rights it is usually with reference to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). It is the task of teachers to give students the…

  11. People who use drugs, HIV, and human rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jürgens, Ralf; Csete, Joanne; Amon, Joseph J; Baral, Stefan; Beyrer, Chris

    2010-08-07

    We reviewed evidence from more than 900 studies and reports on the link between human rights abuses experienced by people who use drugs and vulnerability to HIV infection and access to services. Published work documents widespread abuses of human rights, which increase vulnerability to HIV infection and negatively affect delivery of HIV programmes. These abuses include denial of harm-reduction services, discriminatory access to antiretroviral therapy, abusive law enforcement practices, and coercion in the guise of treatment for drug dependence. Protection of the human rights of people who use drugs therefore is important not only because their rights must be respected, protected, and fulfilled, but also because it is an essential precondition to improving the health of people who use drugs. Rights-based responses to HIV and drug use have had good outcomes where they have been implemented, and they should be replicated in other countries. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION AND PEACE IN THE BACHELOR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leticia Carranza-Peña

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This qualitative research article presents the relationship between human rights and peace in high school. The importance of the study centers on human relations as expressed through the language and behavior of teachers and students during daily coexistence at school. The materials used (stationery and technological supports were those needed for academic classroom work. The process was based on ethnography for peace, stemming from observation and structured interviews; the results show the nuances that oscillate between the presence and absence of human rights and peace, since peaceful practices exist, but so do violent ones that hamper healthy coexistence. The conclusions point to the establishment of transversal school projects to bring about respect for human rights, in order to foster a peaceful atmosphere in school through the collective.

  13. Inconvenient Human Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, Natasha

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Following an increase in Roma migration under the European “freedom of movement” laws, Swedish municipalities initiated more than 80 evictions of informal Roma settlements on the grounds of poor sanitation between 2013 and 2016. These evictions echo policies from earlier in the 20th century, when Roma living in Sweden were often marginalized through the denial of access to water and sanitation facilities. The recent Swedish evictions also follow similar government actions across Europe, where Roma settlements are controlled through the denial of access to water and sanitation. However, access to water and sanitation—central aspects of human health—are universal human rights that must be available to all people present in a jurisdiction, regardless of their legal status. The evictions described here violated Sweden’s obligations under both European and international human rights law. More positive government responses are required, such as providing shelters or camping sites, setting up temporary facilities, and directly engaging with communities to address water and sanitation issues. The authors conclude by providing guidance on how states and municipalities can meet their human rights obligations with respect to water and sanitation for vulnerable Roma individuals and informal settlements in their communities. PMID:29302163

  14. Human and peoples' rights: social representations among Cameroonian students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pirttilä-Backman, Anna-Maija; Kassea, Raul; Sakki, Inari

    2009-12-01

    Social representations of human and peoples' rights were studied among Cameroonian university students (N = 666) with a questionnaire based on the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and Duties. The respondents were asked how important and how well realized they regarded the 39 human and peoples' rights to be. A 13-factor model provided the best fit with Cameroonian students' perceptions of human and peoples' rights. Taken as a whole, our results are in line with previous quantitative studies on human rights, confirming structural similarity but also country-specific variation in the aggregation of specific rights. Moreover, our data showed that Cameroonian students value human and peoples' rights highly (M = 6.18), whereas their fulfillment is not regarded as highly (M = 5.09). Same law for all, equality and freedom, and right to work and living were highly appreciated but lowly realized rights. Higher than average in importance and realization were right to education and self-fulfillment, right to marriage and property, peoples' social and political basic rights and right to life and safety. Low in importance and realization were peoples' right to their country's natural resources and independence, right to meetings, and right to express opinion. Women appreciated the rights more than men and thought of their rights as better realized compared to men. We suggest that when women say that their rights are better fulfilled than men do, it is in comparison with the older generation, who are still very dependent on men. Nowadays, thanks to education and urbanization, young women have wider choices or opportunities for marriage and jobs. Men may feel frustrated in the context of political liberalization because the freedoms are more theoretical than fulfilled; the economic crises and cultural changes have hindered their economic domination and their prerogatives.

  15. Translating Human Rights Principles into Classroom Practices: Inequities in Educating about Human Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, Carol

    2017-01-01

    The overarching aim of this paper is to explore how key principles inherent in human rights declarations and conventions are translated into practices associated with human rights education within school contexts. It is argued that this translation from discourse to practice opens up the potential for children and young people to encounter…

  16. Sustainability and public access to nature: Contesting the right to roam

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniel R. Williams

    2001-01-01

    This paper discusses the importance of cultural and institutional differences in rights of access to nature for sustainable tourism management. Drawing on the insights from the papers contained in this issue of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, this introduction highlights two overarching themes. The first is the ambiguous/problematic role of science...

  17. The Political Sociology of Human Rights

    OpenAIRE

    Nash, Kate

    2015-01-01

    The language of human rights is the most prominent 'people-centred' language of global justice today. This textbook looks at how human rights are constructed at local, national, international and transnational levels and considers commonalities and differences around the world. Through discussions of key debates in the interdisciplinary study of human rights, the book develops its themes by considering examples of human rights advocacy in international organisations, national states and local...

  18. Sustainability Indicators for Coupled Human-Earth Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Motesharrei, S.; Rivas, J. R.; Kalnay, E.

    2014-12-01

    Over the last two centuries, the Human System went from having a small impact on the Earth System (including the Climate System) to becoming dominant, because both population and per capita consumption have grown extremely fast, especially since about 1950. We therefore argue that Human System Models must be included into Earth System Models through bidirectional couplings with feedbacks. In particular, population should be modeled endogenously, rather than exogenously as done currently in most Integrated Assessment Models. The growth of the Human System threatens to overwhelm the Carrying Capacity of the Earth System, and may be leading to catastrophic climate change and collapse. We propose a set of Ecological and Economic "Sustainability Indicators" that can employ large data-sets for developing and assessing effective mitigation and adaptation policies. Using the Human and Nature Dynamical Model (HANDY) and Coupled Human-Climate-Water Model (COWA), we carry out experiments with this set of Sustainability Indicators and show that they are applicable to various coupled systems including Population, Climate, Water, Energy, Agriculture, and Economy. Impact of nonrenewable resources and fossil fuels could also be understood using these indicators. We demonstrate interconnections of Ecological and Economic Indicators. Coupled systems often include feedbacks and can thus display counterintuitive dynamics. This makes it difficult for even experts to see coming catastrophes from just the raw data for different variables. Sustainability Indicators boil down the raw data into a set of simple numbers that cross their sustainability thresholds with a large time-lag before variables enter their catastrophic regimes. Therefore, we argue that Sustainability Indicators constitute a powerful but simple set of tools that could be directly used for making policies for sustainability.

  19. Nature of Human Rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos López Dawson

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available In the formation of a new Constitution the constituents will require to know or reach an agreement on the nature of human rights; then, to determine how the State will enforce the respect to those rights. To do so, it is necessary to resort to the history and evolution of these rights, and the present work aims to contribute to an efficient productive debate about the nature of human rights, so that citizens can decide on the understanding that this is a thoughtful democratic and humanistic founded decision. The analysis is in the actual technical-ideological republican system which correspond to the current state of international law

  20. Human Dignity – Constitutional Principle of Fundamental Human Rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucian Pop

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available As a constitutional principle of the human rights, the human dignity is a supreme value, a norm and a right, thus that the reconfiguration of protection standards of fundamental human rights is made by cohesion of the legal, social and moral dimensions of human dignity. With this article, the author argues that legal meaning, social meaning and moral meaning of human dignity, are centerpiece of protection of freedom under law.

  1. Scientific Freedom and Human Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Munoz, Elisa

    2000-03-01

    As part of her ongoing work monitoring issues at the intersection of science and human rights, Ms. Munoz has highlighted violations of academic freedom in Serbia and Iran, the denial of visas and travel licenses to U.S. and Cuban scientists, interference with scientific freedom in Brazil, Mexico, Russia, and the Ukraine, the use of organs from executed prisoners in China, legislation jeopardizing women's health in Iran, and the closure of centers for the treatment of torture survivors in Turkey. Such violations contravene international human rights principles listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights covenants. Ms. Munoz will describe current violations of scientific freedom and the relevant international principles on which these freedoms rest.

  2. Economic sanctions as human rights violations: reconciling political and public health imperatives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marks, S P

    1999-10-01

    The impact of economic sanctions on civilians has frequently been studied by public health specialists and specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). This commentary explores some of the difficulties of the claim that sanctions constitute violations of human rights. The deprivation suffered by civilian populations under sanctions regimes often are violations of economic, social, and cultural human rights; however, the attribution of responsibility for those violations to the "senders" of sanctions (the UN Security Council or the US government, for example) is difficult to sustain, particularly in light of the efforts made by these entities to provide for humanitarian exemptions and humanitarian aid. A more productive approach to avoiding civilian harm is to prefer, as a matter of policy, arms embargoes, severing of communications, and international criminal prosecutions over trade embargoes. Promising recommendations have been formulated regarding "smart sanctions," which target regimes rather than people, and "positive sanctions" in the form of incentives. Health and human rights professionals have specific and important tasks in implementing such a restructured approach to sanctions.

  3. Human Rights in Indonesian Constitutional Amendments

    OpenAIRE

    Kharlie, Ahmad Tholabi

    2013-01-01

    Human Rights in Indonesian Constitutional Amendments. Indonesian constitutional amendments incorporated human rights principles into the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia 1945 (UUD NRI), especially in the second amendment in 2000. Under that amendment, the UUD NRI currently stipulates human rights principles as provided for in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). However, there are some important notes, which at its core is a lack of emphasis on the vision and mission of ...

  4. The Functions of Selected Human Rights Institutions and Related Role-Players in the Protection of Human Rights in Zimbabwe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Howard Chitimira

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Various violations of the human rights of ordinary people and human rights defenders have been reported in Zimbabwe since the late 1980s. It is widely acknowledged that such violations have been perpetrated mostly by the government through its different organs for political and other related reasons. Human rights violations were also easily committed against ordinary people and human rights defenders because there was no Constitution that adequately protected such people's fundamental human rights (including their civil and political rights and their socio-economic rights in Zimbabwe. Given this background, the article discusses the protection of human rights in Zimbabwe, in the light of the Zimbabwe Constitution Amendment Act 20 of 2013 (Zimbabwe Constitution 2013. This is done in order to investigate whether the promotion, protection, enforcement and respect for human rights in Zimbabwe has now improved. To this end, the functions of selected national human rights institutions and other related role-players, namely civil society, the judiciary, the law enforcement organs and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, are briefly discussed first. Secondly, the functions of selected regional and international institutions, namely the Southern African Development Community, the African Union and the United Nations are discussed in relation to the protection of human rights in Zimbabwe. Thereafter, concluding remarks and possible recommendations that could be utilised to combat human rights violations and enhance the protection of human rights in Zimbabwe are provided.

  5. A Hierarchy of Human Rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brockett, Charles

    To establish an objective conception of human rights, one must first identify basic needs intrinsic to all people and then determine whether these needs are or can be hierarchically ordered. Many scholars have conducted research on the concept of human needs, particularly in the area of human rights. Among these scholars are Abraham H. Maslow…

  6. Human rights and intellectual disabilities in an era of 'choice'.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fyson, R; Cromby, J

    2013-12-01

    Efforts to uphold and promote the human rights of people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are being affected by the increasing emphasis on 'choice' in the delivery of social care services. While rights presume subjects or selves to whom they apply, there is a disconnect between the subjects presumed within human rights frameworks and the variable capacities of a heterogeneous ID population. This disconnect is amplified by choice discourses which characterise current service provision based upon neoliberal ideologies. Conceptual assumptions and theoretical positions associated with human rights in relation to people with ID are critically examined. The analysis results in an argument that current conceptualisations of personhood in relation to human rights exclude people with ID. The adverse effects of this exclusion are exacerbated within services which emphasise the permissive rights associated with a neoliberal agenda of 'choice' over protective rights. In order to ensure that the human rights of people with ID are upheld, neoliberal emphases on choice need to be tempered and a more nuanced and inclusive notion of personhood in relation to universal human rights needs to be adopted. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, MENCAP & IASSID.

  7. Human Rights and the Political Economy of Universal Health Care

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-01-01

    Abstract Health system financing is a critical factor in securing universal health care and achieving equity in access and payment. The human rights framework offers valuable guidance for designing a financing strategy that meets these goals. This article presents a rights-based approach to health care financing developed by the human right to health care movement in the United States. Grounded in a human rights analysis of private, market-based health insurance, advocates make the case for public financing through progressive taxation. Financing mechanisms are measured against the twin goals of guaranteeing access to care and advancing economic equity. The added focus on the redistributive potential of health care financing recasts health reform as an economic policy intervention that can help fulfill broader economic and social rights obligations. Based on a review of recent universal health care reform efforts in the state of Vermont, this article reports on a rights-based public financing plan and model, which includes a new business tax directed against wage disparities. The modeling results suggest that a health system financed through equitable taxation could produce significant redistributive effects, thus increasing economic equity while generating sufficient funds to provide comprehensive health care as a universal public good. PMID:28559677

  8. Towards an Agent Based Framework for Modelling Smart Self-Sustainable Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Igor Tomičić

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Self-sustainability is a property of a system; a system is considered to be self-sustainable if it can sustain itself without external support in an observed period of time. If this property is mapped to a human settlement in context of resources (water, energy, food, etc., it would describe a human settlement which is independent of external resources (like the national electrical grid or a central water distribution system, where such external resources are either not available, or not desirable. This article contributes to presenting the state-of-the-art overview of self-sustainability-related research. While self-sustainability as in the above described form was not a direct subject of research, there are several fields which are either related to, or could be of significant value to the self-sustainability research in this context. The extensive literature overview also showed no frameworks for modeling self sustainable systems in the context of human settlements. Herein a motivation for using agent-based modeling and simulation techniques will be given.

  9. Sexual rights as human rights: a guide to authoritative sources and principles for applying human rights to sexuality and sexual health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Alice M; Kismödi, Eszter; Cottingham, Jane; Gruskin, Sofia

    2015-11-01

    This Guide seeks to provide insight and resources to actors interested in the development of rights claims around sexuality and sexual health. After engaging with the vexed question of the scope of sexual rights, it explores the rules and principles governing the way in which human rights claims are developed and applied to sexuality and sexual health, and how that development is linked to law and made a matter of state obligation. This understanding is critical to policy and programming in sexual health and rights, as it supports calling on the relevant range of human rights, such as privacy, non-discrimination, health or other universally accepted human rights, as well as demanding the action of states under their international and national law obligations to support sexual health. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Health and human rights advocacy: perspectives from a Rwandan refugee camp.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pavlish, Carol; Ho, Anita; Rounkle, Ann-Marie

    2012-07-01

    Working at the bedside and within communities as patient advocates, nurses frequently intervene to advance individuals' health and well-being. However, the International Council of Nurses' Code of Ethics asserts that nurses should expand beyond the individual model and also promote a rights-enabling environment where respect for human dignity is paramount. This article applies the results of an ethnographic human rights study with displaced populations in Rwanda to argue for a rights-based social advocacy role for nurses. Human rights advocacy strategies include sensitization, participation, protection, good governance, and accountability. By adopting a rights-based approach to advocacy, nurses contribute to health agendas that include more just social relationships, equitable access to opportunities, and health-positive living situations for all persons.

  11. Terrorism against Human Rights: Reflections in the light of the Evolution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rubens Sotero

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Departing from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we will inquire if there are human rights for terrorists. Initially, we will defend the claim that the Declaration guarantees such rights to terrorists and we will show its consequences. Then we will seek an objective foundation for human rights based on the theory of evolution of species; as such a foundation is missing, we will show some consequences of the lack of this objective foundation.

  12. Human Rights in The Monotheistic Religions : Justification of Human Rights in the perspective of monotheistic religion according to Human Rights Theories

    OpenAIRE

    Ali, Sadaqat

    2018-01-01

    The discourse of human rights has been very prominent in the post-world wars which led various international organizations and institutes to generate awareness on this subject and pave a path for implementation of fundamental human rights in the world. Many theories have been coined and proliferated in the world to look the matter more seriously. The question mark on the role of religion in this regard has led the discussion sidelining divinely revealed monotheistic religions. Thus, religions...

  13. Critical Theory of Human Rights

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rensmann, Lars; Thompson, Michael J.

    2017-01-01

    International human rights have become an important global norm that has increasingly been incorporated into international law and global conventions. Human rights are a key reference point of mobilizations by diverse groups and international nongovernmental organization (INGOs) in global publics

  14. Human rights and faith: a ‘world-wide secular religion’?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Henri Féron

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available While human rights are meant to represent a secular morality, there are surprising parallels to be drawn with religions. Perhaps most striking is the realization that human rights are actually based on faith, as was already recognized at the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This dependence on faith has deep implications for the way we understand and propagate them, because it puts rights in situations of epistemological stalemate vis-à-vis other cultural, religious, or ideological moral systems. This paper proposes to compare human rights doctrine to a religion to identify potential threats to its long-term credibility, and how to address them. In particular, it explains why coercive propagation of rights risks degenerating into a form of self-contradictory fundamentalism. Ultimately, the article argues for a return to the values of tolerance and mutual respect that rights actually stand for.

  15. Environment of sustainable job in construction: the interface risk and right to health

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nilton Cesar Flores

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available This study analyzes the right to health in the middle of construction work environment, through risk perspective, prevention, sustainability and public policy, with an emphasis on activity that exposes the worker to solar radiation and, therefore, implies a means not sustainable environment. The analysis will focus on the environmental risk arising from exposure to radiation and its legal effects. In this context of risk, prevention is essential to the realization of the right to health in the workplace, and the extension of the right to health is the result of a constitutional reading for a sustainable environment, particularly from the art. 196 and art. 7, item XXII, which refers to prevention in the working environment. In this context, public policies show up as a guarantor instrument of disease prevention and the implementation of the right to health in the workplace. For this study, we use the theory of social systems as a theoretical framework

  16. Misconceptions about Human Rights and Women's Rights in Islam

    Science.gov (United States)

    Syed, Khalida Tanvir

    2008-01-01

    This paper aims to clarify three current misconceptions about the Islamic faith and issues of human rights and women's rights in the West. The first misconception is that Muslims are terrorists because they believe in Jihad. It is factually the case that Islamic teachings stress the value of peace and prosperity for all human beings. The second…

  17. Disability in a Human Rights Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Theresia Degener

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD is a modern human rights treaty with innovative components. It impacts on disability studies as well as human rights law. Two innovations are scrutinized in this article: the model of disability and the equality and discrimination concepts of the CRPD. It is argued that the CRPD manifests a shift from the medical model to the human rights model of disability. Six propositions are offered why and how the human rights model differs from the social model of disability. It is further maintained that the CRPD introduces a new definition of discrimination into international public law. The underlying equality concept can be categorized as transformative equality with both individual and group oriented components. The applied methodology of this research is legal doctrinal analysis and disability studies model analysis. The main finding is that the human rights model of disability improves the social model of disability. Three different models of disability can be attributed to different concepts of equality. The medical model corresponds with formal equality, while the social model with substantive equality and the human rights model can be linked with transformative equality.

  18. A Rejoinder to Commentaries on "Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights and Business Schools' Responsibility to Teach It"

    Science.gov (United States)

    McPhail, Ken

    2013-01-01

    Encouragingly, Professors Andrew and Everett broadly agree with McPhail (2013) that the emerging business and human rights discourse could add to our critical understanding of sustainability and, as such, should have a place within business schools' curricula. Professor Everett, however, cautions that the potential of the business and human rights…

  19. Teaching Strategy: Using the Human Rights Poster.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Update on Law-Related Education, 1998

    1998-01-01

    Describes a lesson focusing on a human-rights poster that provides visual reinforcement of the second article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that enforces freedom from discrimination. Presents students with examples of human-rights situations to assist them in understanding that all people are entitled to human rights. (CMK)

  20. ‘Gay Rights are Human Rights: The framing of new interpretations of international human rights norms’

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Holzhacker, Ron

    The purpose of this chapter is to explore the development of the framing of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons and sexual orientation and gender identity in terms of a human rights paradigm. This decades-long process involved many actors, from within academia, gay

  1. ‘Gay Rights are Human Rights: The framing of new interpretations of international human rights norms’

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Holzhacker, Ron

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this chapter is to explore the development of the framing of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons and sexual orientation and gender identity in terms of a human rights paradigm. This decades-long process involved many actors, from within academia, gay

  2. Translating the human right to water and sanitation into public policy reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meier, Benjamin Mason; Kayser, Georgia Lyn; Kestenbaum, Jocelyn Getgen; Amjad, Urooj Quezon; Dalcanale, Fernanda; Bartram, Jamie

    2014-12-01

    The development of a human right to water and sanitation under international law has created an imperative to implement human rights in water and sanitation policy. Through forty-three interviews with informants in international institutions, national governments, and non-governmental organizations, this research examines interpretations of this new human right in global governance, national policy, and local practice. Exploring obstacles to the implementation of rights-based water and sanitation policy, the authors analyze the limitations of translating international human rights into local water and sanitation practice, concluding that system operators, utilities, and management boards remain largely unaffected by the changing public policy landscape for human rights realization. To understand the relevance of human rights standards to water and sanitation practitioners, this article frames a research agenda to ensure that human rights aspirations lead to public policy reforms and public health outcomes.

  3. Human Rights in National Administrative Law

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Næsborg-Andersen, Ayo

    rights law is visible in the case-law of institutions performing reviews of Danish administrative decisions. The book consists of three parts. The first part contains the introduction, research question, methodological considerations and delimitations. The second part is an in-depth look at the theory...... developed using the theory of legal capability and communication theories. Discussing new ways of analysing the application of human rights, this book is relevant for scholars and professionals primarily working with human rights law, but also administrative law, both nationally and internationally.......Human rights are increasingly debated in the public sphere, yet discussions of human rights law are traditionally all but invisible in the discussions on national administrative law. This is at least the case in Denmark. This book sets out to analyse if, and in what way, the application of human...

  4. Tabriz Bazaar: sustainability and human comfort

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nassehzadeh Tabriz, Shahram [Master of Department of Architecture, Islamic Azad University, Miyaneh Branch (Iran, Islamic Republic of)], email: sh_nassehzadeh@m-iau.ac.ir; Fard, Fariborz Mahdavi Tabatabaei [SABAT TARH CO. (Iran, Islamic Republic of)], email: sabat_arc@yahoo.com

    2011-07-01

    Sustainable developments in energy and the environment have become a main focus of many groups. The built environment has a great influence on environmental sustainability generally. Solutions that respond to the impact of human activities on the environment in urban areas are required. On one hand, averting resource depletion and environmental degradation caused by facilities and infrastructures over their life cycle is a principal goal. On the other hand, it is also a principal goal to create livable, comfortable, safe and productive built environments. Tabriz bazaar, in Iran, is an example of sustainable architecture. It is designed to be suited to the local climate and urban texture with spaces that are varied and have a strong connection to open space. The bazaar plays a significant role in creation of safe urban space as a cultural, social, commercial, educational and sanitarian area. It connects different activities and different people in a safe place. The purpose of this paper is to determine the sustainability of the Tabriz bazaar and the effect that the character of this commercial area has on the quality of human life.

  5. (Public) Health and Human Rights in Practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Annas, George J; Mariner, Wendy K

    2016-02-01

    Public health's reliance on law to define and carry out public activities makes it impossible to define a set of ethical principles unique to public health. Public health ethics must be encompassed within--and consistent with--a broader set of principles that define the power and limits of governmental institutions. These include human rights, health law, and even medical ethics. The human right to health requires governments not only to respect individual human rights and personal freedoms, but also, importantly, to protect people from harm from external sources and third parties, and to fulfill the health needs of the population. Even if human rights are the natural language for public health, not all public health professionals are comfortable with the language of human rights. Some argue that individual human rights--such as autonomy and privacy--unfairly limit the permissible means to achieve the goal of health protection. We argue that public health should welcome and promote the human rights framework. In almost every instance, this will make public health more effective in the long run, because the goals of public health and human rights are the same: to promote human flourishing. Copyright © 2016 by Duke University Press.

  6. Sustainability requirements in EU public and private procurement – a right or an obligation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andrecka, Marta; Peterkova, Katerina

    2017-01-01

    procurement. This is true both for the public and private sectors. However, there is only limited legal regulation of sustainable procurement, which causes many uncertainties in respect to the possibility to include sustainability concerns into procurement processes as well as consequences of (not) doing so...... and private procurement and similarities and differences between the sectors are identified. We find that in both sectors sustainability topics (i) are increasingly considered and implemented into contracts; (ii) deal with similar issues in both contexts; (iii) cover issues that are linked to the subject....... Still, it is found that while there is a right to include sustainability considerations into both public and private procurement processes, there are only contours of the legal obligation to do so. In respect to private procurement, the right to give considerations to sustainability issues...

  7. When Should We Care About Sustainability? Applying Human Security as the Decisive Criterion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander K. Lautensach

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available It seems intuitively clear that not all human endeavours warrant equal concern over the extent of their sustainability. This raises the question about what criteria might best serve for their prioritisation. We refute, on empirical and theoretical grounds, the counterclaim that sustainability should be of no concern regardless of the circumstances. Human security can serve as a source of criteria that are both widely shared and can be assessed in a reasonably objective manner. Using established classifications, we explore how four forms of sustainability (environmental, economic, social, and cultural relate to the four pillars of human security (environmental, economic, sociopolitical, and health-related. Our findings, based on probable correlations, suggest that the criteria of human security allow for a reliable discrimination between relatively trivial incidences of unsustainable behavior and those that warrant widely shared serious concern. They also confirm that certain sources of human insecurity, such as poverty or violent conflict, tend to perpetuate unsustainable behavior, a useful consideration for the design of development initiatives. Considering that human security enjoys wide and increasing political support among the international community, it is to be hoped that by publicizing the close correlation between human security and sustainability greater attention will be paid to the latter and to its careful definition.

  8. The Human Rights of Minority Women:

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ravnbøl, Camilla Ida

    2010-01-01

    . These challenges go beyond the Romani issue only and into larger issues of women and minorities. It raises questions as to whether the historical separation between categories of gender and race/ethnicity within the international community in practice has become a gap that isolates Romani women from the human...... rights attention that they claim. It is argued that in order to strengthen the validity of human rights in the lives of Romani women, as a framework that ensures their full and equal protection, special attention needs to be given to interrelated grounds and forms of discrimination. “Intersectionality......This article explores the complexities surrounding the human rights of minority women. With analytical focus on Romani women in Europe it seeks to contribute with new insight into the grey areas of rights issues, where groups within special rights categories share different human rights concerns...

  9. Business and Human Rights

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buhmann, Karin

    2015-01-01

    This article analyses the United Nations (UN) Guidelines on Business and Human Rights adopted in 2011 by the UN Human Rights Council from the perspective of transnational business governance interactions (TBGI) analytical framework.1 The article identifies and discusses dimensions of interaction...... in several areas of relevance to transnational business governance interaction and indicates the relevance of the TBGI approach to public regulatory transnational business governance initiatives. The analysis of the Guiding Principles as interactional transnational business governance suggests that this form...

  10. Activist Literacies: An Analysis of the Literacy Practices of a School-Based Human Rights Club

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collin, Ross

    2012-01-01

    In this article, I examine the literacy practices of a high school-based human rights club. I investigate how the group engages in certain kinds of textual production to sponsor and arrange advisory sessions (school-wide meetings between teachers and small groups of students). More specifically, I consider how the club adapts school genres to…

  11. Social choice theory and its application in a human rights based approach to development

    OpenAIRE

    Deepanshu Mohan

    2017-01-01

    A discourse on human rights, is built on including such rights as part of a broader, universal framework (accommodating for moral, ethical claims) that go beyond any constitutionally derived claims and rights or any given set of legitimate laws that are defined by the sovereign of a country. In recent decades, invoking a discussion on safeguarding human rights has become a major way of challenging the level of inequities and oppression within and across countries today that are circumscribing...

  12. Grassroots Responsiveness to Human Rights Abuse: History of the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanders, Laura; Martinez, Ramiro; Harner, Margaret; Harner, Melanie; Horner, Pilar; Delva, Jorge

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to discuss how a community agency based in Washtenaw County, the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigration Rights (WICIR), emerged in response to increasing punitive immigration practices and human rights abuses toward the Latino community. The article discusses how WICIR is engaged in advocacy, community…

  13. Human rights in childbirth, narratives and restorative justice: a review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lokugamage, A U; Pathberiya, S D C

    2017-02-02

    This review describes the emerging global debate on the role of human rights childbirth. It is also tailored to a UK perspective in view of the Montgomery v. Lanarkshire [2015] legal ruling and it implications to practice. We can never underestimate the power of humane care on health. The compassion and evidence based medicine agenda in healthcare is interconnected with human rights in healthcare, feeding into the principles of decision making and patient centred care. When this has not happened and there is been healthcare conflict, the power of storytelling serves to connect disparate parties to their common humanity. Narratives are an important aspect of restorative justice processes and we suggest that this could be beneficial in the field of human rights in childbirth.

  14. Is inclusive education a human right?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordon, John-Stewart

    2013-01-01

    In this article, I question the general idea that inclusive education--i.e., to teach all students in one class--is a moral human right. The following discussion shows that the widespread view in disability studies that there is a moral human right to inclusive education can be reasonably called into question by virtue of the proposed counter arguments, but without denying that inclusive education is of utmost importance. Practically speaking, the legal human right to inclusive education is of great practical value for impaired students, and for their basic right to be free from discrimination in education, since their concern thereby gains great legal and moral force. But, theoretically speaking, this particular human right lacks an attainable consensus concerning proper moral justification. © 2013 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

  15. Business and Human Rights

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buhmann, Karin

    2015-01-01

    This article analyses the United Nations (UN) Guidelines on Business and Human Rights adopted in 2011 by the UN Human Rights Council from the perspective of transnational business governance interactions (TBGI) analytical framework.1 The article identifies and discusses dimensions of interaction...... and components of regulatory governance which characterize the Guiding Principles, focusing in particular on rule formation and implementation. The article notes that the Guiding Principles actively enrolled other actors for the rule-making process, ensuring support in a politically and legally volatile field...

  16. Right to Place: A Political Theory of Animal Rights in Harmony with Environmental and Ecological Principles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eleni Panagiotarakou

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The focus of this paper is on the “right to place” as a political theory of wild animal rights. Out of the debate between terrestrial cosmopolitans inspired by Kant and Arendt and rooted cosmopolitan animal right theorists, the right to place emerges from the fold of rooted cosmopolitanism in tandem with environmental and ecological principles. Contrary to terrestrial cosmopolitans—who favour extending citizenship rights to wild animals and advocate at the same time large-scale humanitarian interventions and unrestricted geographical mobility—I argue that the well-being of wild animals is best served by the right to place theory on account of its sovereignty model. The right to place theory advocates human non-interference in wildlife communities, opposing even humanitarian interventions, which carry the risk of unintended consequences. The right to place theory, with its emphasis on territorial sovereignty, bases its opposition to unrestricted geographical mobility on two considerations: (a the non-generalist nature of many species and (b the potential for abuse via human encroachment. In a broader context, the advantage of the right to place theory lies in its implicit environmental demands: human population control and sustainable lifestyles.

  17. US Human Rights Conduct and International Legitimacy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Keating, Vincent Charles

    Did the Bush administration fundamentally harm the international human rights system through its rejection of human rights norms? This is the central question explored within US Human Rights Conduct and International Legitimacy, which analyses the practices of legitimacy between the Bush...... nations have followed in America's footsteps, and that the Bush administration's deviation from international norms has served to reaffirm worldwide commitment to human rights....

  18. A Human Rights-Based Approach to Farmworker Health: An Overarching Framework to Address the Social Determinants of Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramos, Athena K

    2018-01-01

    Migrant and seasonal workers have a right to the highest attainable standard of health. Unfortunately, these farmworkers face a multitude of challenges. They are employed in one of the most dangerous industries and face serious occupational health risks, while positioned at the bottom of the social hierarchy. They often lack formal education and training, English language proficiency, legal status, access to information, and equitable opportunities to health and healthcare. This article will explore the international human rights conventions that support farmworkers' right to health and healthcare in the United States. International human rights may provide a valuable legal framework that could be used to advocate on behalf of farmworkers and address the social determinants of health. Therefore, a Human Rights-Based Approach to Farmworker health will be presented along with recommendations for how to advance health and access to healthcare among this population. Fostering the health and well-being of migrant and seasonal farmworkers is critical to advancing equity, social justice, and maintaining the workforce required to meet production needs and safeguard the economic competitiveness of the industry.

  19. Web Resources for Teaching about Human Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merryfield, Merry M.; Badang, Germain; Bragg, Christina; Kvasov, Aleksandr; Taylor, Nathan; Waliaula, Anne; Yamaguchi, Misato

    2012-01-01

    The study of human rights is inseparable from social studies. Beyond the basic political, economic, and social freedoms and rights spelled out in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, hundreds of specialized topics have developed that demonstrate the complex nature of human rights in the twenty-first-century world--environmental exploitation…

  20. ISLAM AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN INDONESIA: An Account of Muslim Intellectuals’ Views

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmad Nur Fuad

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available The issue of Islam and human rights has become important issue in Indonesia at least since the last two decades. Indonesian Muslims have developed two different approaches to human rights: in complete agreement with the declaration of universal human rights; and in resistance to that declaration and developing understanding that Islam encompasses human rights values. The article argues for its part that human rights are not absolutely universal, because they are based chiefly on Western values, structures, ethics and morality. For that, it is reasonable to question their universality. The present article focuses on how Indonesian Muslim intellectuals conceive of human rights and Islamic values as they perceive the two. Specifically, it focuses on four principal issues in human rights discourse: freedom of opinion, religious freedoms, rights of women, and criminal law. The authors reveal in the conclusion that although some Indonesian Muslim intellectuals admit that universal human rights are truly universal, they still see differences in certain cases, due to differencesin socio-cultural background. They have tried to affect a synthesis between the universality and particularity of both Islamic and universal human rights in order to make both fit within the Indonesian context.

  1. The Existence of Human Rights Court as a National Effort to Eliminate the Severe Violation of Human Rights in Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    - Junaedi

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The law on human rights court has brought the new hopes for certain people have suffered because of the human rights violation happened in the past government (before the law enacted in the years of 2000. The demand of justice has been made by victims, the families of victims and other sympathetic parties by bringing those who have violated human rights in the past. The demand for justice does not only focus on human rights violations, which occurred in the past but also similar human rights violations that will occur in the future. The existence of a permanent Human Rights Court seems to imply that human rights will be upheld and protected. The resolution of past human rights violations via a conflict approach is preferable for the national reconciliation. The resolution of past human rights violations through extra-judicial organizations is an advanced step towards resolving the case, whereas a conflict approach can be used to settle the case. The existence of the Human Rights Law provides a new frontier in implementing the principle of restorative justice in the approach of case settlement. It is hoped that such restorative justice can create a political balance between the past and the future.

  2. Human Rights and Cosmopolitan Democratic Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snauwaert, Dale T.

    2009-01-01

    The foundation upon which this discussion is based is the basic nature of democracy as both a political and moral ideal. Democracy can be understood as a system of rights premised upon the logic of equality. At its core is a fundamental belief in moral equality, a belief that all human beings possess an equal inherent dignity or worth. The ideal…

  3. Assessing human rights impacts in corporate development projects

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Salcito, Kendyl, E-mail: kendyl.salcito@unibas.ch [Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel (Switzerland); University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel (Switzerland); NomoGaia, 1900 Wazee Street, Suite 303, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); NewFields, LLC, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); Utzinger, Jürg, E-mail: juerg.utzinger@unibas.ch [Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel (Switzerland); University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel (Switzerland); Weiss, Mitchell G., E-mail: Mitchell-g.Weiss@unibas.ch [Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel (Switzerland); University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel (Switzerland); Münch, Anna K., E-mail: annak.muench@gmail.com [Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610 (United States); Singer, Burton H., E-mail: bhsinger@epi.ufl.edu [Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610 (United States); Krieger, Gary R., E-mail: gkrieger@newfields.com [NewFields, LLC, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); Wielga, Mark, E-mail: wielga@nomogaia.org [NomoGaia, 1900 Wazee Street, Suite 303, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); NewFields, LLC, Denver, CO 80202 (United States)

    2013-09-15

    Human rights impact assessment (HRIA) is a process for systematically identifying, predicting and responding to the potential impact on human rights of a business operation, capital project, government policy or trade agreement. Traditionally, it has been conducted as a desktop exercise to predict the effects of trade agreements and government policies on individuals and communities. In line with a growing call for multinational corporations to ensure they do not violate human rights in their activities, HRIA is increasingly incorporated into the standard suite of corporate development project impact assessments. In this context, the policy world's non-structured, desk-based approaches to HRIA are insufficient. Although a number of corporations have commissioned and conducted HRIA, no broadly accepted and validated assessment tool is currently available. The lack of standardisation has complicated efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of HRIA as a risk mitigation tool, and has caused confusion in the corporate world regarding company duties. Hence, clarification is needed. The objectives of this paper are (i) to describe an HRIA methodology, (ii) to provide a rationale for its components and design, and (iii) to illustrate implementation of HRIA using the methodology in two selected corporate development projects—a uranium mine in Malawi and a tree farm in Tanzania. We found that as a prognostic tool, HRIA could examine potential positive and negative human rights impacts and provide effective recommendations for mitigation. However, longer-term monitoring revealed that recommendations were unevenly implemented, dependent on market conditions and personnel movements. This instability in the approach to human rights suggests a need for on-going monitoring and surveillance. -- Highlights: • We developed a novel methodology for corporate human rights impact assessment. • We piloted the methodology on two corporate projects—a mine and a plantation.

  4. Assessing human rights impacts in corporate development projects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salcito, Kendyl; Utzinger, Jürg; Weiss, Mitchell G.; Münch, Anna K.; Singer, Burton H.; Krieger, Gary R.; Wielga, Mark

    2013-01-01

    Human rights impact assessment (HRIA) is a process for systematically identifying, predicting and responding to the potential impact on human rights of a business operation, capital project, government policy or trade agreement. Traditionally, it has been conducted as a desktop exercise to predict the effects of trade agreements and government policies on individuals and communities. In line with a growing call for multinational corporations to ensure they do not violate human rights in their activities, HRIA is increasingly incorporated into the standard suite of corporate development project impact assessments. In this context, the policy world's non-structured, desk-based approaches to HRIA are insufficient. Although a number of corporations have commissioned and conducted HRIA, no broadly accepted and validated assessment tool is currently available. The lack of standardisation has complicated efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of HRIA as a risk mitigation tool, and has caused confusion in the corporate world regarding company duties. Hence, clarification is needed. The objectives of this paper are (i) to describe an HRIA methodology, (ii) to provide a rationale for its components and design, and (iii) to illustrate implementation of HRIA using the methodology in two selected corporate development projects—a uranium mine in Malawi and a tree farm in Tanzania. We found that as a prognostic tool, HRIA could examine potential positive and negative human rights impacts and provide effective recommendations for mitigation. However, longer-term monitoring revealed that recommendations were unevenly implemented, dependent on market conditions and personnel movements. This instability in the approach to human rights suggests a need for on-going monitoring and surveillance. -- Highlights: • We developed a novel methodology for corporate human rights impact assessment. • We piloted the methodology on two corporate projects—a mine and a plantation. • Human

  5. Building Human Rights, Peace and Development within the United Nations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian Guillermet Fernández

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available War and peace have perpetually alternated in history. Consequently, peace has always been seen as an endless project, even a dream, to be in brotherhood realized by everyone across the earth. Since the XVII century the elimination of war and armed conflict has been a political and humanitarian objective of all nations in the world. Both the League of Nations and the United Nations were conceived with the spirit of eliminating the risk of war through the promotion of peace, cooperation and solidarity among Nations. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the subsequent human rights instruments were drafted with a sincere aspiration of promoting the value of peace and human rights worldwide. International practice shows the close linkage between the disregard of human rights and the existence of war and armed conflict. It follows that the role of human rights in the prevention of war and armed conflict is very important. Since 2008 the Human Rights Council has been working on the ‘Promotion of the Right of Peoples to Peace.’ Pursuant resolutions 20/15 and 23/16 the Council decided firstly to establish, and secondly to extend the mandate of the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG aimed at progressively negotiating a draft United Nations declaration on the right to peace. The OEGW welcomed in its second session (July 2014 the approach of the Chairperson-Rapporteur, which is basically based on the relationship between the right to life and human rights, peace and development.

  6. [Development of a web-based education program for nurses working in nursing homes on human rights of older adults].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Ki-Kyong

    2010-08-01

    This study was done to develop a web-based education program for nurses working in nursing homes. The focus was on the rights of older adults. The program was designed based on the Network-Based Instructional System Design (NBISD) model and was operated and evaluated between July 2007 and June 2008. Out of nursing records of 40 residents from a nursing home, the final 7 cases were deducted through classification using the Resource Utilization Group (RUG)-III. The data on needs for education was collected from 28 nurses working in 15 nursing homes located in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, who agreed to complete a self-report questionnaire. A comprehensive review of the literature and two focus groups interviews were used to search for risk factors and guidelines for protection of human rights. The education program was developed based on Kolb's experiential learning model and composed of 5 units, which included content on types of human rights and rights to death with dignity, elder abuse, physical liberty, and self-determination. The program was positively evaluated showing a score of 3.35 (SD=0.37) out of 4. The educational program developed in this study should promote nurses' sensitivity to the rights of elders and improve nurses' behaviors in protecting the rights of elders residing in nursing homes.

  7. Human rights: implications for patients and staff.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dreezen, I; Nys, H

    2003-01-01

    Originating from wider declarations of fundamental human rights, individual human rights in the field of health care, also called patients' rights, have been elaborated, developed and implemented by most international organisations, including the European Union and the World Health Organisation. The Council of Europe is however, particularly prominent in its work in the field of human rights, having drawn up a number of vital international treaties, among them and most importantly the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, which strengthens internationally the legal position of the patient and the research subject in setting a minimum level of protection in respect of individual human rights and health and is binding upon the member states that have ratified it. Nonetheless, it needs to be examined to see if the European Union would be a better alternative to regulate these patients' rights.

  8. Children's rights, international human rights and the promise of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Children's rights, international human rights and the promise of Islamic legal theory. ... Law, Democracy & Development ... law but also religion and ethics, thus offering a multidimensional approach covering the total personality of the child.

  9. “Are women’s rights human rights? A view on women’s political participation in Vietnam

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Trung, P.T.

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper tries to examine whether women’s rights are human rights by looking at the case of women’s political participation in Vietnam. Beginning with the concept of private life and public life which are defined separately for women and men by the patriarchal system, then the framework of CEDAW, particularly Article 7, is used to assess how women have been enjoying their rights to participate in the political system of Vietnam both in laws and practice. At the same time, the effectiveness of CEDAW is proven in promoting member states to follow and implement its regulations accordingly. Although the paper is written based on available research and reports, and limited only in the area of women’s political participation but it also points out some rooted causes of seeing women’s rights separately from human rights. Further preliminary is needed to conduct widely in different aspects of women’s rights in order to reaffirm strongly that women should also enjoy their status of human being.

  10. The Social Origins of Sustained Attention in One-Year-Old Human Infants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Chen; Smith, Linda B

    2016-05-09

    The ability to sustain attention is a major achievement in human development and is generally believed to be the developmental product of increasing self-regulatory and endogenous (i.e., internal, top-down, voluntary) control over one's attention and cognitive systems [1-5]. Because sustained attention in late infancy is predictive of future development, and because early deficits in sustained attention are markers for later diagnoses of attentional disorders [6], sustained attention is often viewed as a constitutional and individual property of the infant [6-9]. However, humans are social animals; developmental pathways for seemingly non-social competencies evolved within the social group and therefore may be dependent on social experience [10-13]. Here, we show that social context matters for the duration of sustained attention episodes in one-year-old infants during toy play. Using head-mounted eye tracking to record moment-by-moment gaze data from both parents and infants, we found that when the social partner (parent) visually attended to the object to which infant attention was directed, infants, after the parent's look, extended their duration of visual attention to the object. Looks to the same object by two social partners is a well-studied phenomenon known as joint attention, which has been shown to be critical to early learning and to the development of social skills [14, 15]. The present findings implicate joint attention in the development of the child's own sustained attention and thus challenge the current understanding of the origins of individual differences in sustained attention, providing a new and potentially malleable developmental pathway to the self-regulation of attention. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. distributive justice and human rights in climate policy

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    RAYAN_

    considerable ethical challenges when issues of justice and human rights .... change damages for GHG emissions pathways based on 'business-as- usual' as well ... (3) Global environmental change 297-301; William Nordhaus, 'A review of the.

  12. Prolegomena of Human Rights. Historical Roots and Globalization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana-Alina Dumitrache-Ionescu

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The paper Prolegomena of Human Rights. Historical Roots and Globalization analyses the complexity of the history of human rights which revolve around an incessant struggle for the awareness of the value of the human being. It is the history which defends the man, the human being, regarded individually or collectively, who was subjected in the course of time to some atrocities and abuses, confronting itself with exploitation, discrimination, oppression, slavery, torture and even extermination. Moreover, the historical evolution of human rights knows halting places in which the concepts of human rights are accompanied by ambiguity, by different meanings for different people and vary in accordance with the context. By way of resemblance, the problem of human rights in the context of globalization which transforms human rights into rights of the global citizen, rights which acquire new dimensions and significances imposed by the economic, politic and social changes specific of globalization is approached in this paper. The global vision of the new human rights involves both the opportunity to have a say when they are infringed for example, when they are subjected to torture or terror, and where human rights abuses are carried out by the people, for example, trafficking in human beings. (Ritzer, & Dean, 2015, p. 115

  13. Sovereignty transformed: a sociology of human rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levy, Daniel; Sznaider, Natan

    2006-12-01

    This paper examines how global interdependencies and the consolidation of a human rights discourse are transforming national sovereignty. Social researchers frequently address the supremacy of state sovereignty and the absoluteness of human rights as mutually exclusive categories. However, rather than presupposing that a universal rights discourse is necessarily leading to the demise of sovereignty, we suggest that an increasingly de-nationalized conception of legitimacy is contributing to a reconfiguration of sovereignty itself. Through the analytic prism of historical memories - which refers to shared understandings specific pasts carry for present concerns of a political community - we provide an explanatory factor for the salience of human rights norms as a globally available repertoire of legitimate claim making. While states retain most of their sovereign functions, their legitimacy is no longer exclusively conditioned by a contract with the nation, but also by their adherence to a set of nation-transcending human rights ideals. Legitimacy is mediated by how willing states are to engage with 'judicial memories' of human rights abuses and their articulation in cosmopolitan legal frames. Empirically, we focus on war crime trials and how legal inscriptions of memories of human rights abuses are recasting the jurisdiction of International Law. The readiness of states to engage with rights abuses is becoming politically and culturally consequential, as adherence to global human rights norms confers legitimacy.

  14. Beyond Study Abroad: A Human Rights Delegation to Teach Policy Advocacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gammonley, Denise; Rotabi, Karen Smith; Forte, Janett; Martin, Amanda

    2013-01-01

    Advancement of human rights is a core competency in the social work curriculum. Presented is a model to teach policy practice from a human rights perspective based on a violence-against-women delegation visit to Guatemala. Postdelegation policy advocacy responses included White House and State Department briefings on the problems, including…

  15. Contemporary debates on social-environmental conflicts, extractivism and human rights in Latin America

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Raftopoulos, Malayna

    2017-01-01

    This opening contribution to ‘Social-Environmental Conflicts, Extractivism and Human Rights’ analyses how human rights have emerged as a weapon in the political battleground over the environment as natural resource extraction has become an increasingly contested and politicised form of development....... It examines the link between human rights abuses and extractivism, arguing that this new cycle of protests has opened up new political spaces for human rights based resistance. Furthermore, the explosion of socio-environmental conflicts that have accompanied the expansion and politicisation of natural...... resources has highlighted the different conceptualisations of nature, development and human rights that exist within Latin America. While new human rights perspectives are emerging in the region, mainstream human rights discourses are providing social movements and activists with the legal power...

  16. Health and Human Rights in Chin State, Western Burma: A Population-Based Assessment Using Multistaged Household Cluster Sampling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sollom, Richard; Richards, Adam K.; Parmar, Parveen; Mullany, Luke C.; Lian, Salai Bawi; Iacopino, Vincent; Beyrer, Chris

    2011-01-01

    Background The Chin State of Burma (also known as Myanmar) is an isolated ethnic minority area with poor health outcomes and reports of food insecurity and human rights violations. We report on a population-based assessment of health and human rights in Chin State. We sought to quantify reported human rights violations in Chin State and associations between these reported violations and health status at the household level. Methods and Findings Multistaged household cluster sampling was done. Heads of household were interviewed on demographics, access to health care, health status, food insecurity, forced displacement, forced labor, and other human rights violations during the preceding 12 months. Ratios of the prevalence of household hunger comparing exposed and unexposed to each reported violation were estimated using binomial regression, and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were constructed. Multivariate models were done to adjust for possible confounders. Overall, 91.9% of households (95% CI 89.7%–94.1%) reported forced labor in the past 12 months. Forty-three percent of households met FANTA-2 (Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance II project) definitions for moderate to severe household hunger. Common violations reported were food theft, livestock theft or killing, forced displacement, beatings and torture, detentions, disappearances, and religious and ethnic persecution. Self reporting of multiple rights abuses was independently associated with household hunger. Conclusions Our findings indicate widespread self-reports of human rights violations. The nature and extent of these violations may warrant investigation by the United Nations or International Criminal Court. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary PMID:21346799

  17. Regulating corporate social and human rights responsibilities at the UN plane

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buhmann, Karin

    2009-01-01

    Globalisation's unprecedented growth and transborder activities of business coupled with increasing awareness of the impact of business on societies and human rights has resulted in demands for the international society to regulate corporate social and human rights responsibilities. This not only...... challenges traditional notions of duty bearers under international law, but also calls for novel approaches for the United Nations (UN) to implement central parts of the Charter's human rights aims and to address corporate behaviour in a state-centred international law-making order that lacks the willingness...... businesses' impact on human rights. The pattern of using these forms suggests an institutionalisation of reflexive regulation as a regulatory process drawing on public-private regulation, and of an emerging UN based 'Global Administrative Law' in order to meet regulatory challenges in living up to the human...

  18. The contributions of human factors and ergonomics to a sustainable minerals industry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horberry, Tim; Burgess-Limerick, Robin; Fuller, Ruth

    2013-01-01

    This article describes examples of the application of human factors research and development work to a sustainable minerals industry. It begins by outlining human-related aspects of the minerals industry and the key human factors work previously undertaken in this domain. The focus then switches to sustainability in the minerals industry. Sustainability principles are introduced and illustrations provided of how human factors research and development work fits within such a framework. Three case studies of human factors in the minerals industry research are presented and the sustainability implications in each case study are highlighted. Finally, future trends related to human factors work in a sustainable minerals industry are addressed, in particular the opportunities and possible adverse consequences that increasing deployment of mining automation might bring. Minerals industries are a major global activity with significant sustainability implications. Aspects of sustainability in mining are examined using three case studies. These illustrate the contribution of human factors/ergonomics in reducing risks; developing emergency response management systems; and the value of participatory ergonomics in improving the design of mining equipment.

  19. A broader consideration of human factor to enhance sustainable building design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Attaianese, Erminia

    2012-01-01

    The link between ergonomic/human factor and sustainability seems to be clearly evidenced mainly in relation to social dimension of sustainability, in order to contribute to assure corporate social responsibility and global value creation. But the will to establish an equilibrated connection among used resources in human activities, supported by the sustainability perspective, evidences that the contribution of ergonomics/human factors can be effectively enlarged to other aspects, especially in relation to building design. In fact a sustainable building is meant to be a building that contributes, through its characteristics and attribute, to a sustainable development by assuring, in the same time, a decrease of resources use and environmental impact and an increase of health, safety and comfort of the occupants. The purpose of this paper is to analyze in a broader sense the contribution of ergonomic/human factor to design of sustainable building, focusing how ergonomics principles, methodology and techniques can improve building design, enhancing its sustainability performance during all phases of building lifecycle.

  20. The Pan American Health Organization and the mainstreaming of human rights in regional health governance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meier, Benjamin Mason; Ayala, Ana S

    2014-01-01

    In the absence of centralized human rights leadership in an increasingly fragmented global health policy landscape, regional health offices have stepped forward to advance the rights-based approach to health. Reviewing the efforts of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), this article explores the evolution of human rights in PAHO policy, assesses efforts to mainstream human rights in the Pan American Sanitary Bureau (PASB), and analyzes the future of the rights-based approach through regional health governance, providing lessons for other regional health offices and global health institutions. This article explores PAHO's 15-year effort to mainstream human rights through PASB technical units, national capacity-building, the Inter-American human rights system, and the PAHO Directing Council. Through documentary analysis of PAHO policies and semi-structured interviews with key PASB stakeholders, the authors analyze the understandings and actions of policymakers and technical officers in implementing human rights through PAHO governance. Analyzing the themes arising from this narrative, the authors examine the structural role of secretariat leadership, state support, legal expertise, and technical unit commitment in facilitating a rights-based approach to the health in the Americas. Human rights are increasingly framing PAHO efforts, and this analysis of the structures underlying PAHO's approach provides an understanding of the institutional determinants of the rights-based approach to health, highlighting generalizable themes for the mainstreaming of human rights through regional health governance. With this regional-level understanding of health governance, future national-level research can begin to understand the causal forces linking regional human rights work with national policy reforms and public health outcomes. © 2014 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

  1. Ritual male infant circumcision and human rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobs, Allan J; Arora, Kavita Shah

    2015-01-01

    Opponents of male circumcision have increasingly used human rights positions to articulate their viewpoint. We characterize the meaning of the term "human rights." We discuss these human rights arguments with special attention to the claims of rights to an open future and to bodily integrity. We offer a three-part test under which a parental decision might be considered an unacceptable violation of a child's right. The test considers the impact of the practice on society, the impact of the practice on the individual, and the likelihood of adverse impact. Infant circumcision is permissible under this test. We conclude that infant circumcision may be proscribed as violating local norms, even though it does not violate human rights.

  2. Multi-scale sustainability assessments for biomass-based and coal-based fuels in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Man, Yi; Xiao, Honghua; Cai, Wei; Yang, Siyu

    2017-12-01

    Transportation liquid fuels production is heavily depend on oil. In recent years, developing biomass based and coal based fuels are regarded as promising alternatives for non-petroleum based fuels in China. With the rapid growth of constructing and planning b biomass based and coal based fuels production projects, sustainability assessments are needed to simultaneously consider the resource, the economic, and the environmental factors. This paper performs multi-scale analyses on the biomass based and coal based fuels in China. The production cost, life cycle cost, and ecological life cycle cost (ELCC) of these synfuels are investigated to compare their pros to cons and reveal the sustainability. The results show that BTL fuels has high production cost. It lacks of economic attractiveness. However, insignificant resource cost and environmental cost lead to a substantially lower ELCC, which may indicate better ecological sustainability. CTL fuels, on the contrary, is lower in production cost and reliable for economic benefit. But its coal consumption and pollutant emissions are both serious, leading to overwhelming resource cost and environmental cost. A shifting from petroleum to CTL fuels could double the ELCC, posing great threat to the sustainability of the entire fuels industry. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. HUMAN RIGHTS AND NIGERIAN PRISONERS--ARE PRISONERS NOT HUMANS?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joshua, I A; Dangata, Y Y; Audu, O; Nmadu, A G; Omole, N V

    2014-12-01

    In Nigeria, just like in many other parts of the world, one of the most extensively discussed issues on the public agenda today is the increase in prison population. The aims of imprisonment are protection, retribution, deterrence, reformation and vindication. Investigations revealed that the prison services have been,neglected more than any other criminal justice agency in Nigeria. For example, most of the prisons were built during the colonial era for the purpose of accommodating a small number of inmates. Human Rights are the basic guarantees for human beings to be able to achieve happiness and self-respect; consequently, in most jurisdictions, the Human Rights Act confirms that these Rights do not stop at the prison gates. However, most States fail to meet the Human Rights obligations of their prisoners. As regards to health, for example, every prison should have proper health facilities and medical staff to provide dental and psychiatric care among others. This article discusses the Nigerian Prison System and challenges, trends and the related Human Rights and Ethical issues in Nigerian prisons. Some of the unmet needs of Nigerian prisoners which include, inter alia, living in unwholesome cells, delayed trial of inmates, lack of voting rights, access to information, lack of conjugal facilities for married prisoners, poor and inadequate nutrition, poor medical care, torture, inhumane treatment and the need to protect prisoners in a changing world. The present report has policy implications for reforming prison services in Nigeria, and countries that sing from the same song sheet with Nigeria on prison services, to conform to the Fundamental Human Rights of prisoners in the 21St century.

  4. Human rights approach to health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haigh, Fiona

    2002-04-01

    Adopting human rights approach to health carries many benefits, because it emphasizes the equality of all persons and their inherent right to health as the foundation of the health care system. It also argues that promotion and protection of health are fundamentally important social goals, focuses particularly on the needs of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable communities, balances individual needs with the common good, and so forth. However, it also raises some practical issues, such as organization of interdisciplinary education and work, and different use of the language, which often goes unacknowledged. The relationship between human rights and health is a reciprocal one, and can be beneficial or harmful. For the relationship to be beneficial and successful, the differences between human rights and public health approach to health, centered around the perspective taking, attitudes, and abilities of health professionals, need to be acknowledged and reconciled, and the need for interdisciplinarity adequately fulfilled.

  5. Women's Rights, Human Rights, and Duties: From Domination to Partnership

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lester R. Kurtz

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The idea of women's rights as human rights can facilitate our identifying the causes, consequences, and potential remedies for the current quagmire in which we find themselves, but it needs some reformulation. To the traditional understandings of human rights, I add four conceptual tools: (1 Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of the counterparts of rights and duties, (2 Eisler’s concept of partnership (as opposed to dominator societies, (3 Johan Galtung’s expansion of our conception of violence to include its structural and cultural forms, and, finally, (4 the literature on nonviolence as a path to mobilization and transformation that resists existing social structures and builds new ones.

  6. Greening Social Work Education: Teaching Environmental Rights and Sustainability in Community Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Androff, David; Fike, Chris; Rorke, John

    2017-01-01

    Green issues such as protecting environmental rights and promoting sustainability are growing in importance to social work practice but are largely ignored in social work curricula. This article uses comparative case studies of three student-led community practice projects to demonstrate how environmental rights can be incorporated into social…

  7. Human Rights in the Humanities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harpham, Geoffrey

    2012-01-01

    Human rights are rapidly entering the academic curriculum, with programs appearing all over the country--including at Duke, Harvard, Northeastern, and Stanford Universities; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the Universities of Chicago, of Connecticut, of California at Berkeley, and of Minnesota; and Trinity College. Most of these…

  8. Advancing sexual health through human rights: the role of the law.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kismödi, Eszter; Cottingham, Jane; Gruskin, Sofia; Miller, Alice M

    2015-01-01

    Since the International Conference on Population and Development, definitions of sexuality and sexual health have been greatly elaborated alongside widely accepted recognition that sexual health requires respect, protection and fulfilment of human rights. Considerable progress has also been made in enacting or changing laws that affect sexuality and sexual health, in line with human rights standards. These measures include legal guarantees against non-discrimination and violence, decriminalisation of consensual sexual conduct and guaranteeing availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of sexual health information and services to all. Such legal actions have had positive effects on health and specifically on sexual health, particularly for marginalised populations. Yet in all regions of the world, laws still exist which jeopardise health, including sexual health, and violate human rights. In order to ensure accountability for the rights and health of their populations, states have an obligation to bring their laws into line with international, regional and national human rights standards. These rights-based legal guarantees, while insufficient alone, are essential for effective systems of accountability, achieving positive sexual health outcomes and the respect and protection of human rights.

  9. Human Rights and Vulnerability. Examples of Sexism and Ageism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mª DEL CARMEN BARRANCO AVILÉS

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available A human rights based approach applied to the idea of ‘vulnerable group’ connects vulnerability and structural discrimination. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability provides some elements that allow to state that we are facing a new paradigm in the International Human Rights Law. One of the keys for the understanding of this new framework is the assumption of the disadvantage related to vulnerability as, at least in a part, socially built and ideologically justified. Sexism and ageism are examples of how ideologies reinforce vulnerability of women, children and aged persons transforming them in groups which members are in risk of discrimination.

  10. Victims’ rights are human rights: The importance of recognizing victims as persons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wemmers Jo-Anne

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper the author argues that victims’ rights are human rights. Criminal law typically views victims as witnesses to a crime against the state, thus shutting them out of the criminal justice process and only allowing them in when they are needed to testify. This is a major source of dissatisfaction for victims who seek validation in the criminal justice system. Victims are persons with rights and privileges. Crimes constitute violations of their rights as well as acts against society or the state. While human rights instruments, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, do not mention crime victims specifically, a number of rights are identified, which can be viewed from the victim’s perspective. As individuals with dignity, victims have the right to recognition as persons before the law. However, such rights are only meaningful if they can be enforced.

  11. Community-based assessment of human rights in a complex humanitarian emergency: the Emergency Assistance Teams-Burma and Cyclone Nargis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suwanvanichkij, Voravit; Murakami, Noriyuki; Lee, Catherine I; Leigh, Jen; Wirtz, Andrea L; Daniels, Brock; Mahn, Mahn; Maung, Cynthia; Beyrer, Chris

    2010-04-19

    Cyclone Nargis hit Burma on May 2, 2008, killing over 138,000 and affecting at least 2.4 million people. The Burmese military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), initially blocked international aid to storm victims, forcing community-based organizations such as the Emergency Assistance Teams-Burma (EAT) to fill the void, helping with cyclone relief and long-term reconstruction. Recognizing the need for independent monitoring of the human rights situation in cyclone-affected areas, particularly given censorship over storm relief coverage, EAT initiated such documentation efforts. A human rights investigation was conducted to document selected human rights abuses that had initially been reported to volunteers providing relief services in cyclone affected areas. Using participatory research methods and qualitative, semi-structured interviews, EAT volunteers collected 103 testimonies from August 2008 to June 2009; 42 from relief workers and 61 from storm survivors. One year after the storm, basic necessities such as food, potable water, and shelter remained insufficient for many, a situation exacerbated by lack of support to help rebuild livelihoods and worsening household debt. This precluded many survivors from being able to access healthcare services, which were inadequate even before Cyclone Nargis. Aid efforts continued to be met with government restrictions and harassment, and relief workers continued to face threats and fear of arrest. Abuses, including land confiscation and misappropriation of aid, were reported during reconstruction, and tight government control over communication and information exchange continued. Basic needs of many cyclone survivors in the Irrawaddy Delta remained unmet over a year following Cyclone Nargis. Official impediments to delivery of aid to storm survivors continued, including human rights abrogations experienced by civilians during reconstruction efforts. Such issues remain unaddressed in official assessments

  12. NGO Duties in Relation to Human Rights

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Philips, J.P.M.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/298979446

    2010-01-01

    This paper investigates the moral duties that human rights NGOs, such as Amnesty International, and development NGOs, such as Oxfam, have in relation to human rights – especially in relation to the human right to a decent standard of living. The mentioned NGOs are powerful new agents on the global

  13. The International Human Rights Muddle.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Machan, Tibor R.

    1979-01-01

    Discusses confusion about the meaning of human rights in the United States. Suggests that welfare rights usurp the more traditional freedom rights of the founding fathers. Contrasts American interpretations with those of the Soviet Union. Journal availability: see SO 507 190. (KC)

  14. Costing human rights and community support interventions as a part of universal access to HIV treatment and care in a Southern African setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Louisa; Akugizibwe, Paula; Clayton, Michaela; Amon, Joseph J; Sabin, Miriam Lewis; Bennett, Rod; Stegling, Christine; Baggaley, Rachel; Kahn, James G; Holmes, Charles B; Garg, Navneet; Obermeyer, Carla Makhlouf; Mack, Christina DeFilippo; Williams, Phoebe; Smyth, Caoimhe; Vitoria, Marco; Crowley, Siobhan; Williams, Brian; McClure, Craig; Granich, Reuben; Hirnschall, Gottfried

    2011-09-01

    Expanding access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) has both individual health benefits and potential to decrease HIV incidence. Ensuring access to HIV services is a significant human rights issue and successful programmes require adequate human rights protections and community support. However, the cost of specific human rights and community support interventions for equitable, sustainable and non-discriminatory access to ART are not well described. Human rights and community support interventions were identified using the literature and through consultations with experts. Specific costs were then determined for these health sector interventions. Population and epidemic data were provided through the Statistics South Africa 2009 national mid-year estimates. Costs of scale up of HIV prevention and treatment were taken from recently published estimates. Interventions addressed access to services, minimising stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV, confidentiality, informed consent and counselling quality. Integrated HIV programme interventions included training for counsellors, 'Know Your Rights' information desks, outreach campaigns for most at risk populations, and adherence support. Complementary measures included post-service interviews, human rights abuse monitoring, transportation costs, legal assistance, and funding for human rights and community support organisations. Other essential non-health sector interventions were identified but not included in the costing framework. The annual costs for the human rights and community support interventions are United States (US) $63.8 million (US $1.22 per capita), representing 1.5% of total health sector HIV programme costs. Respect for human rights and community engagement can be understood both as an obligation of expanded ART programmes and as a critically important factor in their success. Basic rights-based and community support interventions constitute only a small percentage of overall programmes

  15. Repressing the Foreign Fighters Phenomenon in Western Europe: Towards an Effective Response Based on Human Rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christophe Paulussen

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available This Research Paper explores how the foreign fighters phenomenon and terrorism more generally is repressed in Western Europe. It looks at a few specific repressive measures announced or adopted by France and the Netherlands, as well as criticism expressed against these proposals and measures. In addition to these two detailed analyses, references will also be made to other developments in Western Europe which appear to be indicative of a more general trend in which human rights increasingly seem to be put on the back seat when countering the phenomenon of foreign fighters and terrorism more generally. In the final section, a number of concluding thoughts and recommendations will be offered which explain why only a response based on human rights will be effective in countering this global problem in the long run.

  16. A HUMAN RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH TO POVERTY REDUCTION: THE ROLE OF THE RIGHT OF ACCESS TO MEDICINE AS AN ELEMENT OF THE RIGHT OF ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zannelize Strauss

    2013-08-01

    deliberate, concrete and targeted steps towards expeditious and effective full realisation of the right to health, including access to medication. The measures taken to do so must, according to General Comment 3, embrace the concept of the minimum core obligation (the minimum core in relation to medicines being access to essential medicines, at the very least. In this article it is argued that adequate access to essential medicines, as an element of the right of access to health care, could contribute to the reduction of poverty. This is done by firstly discussing the human rights-based approach to poverty reduction, whereafter attention is turned to access to medicines as an element of the right to health, with specific focus on obligations in terms of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Finally, the role of access to medicines in reducing poverty is considered. The article concludes that poverty constitutes an infringement on human rights and will not be eradicated without the fulfilment of human rights, including the right to health. The adequate fulfilment of peoples' rights of adequate access to essential medicines will enable them to achieve a higher level of well-being, thereby reducing the level of poverty which they experience. Both the right of access to health care and to essential medicines – a crucial component thereof – thus have a significant role to play in a state's poverty reduction strategies.

  17. Addressing the Right to Self-Determination: The Okinawans’ Claims from the Group-Based Rights Perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Tamura, Momoka

    2016-01-01

    This paper discusses the Japanese society from the group-based rights perspective. International human rights law provides the rights mostly in an individualistic form. But there is also a development of the international standards of rights with group-dimensions. The right to self-determination under the common article 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) provide a collective right to...

  18. Examining Human Rights in a Global Context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francis, Greg; Inoue, Keiko; Orrick, Stefanie

    The United Nations' founding in 1945 and the 1948 adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reflected the international community's growing commitment to the protection and recognition of what is now referred to as human rights. Despite increased international attention, human rights violations continue to occur at the local, regional,…

  19. Protection of asylum seekers and illegal migrants human rights: Practice of the European Court of Human Rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Đukanović Anđela

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Protection of asylum seeker and Illegal migrants human rights, has often been difficult due to the need of states to regulate unwanted migration flows. European Court of Human Rights plays an important role in protecting the rights of these individuals, through a set of human rights. Requests for interim measures under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court also have great importance. In cases involving illegal migrants and asylum-seekers, Court was often in difficult position, given the contradictions that could arise from the protection of human rights and the legitimate aim of the Contracting States to control the entry, residence and expulsion of aliens. Recent Courts judgment in case of M. S. S. against Belgium is particularly important, because of its remarkable influence on the perception of a common asylum system in the EU, as well as the judgment in the case of Jama Hirsi and Others v. Italy.

  20. HUMAN RESOURCES, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PAWN IN SOUTH-WEST OLTENIA REGION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Camelia, Marin

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable development is a strategy by which people seek ways to economic development, benefiting also from the local environment or to benefit quality of life. Aim of this paper is to highlight that each county has different sustainable development opportunities, according to demographic and economic potential. These opportunities exist for each urban area in part due to each Region.Starting from the idea accepted worldwide through sustainable development that seeks interaction and compatibility of four systems: human (social economic, environmental (for environmental or ecological and technology, we considered an analysis of human resources in the South-West Oltenia Region. Rresearch methods used consist of systemic analysis, comparative and comprehensive approach to the topic investigated, depending on the target. This research is based on different databases, and uses various methods in an attempt to provide an explanation of the issues that are, theoretically speaking, persuasive. Research results are to highlight the employment rate in the South region West Oltenia, the programs used by authorities to reduce unemployment and to identify any tracks to revive the labor market in this region.

  1. Training trainers in health and human rights: implementing curriculum change in South African health sciences institutions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ewert, Elena G; Baldwin-Ragaven, Laurel; London, Leslie

    2011-07-25

    sciences institutions. Increased implementation of human rights instruction, both formally and extracurricularly, has demonstrated the training's significance not only within academic institutions but more broadly across the health sector. Coworkers are vital allies in teaching human rights to health sciences students, helping to alleviate institutional barriers. Training fellow staff members and those in key leadership roles is noted as vital to the sustainability of human rights education.

  2. Training Trainers in health and human rights: Implementing curriculum change in South African health sciences institutions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Baldwin-Ragaven Laurel

    2011-07-01

    to incorporate human rights educational initiatives at health sciences institutions. Increased implementation of human rights instruction, both formally and extracurricularly, has demonstrated the training's significance not only within academic institutions but more broadly across the health sector. Coworkers are vital allies in teaching human rights to health sciences students, helping to alleviate institutional barriers. Training fellow staff members and those in key leadership roles is noted as vital to the sustainability of human rights education.

  3. Costing Human Rights and Community Support Interventions as a Part of Universal Access to HIV Treatment and Care in a Southern African Setting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Louisa; Akugizibwe, Paula; Clayton, Michaela; Amon, Joseph J; Sabin, Miriam Lewis; Bennett, Rod; Stegling, Christine; Baggaley, Rachel; Kahn, James G; Holmes, Charles B; Garg, Navneet; Obermeyer, Carla Makhlouf; Mack, Christina DeFilippo; Williams, Phoebe; Smyth, Caoimhe; Vitoria, Marco; Crowley, Siobhan; Williams, Brian; McClure, Craig; Granich, Reuben; Hirnschall, Gottfried

    2011-01-01

    Expanding access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) has both individual health benefits and potential to decrease HIV incidence. Ensuring access to HIV services is a significant human rights issue and successful programmes require adequate human rights protections and community support. However, the cost of specific human rights and community support interventions for equitable, sustainable and non-discriminatory access to ART are not well described. Human rights and community support interventions were identified using the literature and through consultations with experts. Specific costs were then determined for these health sector interventions. Population and epidemic data were provided through the Statistics South Africa 2009 national mid-year estimates. Costs of scale up of HIV prevention and treatment were taken from recently published estimates. Interventions addressed access to services, minimising stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV, confidentiality, informed consent and counselling quality. Integrated HIV programme interventions included training for counsellors, ‘Know Your Rights’ information desks, outreach campaigns for most at risk populations, and adherence support. Complementary measures included post-service interviews, human rights abuse monitoring, transportation costs, legal assistance, and funding for human rights and community support organisations. Other essential non-health sector interventions were identified but not included in the costing framework. The annual costs for the human rights and community support interventions are United States (US) $63.8 million (US $1.22 per capita), representing 1.5% of total health sector HIV programme costs. Respect for human rights and community engagement can be understood both as an obligation of expanded ART programmes and as a critically important factor in their success. Basic rights-based and community support interventions constitute only a small percentage of overall

  4. HOW UNIVERSAL ARE THE UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS TODAY?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lia-Alexandra BALTADOR

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to contribute to a constructive debate on human rights. The two World Wars of the last century brought about the creation of the United Nations aimed “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small”. Only three years later the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights was elaborated and promoted by the UN, considered to be the foundation of international human rights law. Today, as globalization brings all closer together in a “global village”, one can see that there are many ways to perceive and guarantee human rights, in different states, but also within different states. Poverty, illiteracy, censorship, cruel treatment and even the lack of guarantee for the right to life are, unfortunately, the norm for many people of the world. Such observations bring up questions regarding the legitimacy, universality and coherence of human rights.

  5. Nutrition, health and human rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brundtland, G H

    1999-07-01

    This paper presents the speech delivered by Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of WHO, on issues related to nutrition from a health and a human rights perspective. According to Brundtland, nutrition is a universal factor that both affects and defines the health of all people. It affects not only growth and physical development of a child, but also his cognitive and social development. However, inequity, poverty, underdevelopment, as well as inadequate access to food, health and care still exist which have resulted to the deaths of millions of children and left many more suffering from diseases. Poverty has also been identified as the main obstacle to the attainment of health. The existence of structural poverty and ill health eventually leads to poor development, which includes poor nutrition, poor health, and poor human rights. The impact of poverty on health is further worsened by discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, language, or religion. To address this issue, the WHO will renew their focus on the political and legal links between health and human rights. A human rights perspective provides the international community with an opportunity to support the development of public health policies and practices that promote healthy nutrition as a center of all social and economic development.

  6. [Human dignity, human rights and bioethics: what is the connection?].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andorno, Roberto

    2010-12-01

    Human rights are closely related to the notion of human dignity, to such a point that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to promote them without appealing, at least implicitly, to the idea that each individual has intrinsic worth simply by virtue of being human. This relationship between dignity and rights is even stronger in the field of bioethics, which deals directly with some of the most basic human rights, such as the rights to life and to physical integrity. It is therefore not by chance that the international norms relating to bioethics give a central role to the concept of human dignity. However, one should not expect from dignity more than it can offer; dignity is a "principle", not a "rule"; it embodies a fundamental value, but it alone does not determine the content of a particular decision.

  7. RISKS, REASONS AND RIGHTS: THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND ENGLISH ABORTION LAW

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Rosamund

    2016-01-01

    Although there is no right to abort in English law but rather abortion is a crime, the lawful grounds for which are instantiated in the Abortion Act 1967 (as amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990), the regulation of abortion is sometimes perceived as being fairly ‘liberal’. Accordingly, the idea that aspects of English law could be criticised under the European Convention on Human Rights, with which the UK must comply following the Human Rights Act 1998, may seem unlikely. Indeed, English law is compatible with the consensus amongst contracting states that abortion should be available on maternal health grounds. However, analysis of the UK's negative obligations under Article 8 shows that section 1(1)(a) of the Act is problematic as it operates in the first trimester. Further, given the European Court of Human Rights' emphasis on the reduced margin of appreciation once a state has legalised abortion to some degree and its jurisprudence relating to a state's positive obligations, the analysis shows that, while English law may not be problematic in relation to the lack of guidelines relating to the lawful grounds for abortion, it may well be in relation to the lack of a formal system for the review of any two doctors' decision not to grant a termination. Notwithstanding the morally serious nature of the decision to abort, the analysis overall raises questions about the need for at least some degree of abortion law reform, particularly in relation to the first trimester, towards a more autonomy-focused, though time-limited, rights-based approach. PMID:26546800

  8. The Social and Local Construction of Human Rights. Reflections from the Perspective of the Right to Education in Mexico

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Víctor Alfonzo Zertuche Cobos

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The present article constitutes a critical reflection on human rights from the social-legal field in Mexico. Its purpose is to provide a discussion on a current legal and institutional reality, that is, the right to education in human rights based on one of the most important constitutional reforms in recent years in the field of human rights: the reform of June 2011. This reform, by the article 1° and 3° of the Constitution, introduced a public policy (proposed to the National Development Plan 2013-2018, along with the National Human Rights Program 2014-2018 within the federal public administration whose object is to implement the teaching of human rights at the national level. In this proposal, we observe two effects, one positive and one negative, inscribed only in the institutional or official dimension of the Mexican State, from which is derived a third positive effect for the social or local sphere, that is to say, for the space where the popular sectors or cultural minorities live. Therefore, it is in this social or local sphere where the third positive effect of the national public policy would take place to rethink the counter-hegemonic and alternative use of the right to education in human rights, from where would be possible the social-local construction or reconstruction of human rights that the present and future society requires with some urgency.

  9. Rights Language in the Sustainable Development Agenda: Has Right to Health Discourse and Norms Shaped Health Goals?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lisa Forman

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available While the right to health is increasingly referenced in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG discussions, its contribution to global health and development remains subject to considerable debate. This hypothesis explores the potential influence of the right to health on the formulation of health goals in 4 major SDG reports. We analyse these reports through a social constructivist lens which views the use of rights rhetoric as an important indicator of the extent to which a norm is being adopted and/or internalized. Our analysis seeks to assess the influence of this language on goals chosen, and to consider accordingly the potential for rights discourse to promote more equitable global health policy in the future.

  10. Food Prints on Human Rights Law Paradigms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meulen, van der B.M.J.; Ratescu, I.

    2014-01-01

    This article discusses the interaction between the development of the doctrine on human rights, in general, and on the right to food, in particular. In 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which listed the rights that were considered to

  11. The Right To Appeal For The Social Insurance As A Human And Constitutional Right

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Selita Mirela

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Magna Carat is a highly significant document that found the way into the rights and the constitutions. Magna Carat is a symbol of human and constitutional rights. Social insurance is part of the social security and the recognition of social security as a basic human right is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948 at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris and furthermore the European Conventions on Human Rights, specially the article 6.

  12. Sustainability assessment in forest management based on individual preferences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martín-Fernández, Susana; Martinez-Falero, Eugenio

    2018-01-15

    This paper presents a methodology to elicit the preferences of any individual in the assessment of sustainable forest management at the stand level. The elicitation procedure was based on the comparison of the sustainability of pairs of forest locations. A sustainability map of the whole territory was obtained according to the individual's preferences. Three forest sustainability indicators were pre-calculated for each point in a study area in a Scots pine forest in the National Park of Sierra de Guadarrama in the Madrid Region in Spain to obtain the best management plan with the sustainability map. We followed a participatory process involving fifty people to assess the sustainability of the forest management and the methodology. The results highlighted the demand for conservative forest management, the usefulness of the methodology for managers, and the importance and necessity of incorporating stakeholders into forestry decision-making processes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Transformative combinations: women's health and human rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamin, A E

    1997-01-01

    From the human rights perspective proposed in this article, a woman's good or ill health reflects more than biology or individual behaviors; it reflects her enjoyment (or lack thereof) of fundamental human rights that enable her to exercise basic power over the course and quality of her life. The "structural" view of health that such a human rights perspective suggests is concerned first with identifying the effects of social, economic, and political relations on women's health and then with promoting "interventions" aimed at transforming the laws, institutions, and structures that deny women's rights and well-being. Yet, traditional human rights law and practice have been limited to narrowly defined abuses by public officials against individuals that fail to capture the most pervasive denials of women's rights, which, though rooted in systematic discrimination, are frequently played out in so-called "private" institutions, primarily within the family. The experiences of women's health advocates in addressing complex women's health issues makes it clear that women's lack of access to economic and political power in the public sphere creates the conditions under which they are discriminated against and physically and sexually abused in the private sphere. Combining the pragmatic understanding of women's health professionals with an expansive conception of human rights norms has the potential to transform the fields of women's health and human rights.

  14. Indigenous Health and Human Rights: A Reflection on Law and Culture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazel, Odette

    2018-01-01

    In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples bear a greater burden of disease and have lower life expectancy than their non-Indigenous counterparts. These combined indicators are evidence of an entrenched health crisis in the Indigenous population that is linked to systemic disadvantage over many decades. In an effort to improve life expectancy and lessen the burden of disease, a number of strategies and national frameworks now embed a human rights-based approach to achieving health equality. This paper explores the application of human rights to Indigenous health and examines the inherent tensions that exist in engaging a system of law based on universal assumptions of the Enlightenment to advance Indigenous rights. What becomes apparent through this exploration is that the strategic approach of Indigenous peoples’ use of human rights, despite its genesis in a system of law that justified colonisation, has opened up opportunities to reframe fixed ideas of law and culture. PMID:29670026

  15. Indigenous Health and Human Rights: A Reflection on Law and Culture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazel, Odette

    2018-04-18

    In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples bear a greater burden of disease and have lower life expectancy than their non-Indigenous counterparts. These combined indicators are evidence of an entrenched health crisis in the Indigenous population that is linked to systemic disadvantage over many decades. In an effort to improve life expectancy and lessen the burden of disease, a number of strategies and national frameworks now embed a human rights-based approach to achieving health equality. This paper explores the application of human rights to Indigenous health and examines the inherent tensions that exist in engaging a system of law based on universal assumptions of the Enlightenment to advance Indigenous rights. What becomes apparent through this exploration is that the strategic approach of Indigenous peoples’ use of human rights, despite its genesis in a system of law that justified colonisation, has opened up opportunities to reframe fixed ideas of law and culture.

  16. Re-Envisioning Human Rights in the Light of Arendt and Rancière: Towards an Agonistic Account of Human Rights Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zembylas, Michalinos

    2017-01-01

    This article takes up Arendt's "aporetic" framing of human rights as well as Rancière's critique and suggests that reading them together may offer a way to re-envision human rights and human rights education (HRE)--not only because they make visible the perplexities of human rights, but also in that they call for an agonistic…

  17. On Setting Priorities among Human Rights

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Philips, Jos

    2014-01-01

    Should conflicts among human rights be dealt with by including general principles for priority setting at some prominent place in the practice of human rights? This essay argues that neither setting prominent and principled priorities nor a case-by-case approach are likely to be defensible as

  18. Are (Should) Human Rights (Be) Universal?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howard, Rhoda E.

    1998-01-01

    Believes that the purpose of human rights is to change many culturally ingrained habits and customs that violate the dignity of the individual. Expounds the differences between cultural relativism and cultural absolutism. States that "weak" cultural relativism is sometimes an appropriate response to human-rights violations. (CMK)

  19. MEDICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES OF THE DECISIONS RENDERED BY THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakhvadze, B; Chakhvadze, G

    2017-01-01

    The European Convention on Human rights is a document that protects human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals, and the European Court of Human Rights and its case-law makes a convention a powerful instrument to meet the new challenges of modernity and protect the principles of rule of law and democracy. This is important, particularly for young democracies, including Georgia. The more that Georgia is a party to this convention. Article 3 of the convention deals with torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, while article 8 deals with private life, home and correspondence. At the same time, the international practice of the European court of human rights shows that these articles are often used with regard to medical rights. The paper highlights the most recent and interesting cases from the case-law of the ECHR, in which the courts conclusions are based solely on the European Convention on Human Rights. In most instances, the European Court of Human Rights uses the principle of democracy with regard to medical rights. The European court of human rights considers medical rights as moral underpinning rights. Particularly in every occasion, the European Court of Human Rights acknowledges an ethical dimension of these rights. In most instances, it does not matter whether a plaintiff is a free person or prisoner, the European court of human rights make decisions based on fundamental human rights and freedoms of individuals.

  20. Social justice praxis in education: Towards sustainable ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Lastly, these practitioners aligned their management strategies with human rights values, as well as human dignity and equality, and their strategies found pride of place in extant ubuntu principles. Keywords: determinants; education; human rights; management strategies; restorative; social justice praxis; sustainable ...

  1. Human rights, ideology and population policies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colombo, B

    1977-01-01

    Only too often ideology means fanaticism, intolerance, even violence, but the term can be used also to denote sets of preconceptions and presuppositions which act as a stimulus and a guide to scientific innovation, particularly in the field of social science. This sort of insight into the realities of life and the world is a contribution to knowledge and the search for truth, also in the field of human rights. These are taken in the paper as those rights whose infringement constitutes a "vulnus" of the essential characteristics of human beings and those which assume the role of a basic safeguard of them. The meaning of the insistence on the human rights theme in the United Nations system is briefly touched upon, but the main effort is spent in trying to find a firm base for both fundamental rights and duties, shown as strictly and simmetrically linked. Various examples of population policies - broadly defined as governmental interventions influencing demographic variables - are then examined in the light of the basic principles laid down in the said effort. The fields taken up in succession for consideration are international and internal migration, mortality, marriage, fertility in countries at different stages of demographic transition, and growth. Rather than trying an extensive coverage of the whole horizon, a line of critical and deep thought about typical problematic themes is preferred. One of the main conclusions which may be quoted is a statement according to which the problem remains wide open of discovering acceptable ways aiming at a modification of fertility patterns which combine a reduction of the average family size with the maintenance of its variability in order to respect free and responsible individual choices. How important and urgent this task is, is underscored by the observations advanced in the final section of the paper including a meditation on the limits that human sexuality appears to have imposed on itself.

  2. Sustainability Assessment Using a Unit-based Sustainability ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A sustainability assessment study was performed with three teaching departments at Rhodes University – Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, Anthropology, and Accounting. The assessment used a Unit-based Sustainability Assessment Tool (USAT) and was guided by systems thinking and the ontological framework ...

  3. US Human Rights Conduct and International Legitimacy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Keating, Vincent Charles

    Did the Bush administration fundamentally harm the international human rights system through its rejection of human rights norms? This is the central question explored within US Human Rights Conduct and International Legitimacy, which analyses the practices of legitimacy between the Bush...... nations have followed in America's footsteps, and that the Bush administration's deviation from international norms has served to reaffirm worldwide commitment to human rights....... administration, states, and international organizations in cases of torture, habeas corpus, and rendition. Vincent Keating argues that despite the material power of the United States, there is little evidence that the Bush administration gravely damaged international norms on torture and habeas corpus as few...

  4. Human Rights in the West

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorgen S. Nielsen

    1996-12-01

    Full Text Available One of the areas of conflict between Islam and the West in today’s world is the concern for human rights. This has sometimes been criticized in the Muslim world as a form of neo-imperialism. It is therefore necessary to understand the various dimensions of human rights, and the various phases through which this concern has grown. In the earliest form, it was an assertion of the rights of the landed aristocracy against those of the monarch. The French revolution, with its emphasis on "liberty, equality and fraternity," for all individuals, provided another dimension. There were many occasions on which individual and organized religion came into conflict during the Middle Ages. The experience of World War II, particularly the atrocities of the Nazis, led to the internationalization of individual rights.

  5. The human rights responsibilities of multinational tobacco companies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crow, M

    2005-01-01

    This article explores various strategies which could be used to hold the tobacco industry accountable for human rights violations precipitated by its conduct. First, a brief overview of the international human rights regime and the tobacco related jurisprudence issued by human rights treaty bodies is provided. The article then explains how tobacco control advocates could promote more systematic consideration of governments' tobacco related human rights violations by reconceptualising the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in the language of rights. The feasibility of using the existing human rights framework to target the tobacco industry directly is analysed with the conclusion that this approach has serious limitations. Emerging human rights norms, which have greater potential to affect the industry's conduct, are presented. Finally, given the questionable authoritativeness of these norms, alternative ways that they could be employed to hold tobacco companies accountable for the rights related consequences of their activities are proposed. PMID:16046696

  6. Amartya Sen o prawach człowieka [Sen on human rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katarzyna Guczalska

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The article discusses the idea of ‘human rights’ and the Amartya Sen’s reflections on that topic. By assumption, Sen does not present a catalogue of human rights, yet he claims that the language of human rights can be used to talk about the so-called human capabilities (the main concept of Sen’s theory. The aporia that exists in the current paradigm of human rights consists in the fact that it has been based on a few (liberal foundations, while, on the other hand, it has been extended into a broad system of individual rights/entitlements conflicting with their foundation. Each of those systems of rights entails a specific vision of social life. The liberal tradition postulates the existence of a minimal state, which guards freedom, life and property. In the leftist tradition, in contrast, there is postulated the existence of a welfare state, which satisfies people’s ever growing needs, based on an extensive bureaucracy and high taxes – under the patronage of the idea of social justice. Those social visions cannot be reconciled – they lead to conflicts. In this text, I present the problem of inconsistency and tension within the ‘human rights’, contrasting Amartya Sen’s theory with classical liberalism of John Locke. I claim that assessment of the contemporary ‘human rights’ theory should depend on whether a given theory is capable of proper determination and – at least to some extent – solving the problem of incoherence and tensions present in the Western ‘human rights’ paradigm. It seems that Sen’s conception cannot meet that challenge.

  7. Human Rights, Human Needs, Human Development, Human Security - Relationships between four international human discourses.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    D.R. Gasper (Des)

    2007-01-01

    markdownabstractAbstract: Human rights, human development and human security form increasingly important, partly interconnected, partly competitive and misunderstood ethical and policy discourses. Each tries to humanize a pre-existing and unavoidable major discourse of everyday life, policy and

  8. Human rights, health and the state in Bangladesh

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rahman Redwanur M

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background This paper broadly discusses the role of the State of Bangladesh in the context of the health system and human rights. The interrelation between human rights, health and development are well documented. The recognition of health as a fundamental right by WHO and subsequent approval of health as an instrument of welfare by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR and the International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights (ICSECR further enhances the idea. Moreover, human rights are also recognized as an expedient of human development. The state is entrusted to realize the rights enunciated in the ICSECR. Discussion In exploring the relationship of the human rights and health situation in Bangladesh, it is argued, in this paper, that the constitution and major policy documents of the Bangladesh government have recognized the health rights and development. Bangladesh has ratified most of the international treaties and covenants including ICCPR, ICESCR; and a signatory of international declarations including Alma-Ata, ICPD, Beijing declarations, and Millennium Development Goals. However the implementation of government policies and plans in the development of health institutions, human resources, accessibility and availability, resource distribution, rural-urban disparity, the male-female gap has put the health system in a dismal state. Neither the right to health nor the right to development has been established in the development of health system or in providing health care. Summary The development and service pattern of the health system have negative correlation with human rights and contributed to the underdevelopment of Bangladesh. The government should take comprehensive approach in prioritizing the health rights of the citizens and progressive realization of these rights.

  9. ISSUES OF COMPATIBILITY HUMAN RIGHTS AND ISLAM: The Experience of Egypt and Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sus Eko Ernada

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the plurality of Muslim responses to the modern conce­p­tion of human rights, drawing in particular on Muslim interpretations of key human rights issues in the dis­cour­se of human rights and Islam -women’s rights, reli­gious free­dom and minority rights, and corporal punishment- in Egypt and Indonesia. The case stu­dies of Egypt and Indonesia point to wide range of responses among Muslims to these issues, but also suggest that Islam is not incompatible with the modern conception of human rights. This paper argues that on the issues of human rights, Muslims do not share a single, monolithic stance. Instead, there is a variety of arguments based on various Islamic schools of thought and Islamic reli­gious groups. As a result, the issues of human rights and their implementation have elicited a wide range of responses among Muslims.

  10. Getting the chemicals right: addressing inorganics in sustainability assessments of technologies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Müller, Nienke; Fantke, Peter

    sustainability assessments, the toxicity potential of several thousand organic chemicals is included in characterization models within life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). However, many economic production processes involve the use of inorganic chemicals to a large extent, while the related pressure on human...... and environmental health of environmental emissions of these substances is not yet fully understood and not included in any existing LCIA method. In th is presentation, we provide an overview of the relevance of inorganic chemicals and outline possible ways towards incorporating inorganic chemicals in LCIA toxicity......A main goal of sustainability research is to enable a technological development in industry and elsewhere that ensures that what is produced and how it is produced today does not harm the quality of human or environmental health for present and future generations. As part of current environmental...

  11. Protestant Origins of Human Rights Challenged

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mogens Chrom Jacobsen

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper will challenge common views about Protestantism as the originator or foremost promoter of human rights. The idea of a Protestant origin is launched by Georg Jellinek and disputed by Emile Boutmy. The idea is still current and John Witte can thus claim that Protestantism was in part a human rights movement. The point of departure for this strain of thinking is religious toleration, which is seen as a particularly Protestant achievement. We will argue that a more precise notion of what 18th-century human rights were and a closer look at mainstream Protestant political philosophy will tell another story.

  12. Human Rights Promotion through Transnational Investment Regimes: An International Political Economy Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claire Cutler

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available International investment agreements are foundational instruments in a transnational investment regime that governs how states regulate the foreign-owned assets and the foreign investment activities of private actors. Over 3,000 investment agreements between states govern key governmental powers and form the basis for an emerging transnational investment regime. This transnational regime significantly decentralizes, denationalizes, and privatizes decision-making and policy choices over foreign investment. Investment agreements set limits to state action in a number of areas of vital public concern, including the protection of human and labour rights, the environment, and sustainable development. They determine the distribution of power between foreign investors and host states and their societies. However, the societies in which they operate seldom have any input into the terms or operation of these agreements, raising crucial questions of their democratic legitimacy as mechanisms of governance. This paper draws on political science and law to explore the political economy of international investment agreements and asks whether these agreements are potential vehicles for promoting international human rights. The analysis provides an historical account of the investment regime, while a review of the political economy of international investment agreements identifies what appears to be a paradox at the core of their operation. It then examines contract theory for insight into this apparent paradox and considers whether investment agreements are suitable mechanisms for advancing international human rights.

  13. Human Rights, Human Needs, Human Development, Human Security : Relationships between four international 'human' discourses

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    D.R. Gasper (Des)

    2007-01-01

    textabstractHuman rights, human development and human security form increasingly important, partly interconnected, partly competitive and misunderstood ethical and policy discourses. Each tries to humanize a pre-existing and unavoidable major discourse of everyday life, policy and politics; each

  14. Health and Human Rights: New challenges for social responsiveness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leslie London

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available South Africa’s struggle against apartheid discrimination, including struggles in the health sector, laid the basis for a vibrant engagement of staff and students in human rights research, teaching and outreach in the Health Sciences Faculty at the University of Cape Town (UCT. This article provides a brief overview of this background context, then shows how this engagement has continued with new challenges emerging in the post-apartheid democratic period. Teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels has been complemented by a programme of ‘Training the Trainers’ in health and human rights. The programme targets teachers of health professionals at institutions in South and Southern Africa, resulting in national adoption of human rights competencies as an essential component of health professionals’ skills base. Research has also extended lessons learnt from the apartheid period into work with vulnerable groups, such as rural farm workers and the deaf, and seeks to build the capacity of marginal populations to change the conditions of their vulnerability in order to realize their rights. Partnerships with civil society organisations have been a strong thread, creating new knowledge and new ways of joint work towards realizing the right to health, including advocacy engagement in civil society movements and regional networks. Further, a focus on health professionals’ practice, in terms of dealing with potential dual loyalty conflicts and their role as gatekeepers in the health services on matters of patients’ rights, has shaped the research agenda. This article illustrates how knowledge production for the public good extends beyond notions of enhancing economic productivity for national development and provides a base for transdisciplinary and transinstitutional engagement. Additionally, non-traditional forms of knowledge networking and transfer have also been explored, including engagement with policy-makers and health managers

  15. Human Rights, Diversity, and Citizenship Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banks, James A.

    2009-01-01

    The 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a propitious time for educators to examine its implications for educating citizens in multicultural nation states. The author argues that students must experience democratic classrooms and schools that reflect their cultures and identities to internalize human rights values,…

  16. A Culture Of Health And Human Rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mariner, Wendy K; Annas, George J

    2016-11-01

    A culture of health can be seen as a social norm that values health as the nation's priority or as an appeal to improve the social determinants of health. Better population health will require changing social and economic policies. Effective changes are unlikely unless health advocates can leverage a framework broader than health to mobilize political action in collaboration with non-health sector advocates. We suggest that human rights-the dominant international source of norms for government responsibilities-provides this broader framework. Human rights, as expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and enforceable treaties, require governments to assure their populations nondiscriminatory access to food, water, education, work, social security, and a standard of living adequate for health and well-being. The policies needed to realize human rights also improve population health, well-being, and equity. Aspirations for human rights are strong enough to endure beyond inevitable setbacks to specific causes. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

  17. Health and human rights in today’s fight against HIV/AIDS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stemple, Lara

    2012-01-01

    The development of the health and human rights framework coincided with the beginning of the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS. Since then, the international community has increasingly turned to human rights language and instruments to address the disease. Not only are human rights essential to addressing a disease that impacts marginalized groups most severely, but the spread of HIV/AIDS itself exacerbates inequality and impedes the realization of a range of human rights. Policy developments of the past decade include the United Nations (UN) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ General Comment on the ‘Right to Health’, the UN Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, and the UN’s International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, among others. Rights-related setbacks include the failure of the Declaration and its 5-year follow-up specifically to address men who have sex with men, sex workers, and intravenous drug users, political restrictions placed on urgently needed US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) funds, and the failure of many countries to decriminalize same-sex sex and outlaw discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS. Male circumcision as an HIV prevention measure is a topic around which important debate, touching on gender, informed consent and children’s rights, serves to illustrate the ongoing vitality of the health and human rights dialogue. Mechanisms to increase state accountability for addressing HIV/AIDS should be explored in greater depth. Such measures might include an increase in the use of treaty-based judicial mechanisms, the linking of human rights compliance with preferential trade agreements, and rights requirements tied to HIV/ AIDS funding. PMID:18641463

  18. RISKS, REASONS AND RIGHTS: THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND ENGLISH ABORTION LAW.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Rosamund

    2016-01-01

    Although there is no right to abort in English law but rather abortion is a crime, the lawful grounds for which are instantiated in the Abortion Act 1967 (as amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990), the regulation of abortion is sometimes perceived as being fairly 'liberal'. Accordingly, the idea that aspects of English law could be criticised under the European Convention on Human Rights, with which the UK must comply following the Human Rights Act 1998, may seem unlikely. Indeed, English law is compatible with the consensus amongst contracting states that abortion should be available on maternal health grounds. However, analysis of the UK's negative obligations under Article 8 shows that section 1(1)(a) of the Act is problematic as it operates in the first trimester. Further, given the European Court of Human Rights' emphasis on the reduced margin of appreciation once a state has legalised abortion to some degree and its jurisprudence relating to a state's positive obligations, the analysis shows that, while English law may not be problematic in relation to the lack of guidelines relating to the lawful grounds for abortion, it may well be in relation to the lack of a formal system for the review of any two doctors' decision not to grant a termination. Notwithstanding the morally serious nature of the decision to abort, the analysis overall raises questions about the need for at least some degree of abortion law reform, particularly in relation to the first trimester, towards a more autonomy-focused, though time-limited, rights-based approach. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

  19. The treatment of sex offenders: evidence, ethics, and human rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Birgden, Astrid; Cucolo, Heather

    2011-09-01

    Public policy is necessarily a political process with the law and order issue high on the political agenda. Consequently, working with sex offenders is fraught with legal and ethical minefields, including the mandate that community protection automatically outweighs offender rights. In addressing community protection, contemporary sex offender treatment is based on management rather than rehabilitation. We argue that treatment-as-management violates offender rights because it is ineffective and unethical. The suggested alternative is to deliver treatment-as-rehabilitation underpinned by international human rights law and universal professional ethics. An effective and ethical community-offender balance is more likely when sex offenders are treated with respect and dignity that, as human beings, they have a right to claim.

  20. Community-based assessment of human rights in a complex humanitarian emergency: the Emergency Assistance Teams-Burma and Cyclone Nargis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mahn Mahn

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Introduction Cyclone Nargis hit Burma on May 2, 2008, killing over 138,000 and affecting at least 2.4 million people. The Burmese military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC, initially blocked international aid to storm victims, forcing community-based organizations such as the Emergency Assistance Teams-Burma (EAT to fill the void, helping with cyclone relief and long-term reconstruction. Recognizing the need for independent monitoring of the human rights situation in cyclone-affected areas, particularly given censorship over storm relief coverage, EAT initiated such documentation efforts. Methods A human rights investigation was conducted to document selected human rights abuses that had initially been reported to volunteers providing relief services in cyclone affected areas. Using participatory research methods and qualitative, semi-structured interviews, EAT volunteers collected 103 testimonies from August 2008 to June 2009; 42 from relief workers and 61 from storm survivors. Results One year after the storm, basic necessities such as food, potable water, and shelter remained insufficient for many, a situation exacerbated by lack of support to help rebuild livelihoods and worsening household debt. This precluded many survivors from being able to access healthcare services, which were inadequate even before Cyclone Nargis. Aid efforts continued to be met with government restrictions and harassment, and relief workers continued to face threats and fear of arrest. Abuses, including land confiscation and misappropriation of aid, were reported during reconstruction, and tight government control over communication and information exchange continued. Conclusions Basic needs of many cyclone survivors in the Irrawaddy Delta remained unmet over a year following Cyclone Nargis. Official impediments to delivery of aid to storm survivors continued, including human rights abrogations experienced by civilians during

  1. Peace, Human Security and Sustainable Development in Africa ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Peace, Human Security and Sustainable Development in Africa ... into a sustainable livelihood for some of the poorest communities in Africa. ... Project status ... IDRC congratulates first cohort of Women in Climate Change Science Fellows ... titled “Climate change and adaptive water management: Innovative solutions from ...

  2. Rights Language in the Sustainable Development Agenda: Has Right to Health Discourse and Norms Shaped Health Goals?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forman, Lisa; Ooms, Gorik; Brolan, Claire E

    2015-09-29

    While the right to health is increasingly referenced in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) discussions, its contribution to global health and development remains subject to considerable debate. This hypothesis explores the potential influence of the right to health on the formulation of health goals in 4 major SDG reports. We analyse these reports through a social constructivist lens which views the use of rights rhetoric as an important indicator of the extent to which a norm is being adopted and/or internalized. Our analysis seeks to assess the influence of this language on goals chosen, and to consider accordingly the potential for rights discourse to promote more equitable global health policy in the future. © 2015 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

  3. Why the Convention on the Rights of the Child must become a guiding framework for the realization of the rights of children affected by tuberculosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basu Roy, Robindra; Brandt, Nicola; Moodie, Nicolette; Motlagh, Mitra; Rasanathan, Kumanan; Seddon, James A; Detjen, Anne K; Kampmann, Beate

    2016-12-08

    Until recently, paediatric tuberculosis (TB) has been relatively neglected by the broader TB and the maternal and child health communities. Human rights-based approaches to children affected by TB could be powerful; however, awareness and application of such strategies is not widespread. We summarize the current challenges faced by children affected by TB, including: consideration of their family context; the limitations of preventive, diagnostic and treatment options; paucity of paediatric-specific research; failure in implementation of interventions; and stigma. We examine the articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and relate them to childhood TB. Specifically, we focus on the five core principles of the CRC: children's inherent right to life and States' duties towards their survival and development; children's right to enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health; non-discrimination; best interests of the child; and respect for the views of the child. We highlight where children's rights are violated and how a human rights-based approach should be used as a tool to help children affected by TB, particularly in light of the Sustainable Development Goals and their focus on universality and leaving no one behind. The article aims to bridge the gap between those providing paediatric TB clinical care and conducting research, and those working in the fields of human rights policy and advocacy to promote a human rights-based approach for children affected by TB based upon the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

  4. The human rights approach to climate change

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toft, Kristian Høyer

    2013-01-01

    are instrumentally applied as a solution to what could be called the “justice problem” in climate negotiations. In order to assess the degree to which human rights could be a useful approach to the justice problem with regard to to climate change, four major issues need to be examined. First...... presently and in the future, needs to be elucidated, as well as (b) the human rights principles that are at stake, and (c) the duties and duty holders involved. Third, the human right to emit greenhouse gases needs to be clarified in the context of subsistence rights and equal per capita emission rights...

  5. The human factor: enhancing women's rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steinzor, N

    1995-01-01

    The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN in 1948, declares that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and that everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person. In practice, however, far from everyone has these rights, especially women. Many women worldwide have neither the awareness of nor access to family planning methods with which they could regulate their fertility and childbearing. Thus deprived of their reproductive freedom, these women cannot pursue education, employment, and other life options which would otherwise be readily available to them were they not saddled with poor reproductive health and too many children. Expanded choices enhance the status of women, which in turn helps them to reduce fertility rates and stabilize population growth. The author discusses how the wide range of cultural and social norms, and economic and political systems worldwide make it very difficult and complex to actually implement universal human rights.

  6. Human Sustainable Development in the Context of Europa 2020 Strategy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alina-Mihaela Ion

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Human development is a constant concern at European level. Thus, various programs have been proposed with the main objective of developing skills of citizens and informing them about training courses as part of lifelong learning and of employment in the labour market. The article highlights the evolution of European Union through the investments in human capital. The objective of this paper is represented by the analysis of the impact of sustainable human development through trans-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary education in the context of the European Union strategy proposed for the following period up to 2020. Europe 2020 represents a strategic plan for European Union development until 2020, having as main objective raising the standard of living and the quality of life for European citizens. Europe 2020 strategy promotes a new vision for the economy of European Union. For the following period until 2020 there is a major concern for creating favourable conditions for development of a sustainable intelligent economy that promotes inclusion. Some of the main activities with a major impact on creating such conditions are investments in education, research and innovation. The article analyses the current and recent past years’ situation in terms of sustainable development from educational and economic perspectives at European Union level. The analysis was done based on Eurostat data, using specific statistical methods.

  7. Sustainable Markets Investment Briefings: Foreign investment contracts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cotula, Lorenzo

    2007-08-15

    This is the fourth of a series of briefings which discuss the sustainable development issues raised by legal arrangements for the protection of foreign investment. The briefings are based on legal research by IIED and its partners. The goal is to provide accessible but accurate information for human rights, development and environmental organisations working on issues raised by foreign investment in low- and middle-income countries. Briefing 4 sets out some of the ways in which foreign investment contracts can impact on sustainable development.

  8. Teachers' Pedagogical Perspectives and Teaching Practices on Human Rights in Cyprus: An Empirical Exploration and Implications for Human Rights Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zembylas, Michalinos; Charalambous, Constadina; Charalambous, Panayiota

    2016-01-01

    This paper describes a qualitative study that explored the understandings of human rights, pedagogical perspectives and practices in human rights teaching of three Greek-Cypriot elementary teachers. The study revealed some significant challenges in human rights teaching that seemed to be common for all three participating teachers. First, all of…

  9. 48 Human Rights in and around Cuba

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gustafsson, Jan

    2015-01-01

    The article takes point of department in the current reform process in Cuba and its perspectives regarding human rights. To understand the background of the fundamental human rights' problems in Cuba, an analysis of the 'constituting dichotomy' is included and discussed in relation to its represe...... representation in the film, 'Strawberry and Chocolate'. The further perspectives for human rights in Cuba in relation to other Developments in Latin America constitutes the last part....

  10. Human Rights in the World Health Organization: Views of the Director-General Candidates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meier, Benjamin Mason

    2017-06-01

    Before the 2017 election of the Director-General of WHO, and given the importance of human rights to global health governance through WHO, Health and Human Rights asked the three final candidates for their views on human rights, WHO's human rights mandate, and the role of human rights in WHO programming. These questions were developed by the author in collaboration with Audrey Chapman, Lisa Forman, Paul Hunt, Dainius Pūras, Javier Vasquez and Carmel Williams. Based on responses to these questions from each of the three candidates, this Perspective was originally published online on April 26, 2017. On May 23, 2017, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was elected Director-General and will begin his five-year term on July 1, 2017.

  11. Sustainability Enhancement of a Turbine Vane Manufacturing Cell through Digital Simulation-Based Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alessandra Caggiano

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Modern manufacturing systems should satisfy emerging needs related to sustainable development. The design of sustainable manufacturing systems can be valuably supported by simulation, traditionally employed mainly for time and cost reduction. In this paper, a multi-purpose digital simulation approach is proposed to deal with sustainable manufacturing systems design through Discrete Event Simulation (DES and 3D digital human modelling. DES models integrated with data on power consumption of the manufacturing equipment are utilized to simulate different scenarios with the aim to improve productivity as well as energy efficiency, avoiding resource and energy waste. 3D simulation based on digital human modelling is employed to assess human factors issues related to ergonomics and safety of manufacturing systems. The approach is implemented for the sustainability enhancement of a real manufacturing cell of the aerospace industry, automated by robotic deburring. Alternative scenarios are proposed and simulated, obtaining a significant improvement in terms of energy efficiency (−87% for the new deburring cell, and a reduction of energy consumption around −69% for the coordinate measuring machine, with high potential annual energy cost savings and increased energy efficiency. Moreover, the simulation-based ergonomic assessment of human operator postures allows 25% improvement of the workcell ergonomic index.

  12. Investigating Environmentally Sustainable Transport Based on DALY weights and SIR Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hossein Nezamianpour Jahromi

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Accessibility is one of the main causes of well-being and growth in contemporary societies. Transportation is the backbone of accessibility systems that lead to the growth of economic and social networks and spatial dispersion of activities. Unfortunately, the adverse effects of transportation have a great impact on the natural and human environment. Since transportation is associated with fossil fuel combustion, it results in emissions of pollutants that cause damage to human health. To save the global eco-system, sustainable development has become an international priority. To deal with the sustainability of transportation systems is an important issue as testified by a growing number of initiatives framed to define and measure sustainability in transportation planning and infrastructure planning as well. The capability of environmental assessment as a sustainability instrument is well known. This study proposes a new approach to rank countries based on environmental sustainability development applying disability adjusted life year (DALY weights for transportation sector emissions. DALY weights consider actual impacts of pollutants on human health. By employing SIR method, a superiority and inferiority ranking method is presented for multiple criteria decision making, the sustainability ranking of a number of European countries is presented. Three various ranking methods extracted from SIR ranking method are discussed and the results and the correlation among them are demonstrated.

  13. Europe's Shifting Response to HIV/AIDS: From Human Rights to Risk Management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Julia

    2016-12-01

    Despite a history of championing HIV/AIDS as a human rights issue, and a rhetorical commitment to health as a human right, European states and institutions have shifted from a rights-based response to a risk management approach to HIV/AIDS since the economic recession of 2008. An interdisciplinary perspective is applied to analyze health policy changes at the national, regional, and global levels by drawing on data from key informant interviews, and institutional and civil society documents. It is demonstrated that, in the context of austerity measures, member states such as the UK and Greece reduced commitments to rights associated with HIV/AIDS; at the regional level, the EU failed to develop rights-based approaches to address the vulnerabilities and health care needs of key populations affected by HIV/AIDS, particularly migrants and sex workers; and at the global level, the EU backtracked on commitments to global health and is prioritizing the intellectual property rights of pharmaceutical companies over the human rights of people living with HIV/AIDS. The focus within and from the EU is on containment, efficiency, and cost reduction. The rights of those most affected are no longer prioritized.

  14. Land administration, planning and human rights

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Enemark, Stig; Hvingel, Line Træholt; Galland, Daniel

    2014-01-01

    The people-to-land relationship is dynamic and changes over time in response to cultural, social, and economic development. Land policies, institutions and land administration systems are key tools aimed at governing this relationship. Such tools will normally include the means for allocating...... and controlling rights, restrictions and responsibilities in land – often termed RRRs. Each of the RRRs encompasses a human rights dimension that should be seen and unfolded as more than just political rhetoric. This paper attempts to analyse the aspect of human rights in relation to land administration systems...... with a special focus on less developed countries struggling to build adequate systems for governing the RRRs in land. In doing so, the paper conceives planning as a key function and means of land administration systems by which human rights should be underpinned in solving concrete land issues....

  15. Human rights reasoning and medical law: a sceptical essay.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wall, Jesse

    2015-03-01

    I am sceptical as to the contribution that human rights can make to our evaluation of medical law. I will argue here that viewing medical law through a human rights framework provides no greater clarity, insight or focus. If anything, human rights reasoning clouds any bioethical or evaluative analysis. In Section 1 of this article, I outline the general structure of human rights reasoning. I will describe human rights reasoning as (a) reasoning from rights that each person has 'by virtue of their humanity', (b) reasoning from rights that provide 'hard to defeat' reasons for action and (c) reasoning from abstract norms to specified duties. I will then argue in Section 2 that, unless we (a) re-conceive of human rights as narrow categories of liberties, it becomes (b) necessary for our human rights reasoning to gauge the normative force of each claim or liberty. When we apply this approach to disputes in medical law, we (in the best case scenario) end up (c) 'looking straight through' the human right to the (disagreement about) values and features that each person has by virtue of their humanity. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  16. HUMAN BEINGS TRAFFICKING IN THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS CASE-LAW

    OpenAIRE

    Laura-Cristiana SPĂTARU-NEGURĂ

    2017-01-01

    After last year’s analysis regarding the European Union’s commitment to fight against the human beings trafficking, we have considered to further explore the human beings trafficking approach in the European Court of Human Rights case-law, the most developped regional jurisdiction on human rights. Surprisingly, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms does not make an express reference to the human beings trafficking. However, we have to bear in mind...

  17. Designing, testing, and implementing a sustainable nurse home visiting program: right@home.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldfeld, Sharon; Price, Anna; Kemp, Lynn

    2018-05-01

    Nurse home visiting (NHV) offers a potential platform to both address the factors that limit access to services for families experiencing adversity and provide effective interventions. Currently, the ability to examine program implementation is hampered by a lack of detailed description of actual, rather than expected, program development and delivery in published studies. Home visiting implementation remains a black box in relation to quality and sustainability. However, previous literature would suggest that efforts to both report and improve program implementation are vital for NHV to have population impact and policy sustainability. In this paper, we provide a case study of the design, testing, and implementation of the right@home program, an Australian NHV program and randomized controlled trial. We address existing gaps related to implementation of NHV programs by describing the processes used to develop the program to be trialed, summarizing its effectiveness, and detailing the quality processes and implementation evaluation. The weight of our evidence suggests that NHV can be a powerful and sustainable platform for addressing inequitable outcomes, particularly when the program focuses on parent engagement and partnership, delivers evidence-based strategies shown to improve outcomes, includes fidelity monitoring, and is adapted to and embedded within existing service delivery systems. © 2018 The Authors. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The New York Academy of Sciences.

  18. Gender-related differences in the human rights needs of patients with mental illness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vijayalakshmi, Poreddi; Reddemma, Konduru; Math, Suresh Bada

    2012-06-01

    Individuals with mental illness commonly experience human rights violations while seeking to meet their basic needs. There is lack of research in developing countries on gender-related differences in human rights needs. This study investigated gender differences in perceived human rights needs at the family and community levels in individuals with mental illness in India. This descriptive study surveyed 100 asymptomatic individuals with mental illness at a tertiary care center. Subject selection employed a random sampling method. Data were collected using face-to-face interviews based on a structured needs assessment questionnaire. Data were analyzed and interpreted using descriptive and inferential statistics. Subjects enjoyed a satisfactory level of fulfillment in the physical dimension of human rights needs, which included food, housing, and clothing. Men expressed lower satisfaction than women with perceived human rights needs fulfillment in the emotional dimension. This included fear of family members (χ = 9.419, p human rights needs fulfillment in social and ethical dimensions. The former included freedom to leave the home (χ = 11.277, p human rights needs of people with mental illness and that legislation must be strengthened to meet the human rights needs of this disadvantaged population.

  19. The Human Right of Home Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donnelly, Michael P.

    2016-01-01

    Homeschooling is legal and growing in many countries but is virtually forbidden by law in Germany and a few others. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has reviewed and upheld this ban. Is home education a human right? How do these courts employ their jurisprudence of proportionality to find banning home education does not violate relevant…

  20. Coronial law and practice: a human rights perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freckelton, Ian; McGregor, Simon

    2014-03-01

    Coronial law and practice inevitably impact upon the human rights of those affected by deaths. It is important that such rights be incorporated in how death investigations, up to and including coronial inquests, take place. This article explores the significant impact of the jurisprudence emanating from the European Court of Human Rights, as well as the application of such law by the courts of the United Kingdom and potentially in other countries. It argues that viewing the work of coroners through the lens of human rights is a constructive approach and that, although in the coronial legislation of Australia and New Zealand, many human rights, especially those of family members, and civil liberties are explicitly protected, there remain real advantages in reflecting upon compliance with human rights by death investigation procedures and decision-making.

  1. Global bioethics and human rights in an African context: A reformed theological discourse on global bioethics as a new human rights ethos

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A.L. Rheeder

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The 2005 UNESCO Universal Declaration of Bioethics and Human Rights (UDBHR is specifically aimed at Africa and developing countries from other regions. The acceptance of this UNESCO instrument shows that global bioethics and human rights have become part of the bioethics discourse of today. It is clear that there is a certain affinity between human rights and bioethics, which makes such a link desirable. The value of this link lies in the fact that human rights facilitate a normative universal expansion of bioethical principles. The human rights framework provides bioethical principles with some authority and political influence, an instrument that can protect people in our broken context. Human rights practice and a reformed understanding of natural law both show that humanity can reach consensus on ethical principles such as those found in the UDBHR. Consensus on the theoretical foundation of human rights is not a prerequisite for the successful utilisation of these principles.

  2. Psychiatry and human rights: a difficult relationship, but with a growing potential.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jarab, Jan

    2015-01-01

    Persons with psychosocial disabilities (mental health problems) are under the protection of the new United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The CRPD brings a human rights-based approach to disability: it challenges paternalistic views by emphasizing the person as a rights-holder, an active subject, and not just a passive object of care. It also represents a challenge to mainstream human rights movements and mechanisms who have long paid insufficient attention to human rights of persons with (psychosocial) disabilities. It is increasingly understood that human rights of persons with psychosocial disabilities (mental health problems) should not be seen in the narrow perspective, as if the only issue was the most controversial one, that is, deprivation of liberty. In many areas, reform-minded psychiatrists have themselves initiated human rights-friendly reforms. For instance, efforts to implement article 19 of the CRPD—independent living and inclusion in the community—are increasingly becoming part of the mainstream in mental health care. There is potential for further synergy between mental health professionals and human rights activists in looking at the whole range of civil, political, economic, and social rights listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—realizing that all these rights apply also to persons with psychosocial disabilities, and working together towards removing real-life obstacles to their enjoyment.The building of bridges between the two different types of expertise should be encouraged. In this regard, psychiatry would benefit from more cooperation across borders as well as with international human rights bodies, non-governmental organizations and persons with psychosocial disabilities themselves

  3. Teaching about Human Rights and American Indians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harvey, Karen D.

    1996-01-01

    Presents a flexible lesson plan integrating teaching about human rights into the existing curriculum about American Indians. Asserts that American Indians have the right to maintain their cultural ways and connects that subject to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Includes three lists of resources and references. (MJP)

  4. Human rights and the challenges of science and technology: Commentary on Meier et al. "Translating the human right to water and sanitation into public policy reform" and Hall et al. "The human right to water: the importance of domestic and productive water rights".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marks, Stephen P

    2014-12-01

    The expansion of the corpus of international human rights to include the right to water and sanitation has implications both for the process of recognizing human rights and for future developments in the relationships between technology, engineering and human rights. Concerns with threats to human rights resulting from developments in science and technology were expressed in the early days of the United Nations (UN), along with the recognition of the ambitious human right of everyone "to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications." This comment explores the hypothesis that the emerging concepts most likely to follow recognition of the human right to water primarily involve issues of science and technology, such as access to medicines or clean and healthy environment. Many threats to human rights from advances in science, which were identified in the past as potential, have become real today, such as invasion of privacy from electronic recording, deprivation of health and livelihood as a result of climate change, or control over individual autonomy through advances in genetics and neuroscience. This comment concludes by urging greater engagement of scientists and engineers, in partnership with human rights specialists, in translating normative pronouncements into defining policy and planning interventions.

  5. Human Rights under the Ethiopian Constitution: A Descriptive ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This article summarizes human rights under the Ethiopian Constitution (mainly surrounding Chapter 3 of Constitution and related constitutional provisions on human and democratic rights), and forwards some insights. It, inter alia, covers various aspects of the application and interpretation of human rights provisions, ...

  6. Sustainable Human Resource Management in Religiously Diverse Regions: The Podlasie Case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barbara Mazur

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available The concept of sustainability seems fundamental for companies operating worldwide. Human resources are acknowledged to be among the most valuable assets for them. Even though literature shows that Sustainable Human Resource Management is an upcoming topic there is still limited research on the concept due to its initial state. Prior literature reveals a lack in the consideration of systematic links between sustainability and HRM. The purpose of the study is to present the sociological approach to Sustainable Human Resource Management. The paper contributes to the literature linking sustainability to the issues researched in HRM literature. In the introduction it discusses how the notion of sustainability has emerged and developed. Then the sociological approach to Sustainable Human Resource Management is briefly depicted. Next, Diversity Management is presented as the manifestation of the social approach to Sustainable Human Resource Management. To illustrate this approach, the empirical research is presented. It has been conducted among 32 companies operating in Podlasie region (northeastern part of Poland. The research tried to uncover the companies’ knowledge and consciousness of cultural (religious diversity. It also aimed at finding out whether this diversity was seen as an advantage and taken opportunity of or rather neglected in the companies. The results show the reception of diversity among larger and smaller enterprises in the Podlasie region. In general, smaller companies tend to know the religion of the worker more often, and therefore are able to take advantage of it. The larger companies tend to treat faith as a personal matter.

  7. APA efforts in promoting human rights and social justice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leong, Frederick T L; Pickren, Wade E; Vasquez, Melba J T

    2017-11-01

    This article reviews the American Psychological Association's (APA) efforts in promoting human rights and social justice. Beginning with a historical review of the conceptualizations of human rights and social justice, the social challenges that have faced the United States over time are discussed in relation to the APA's evolving mission and strategic initiatives enacted through its boards, committees, and directorates. From early efforts on the Board for Social and Ethical Responsibility in Psychology and the Board of Ethnic Minority Affairs to the establishment of the Public Interest Directorate, the APA's efforts to address these human rights and social justice challenges through its task force reports, guidelines, and policies are described. Specifically, issues related to diversity and underrepresentation of minority group members and perspective within the APA, as well as women's issues (prochoice, violence against women, sexualization of young girls, human trafficking) were central to these efforts. These minority groups included racial and ethnic minority groups; immigrants and refugees; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer individuals; and those with disabilities. Later attention shifted to broader social justice challenges within a public health perspective, such as AIDS, obesity, and violence. Also included is a brief discussion of the Hoffman Report. The article ends with a discussion of future directions for the APA's efforts related to human rights and social justice related to health disparities, violent extremism, social inequality, migration, cultural and racial diversity, and an evidence-based approach to programming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  8. Development of society and human rights and freedom

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vilić Dragana

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the direct connection between the development of human society and progress in the realization of and respect for human rights and freedoms, as well as a number of problems that stand in the way for their full realization. The Company to its characteristics should allow the free development of man to protect his rights, freedom and autonomy. On the other hand, an individual has an active role in building a society whose form is: economic development, permanent democratization of social relations, development and dissemination of human rights and freedoms, the existence of the rule of law and so on. Degree of respect for human rights and freedoms measured level of development achieved and the characteristics of democracy in a society. The main causes of their violations and neglect, as well as the social climate and miles of contributing to this are: domination of one ideology, cultural closeness, economic underdevelopment and the like. As an example, of vulnerable groups in the realization of human rights can be given: the poor, women, children, immigrants, same-sex oriented persons, etc. The paper presents the view Alain Touraine in the development of human society and, related to it, the development of human rights, who was going in the direction of the transformation of rights from abstract to concrete rights, with particular emphasis on cultural rights.

  9. Theorizing Time in Abortion Law and Human Rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erdman, Joanna N

    2017-06-01

    The legal regulation of abortion by gestational age, or length of pregnancy, is a relatively undertheorized dimension of abortion and human rights. Yet struggles over time in abortion law, and its competing representations and meanings, are ultimately struggles over ethical and political values, authority and power, the very stakes that human rights on abortion engage. This article focuses on three struggles over time in abortion and human rights law: those related to morality, health, and justice. With respect to morality, the article concludes that collective faith and trust should be placed in the moral judgment of those most affected by the passage of time in pregnancy and by later abortion-pregnant women. With respect to health, abortion law as health regulation should be evidence-based to counter the stigma of later abortion, which leads to overregulation and access barriers. With respect to justice, in recognizing that there will always be a need for abortion services later in pregnancy, such services should be safe, legal, and accessible without hardship or risk. At the same time, justice must address the structural conditions of women's capacity to make timely decisions about abortion, and to access abortion services early in pregnancy.

  10. Human Rights within Education: Assessing the Justifications

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCowan, Tristan

    2012-01-01

    While respect for human rights has long been endorsed as a goal of education, only recently has significant attention been paid to the need to incorporate rights within educational processes. Current support for human rights within education, however, has a variety of motivations. This paper provides a theoretical exploration of these diverse…

  11. Girl child abuse: violation of her human rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kapur, P

    1995-01-01

    The human rights of female children in India and elsewhere, even when protected on paper, are violated in practice. An equitable and egalitarian world order must be established. A comprehensive campaign is needed that combats gender-based inequalities, discrimination, exploitation, oppression, abuse, violence, inhuman values, and violations of human rights, particularly against female children. People must radically change their attitudes and actions towards female children. Female children are not a commodity or sex-object but "an equally worthy human being to be loved, respected, and cared for." Strategies that accomplish these ends include the promotion of human and spiritual values of love, compassion, and nonviolence, and discouragement of values of consumerism and materialism and worthlessness of human beings. Effective education and mass media should counter corruption, dishonesty, selfishness, and inhuman actions. Family structures need to strengthened and enriched. The abuse of female children occurs due to the following interrelated factors: entrenched patriarchal value systems, the perpetuation of traditions and practices that identify girls as inferior to boys, the gender-biased and discriminatory attitude that identifies girl children as a burden or liability and as a sex-object or commodity, and prevalent illiteracy, poverty, and negative parenting life style patterns. Other factors include the low status of women, the reduction in human and spiritual values, and the rise of consumerism and corruption. Girls are subjected to female infanticide, feticide, lack of social and economic development, burdensome domestic work, early marriage and childbearing, neglect and denial of healthy living conditions, sexual abuse and exploitation, prostitution, rape, and a denial of their right to protection.

  12. Human rights violations against sex workers: burden and effect on HIV.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Decker, Michele R; Crago, Anna-Louise; Chu, Sandra K H; Sherman, Susan G; Seshu, Meena S; Buthelezi, Kholi; Dhaliwal, Mandeep; Beyrer, Chris

    2015-01-10

    We reviewed evidence from more than 800 studies and reports on the burden and HIV implications of human rights violations against sex workers. Published research documents widespread abuses of human rights perpetrated by both state and non-state actors. Such violations directly and indirectly increase HIV susceptibility, and undermine effective HIV-prevention and intervention efforts. Violations include homicide; physical and sexual violence, from law enforcement, clients, and intimate partners; unlawful arrest and detention; discrimination in accessing health services; and forced HIV testing. Abuses occur across all policy regimes, although most profoundly where sex work is criminalised through punitive law. Protection of sex workers is essential to respect, protect, and meet their human rights, and to improve their health and wellbeing. Research findings affirm the value of rights-based HIV responses for sex workers, and underscore the obligation of states to uphold the rights of this marginalised population. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD and Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA Best Practices to Corporate Shared Value (CSV: A Case of British Petroleum Tangguh Project In Papua

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carolina Martha

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The Tangguh Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG Project is a planned natural gas development project located in the remote area of Berau-Bintuni Bay in Papua Province, Indonesia. British Petroleum (BP Tangguh project aims tobe the pioneer in producing natural gas. It can be concluded that BP contributes an innovative approach, bearing in mind to sustainable development, cultural preservation and biodiversity conservation. Therefore, in each of its corporate actions, BP always integrates the value of community, partnership, consultation and corporate responsibility. It is mentioned that through experience and observation, BP as an extractive company, haveestimated the costs of not finding a better mechanism to adjust to social challenges can be higher than the costs of the uncertainties inherent in the trial of new ideas. However, according to international Non-GovernmentalOrganization (NGO, Down to Earth, BP has conducted a series of human rights violations by exploiting natural resources in Papua and restricting Papuans in enjoying their fundamental human rights. If only the BP keeps this Tangguh project in line with its aim to accommodate concerns from the affected surroundings, thus, will surely bring positive changes in BP’s corporate shared value.

  14. Human rights: common meaning and differences in positioning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Willem Doise

    Full Text Available Human rights are defined as normative social representations embedded in institutional juridical definitions. Research findings show that human rights can be studied as normative social representations implying a degree of common understanding across cultures together with organized differences within and between cultures. Important factors in modulating individual positioning in the realm of human rights are experiences of social conflict and injustice, beliefs about the efficiency of various social actors to have rights enforced and attitudes of liberalism or collectivism. On the other hand, an ethnocentric use of human rights is well documented and has been experimentally studied. Generally, concerns about these rights expressed by citizens of Western countries become much stronger when non-Western countries are involved, whereas violations of these rights in their own country are often not severely condemned.

  15. Advancing the sexual and reproductive health and human rights of women living with HIV: a review of UN, regional and national human rights norms and standards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khosla, Rajat; Van Belle, Nuna; Temmerman, Marleen

    2015-01-01

    The right to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is an essential part of the right to health and is dependent upon substantive equality, including freedom from multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that result in exclusion in both law and practice. Nonetheless, general and specific SRH needs of women living with HIV are often not adequately addressed. For example, services that women living with HIV need may not be available or may have multiple barriers, in particular stigma and discrimination. This study was conducted to review United Nations Human Rights Council, Treaty Monitoring Bodies and Special Rapporteur reports and regional and national mechanisms regarding SRH issues of women living with HIV. The objective is to assess areas of progress, as well as gaps, in relation to health and human rights considerations in the work of these normative bodies on health and human rights. The review was done using keywords of international, regional and national jurisprudence on findings covering the 2000 to 2014 period for documents in English; searches for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and national judgments were also conducted in Spanish. Jurisprudence of UN Treaty Monitoring Bodies, regional mechanisms and national bodies was considered in this regard. In total, 236 findings were identified using the search strategy, and of these 129 were selected for review based on the inclusion criteria. The results highlight that while jurisprudence from international, regional and national bodies reflects consideration of some health and human rights issues related to women living with HIV and SRH, the approach of these bodies has been largely ad hoc and lacks a systematic integration of human rights concerns of women living with HIV in relation to SRH. Most findings relate to non-discrimination, accessibility, informed decision-making and accountability. There are critical gaps on normative standards regarding the human rights of women living with

  16. An Overview of Human Rights and Intellectual Property Protection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maysa Said Bydoon

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to discuss the legal framework of human rights and intellectual property in terms of state obligations to afford a protection for both human rights and intellectual property. The relationship between intellectual property and human rights, under bilateral, regional and multilateral treaties, is a matter of concern. In focusing on the relationship between intellectual property and human rights, this article argues that there are many challenges on the wide use of Intellectual property rights that given possible conflict between intellectual property and human rights.

  17. The Potential of Human Rights Education for Conflict Prevention and Security

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, Lynn

    2010-01-01

    This paper examines the contribution of human rights education (HRE) to conflict prevention and to the promotion of security. It outlines the difficulties in evaluating the long-term impact of HRE, but then proposes five benefits of a rights-based approach to education--rights as secular, man-made, requiring transparency, enabling freedom from…

  18. 75 FR 75615 - Helsinki Human Rights Day, 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-12-03

    ... Helsinki Human Rights Day, 2010 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation This year... states with respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms within states. With the signing of the Act... occasion also spurred courageous human rights activists in Eastern Europe to form citizens' groups to press...

  19. Human Rights and Democratization of the Media

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abner Barrera Rivas

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available This article analyzes the relationship between the freedom of the press, conceived and practiced by the big media, and the human right to an independent and truthful information, as understood and proposed by some international treaties, agreement, conventions and declarations concerning freedom of opinion and freedom of expression as human rights. For this reason are taken into account the controversies aroused by media and some progressive governments in South America in the past fifteen years. The article presents and analyzes arguments advanced with respect to human rights that civil society demands when receiving the information, and the rights big media’s owners hold. Given that private media companies’ priority is profit, the information becomes, then, just another consumer product. It is concluded that this situation is a real problem for the education and configuration of a democratic society, and the proposal is to democratize media to protect the human rights of all.

  20. The Right to Freedom of Association in the Workplace: Australia's Compliance with International Human Rights Law

    OpenAIRE

    Hutchinson, Zoé

    2010-01-01

    The right to freedom of association in the workplace is a well established norm of international human rights law. However, it has traditionally received insubstantial attention within human rights scholarship. This article situates the right to freedom of association at work within human rights discourses. It looks at the status, scope and importance of the right as it has evolved in international human rights law. In so doing, a case is put that there are strong reasons for states to comply...

  1. EDUCATION IN THE FIELD safety of human life AND THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. A. Kartavykh

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The publication purpose - pedagogical design of education of bachelors in the field safety of human life in the context of ideas of a sustainable development as one of the modern and perspective directions of the higher education. Philosophical and methodological, scientific and technical and pedagogical aspects of provisions of the concept of a sustainable development are opened. It is shown that the greatest potential for realization of ideas of a sustainable development the invariant subject matter the " Safety of human life " studied by future bachelors irrespective of the direction and a profile of preparation possesses. The fundamental principles of education in the field safety of human life of future bachelors are formulated. Key functions of education of bachelors in the field of health and safety are defined: valuable and orientation, teoretiko-world outlook, it is constructive - activity, it is reflexive - estimated. The methodical tasks approaching the project to specific sociocultural and pedagogical conditions are opened: definition of target reference points, modular structuring content of education, development of procedural and technological features of creation of educational activity; diagnostics of results. The idea of a didactic cycle at development of the content of education in the field safety of human life is proved and opened. The educations of future bachelors got in the course of approbation results in the field safety of human life in the context of ideology of sustainable (safe development allow to speak about efficiency of the chosen scientific and methodological and organizational and technological bases and to project new models of practical experience in conditions of providing optimum ways of productive pedagogical interaction.

  2. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Only a Foundation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reichert, Elisabeth

    2002-01-01

    Explains provisions contained within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, tracing historical beginnings of human rights to 1945, detailing events after 1945 up to the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations, and explaining essential terminology used in describing human rights instruments that have been…

  3. Developing human rights based indicators to support country monitoring of rehabilitation services and programmes for people with disabilities: a study protocol.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skempes, Dimitrios; Bickenbach, Jerome

    2015-09-24

    Rehabilitation care is fundamental to health and human dignity and a human right enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The provision of rehabilitation is important for reducing the need for formal support and enabling persons with disabilities to lead an independent life. Increasingly scholars and advocacy groups voice concerns over the significant barriers facing people with disabilities in accessing appropriate and quality rehabilitation. A growing body of research highlights a "respond-need" gap in the provision of rehabilitation and assistive technologies and underscore the lack of indicators for assessing performance of rehabilitation systems and monitoring States compliance with human rights standards in rehabilitation service planning and programming. While research on human rights and health monitoring has increased exponentially over the last decade far too little attention has been paid to rehabilitation services. The proposed research aims to reduce this knowledge gap by developing a human rights based monitoring framework with indicators to support human rights accountability and performance assessment in rehabilitation. Concept mapping, a stakeholder-driven approach will be used as the core method to identify rights based indicators and develop the rehabilitation services monitoring framework. Concept mapping requires participants from various stakeholders groups to generate a list of the potential indicators through on line brainstorming, sort the indicators for conceptual similarity into clusters and rate them against predefined criteria. Multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster data analysis will be performed to develop the monitoring framework while bridging analysis will provide useful insights about patterns of agreement or disagreement among participants views on indicators. This study has the potential to influence future practices on data collection and measurement of compliance with

  4. The Enemy at the Gates: International Borders, Migration and Human Rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pia Oberoi

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available This article considers contemporary border management regimes from a human rights perspective. It demonstrates how a preoccupation with border controls and enforcement has led to serious concerns for the safety and protection of migrants. As border zones have expanded, border crossing has become a more stigmatized and dangerous activity, and even as globalization has given rise to easier and faster international travel, for some, such movement has been outlawed and stigmatized. Measures to strengthen and “secure” borders have paradoxically made migrants, particularly irregular and vulnerable migrants, more at risk of violence and exploitation by non-State and State actors. Migration governance regimes at international borders are thus increasingly located within security and enforcement frameworks that pay little attention to the principles and standards of international human rights law. The paper argues that a human rights-based approach to such regimes is urgently needed, in order to address a growing human rights crisis at international borders.

  5. Health and human rights a South African perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naidoo, Sudeshni

    2014-01-01

    General statements of basic entitlements are established as a guide for potential laws and regulations protecting human rights. Human rights are those claimed to belong to every individual regardless of nationality or position within society. The historical evolution of human rights relative to health in the Republic of South Africa is discussed.

  6. Human Rights and the African Renaissance | Acheampong | African ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This article examines the idea of African renaissance in relation to the teaching of human rights in African schools. It explores the connection between the African Renaissance and human rights, and whether there is a specific African concept of human rights. In the light of these discussions, the article sketches a perspective ...

  7. Human Rights and the Political Economy of Universal Health Care: Designing Equitable Financing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudiger, Anja

    2016-12-01

    Health system financing is a critical factor in securing universal health care and achieving equity in access and payment. The human rights framework offers valuable guidance for designing a financing strategy that meets these goals. This article presents a rights-based approach to health care financing developed by the human right to health care movement in the United States. Grounded in a human rights analysis of private, market-based health insurance, advocates make the case for public financing through progressive taxation. Financing mechanisms are measured against the twin goals of guaranteeing access to care and advancing economic equity. The added focus on the redistributive potential of health care financing recasts health reform as an economic policy intervention that can help fulfill broader economic and social rights obligations. Based on a review of recent universal health care reform efforts in the state of Vermont, this article reports on a rights-based public financing plan and model, which includes a new business tax directed against wage disparities. The modeling results suggest that a health system financed through equitable taxation could produce significant redistributive effects, thus increasing economic equity while generating sufficient funds to provide comprehensive health care as a universal public good.

  8. The Human Right to Leisure in Old Age: Reinforcement of the Rights of an Aging Population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karev, Iris; Doron, Israel Issi

    2017-01-01

    The right to leisure is recognized as a human right under the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The actual meaning and material content of this human right is subject to debate. The aim of this study is to examine the extent and the context to which this human right is specifically recognized with regard to older persons. Methodologically, this study textually analyzed 17 different international older persons' human rights documents. The findings reveal that in the majority of these documents there is no reference to the right to leisure. In the remaining documents, the right to leisure is mostly referred to indirectly or in a narrow legal construction. These findings support the notion that despite the growing body of knowledge regarding the importance of meaningful leisure in old age-and its empowering and anti-ageist nature-this knowledge has not transformed into a legal human rights discourse.

  9. Logical Relation of Human Rights and Religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Hossein Talebi

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Before establishing any kind of rights for human being, the man should be first known. The best approach to know human being is to utilize the knowledge and teachings that God has given us as the Creator of man. He knows better than anyone else the man whom He has created. This article tries to show that the Man who has (human rights is not that human being as we are used to know him by popular experimental view, but is an existent that is constantly moving on the path of absolute perfection with the aim of achieving the status of the perfect man. To prove this, at this writing, first the concept of right has been studied with an epistemological and ontological look, and look then the concepts of human and religion will be considered.and investigated. Finally, different kinds of the rights of right owners, which one of these rights is human rights, are discussed. Human rights are those rights that belong to every individual because he/she is a human being. -free framework, which has constituted the basis of mainstream conceptions of Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Criticizing the deontological view, this article defends the teleological approach toward the universality of human rights, based on contemporary philosophical hermeneutics specially Paul Ricoeur’s outlook. I argue that this approach can provide the philosophical requirements for interaction between the universality of human rights on one hand and the cultural and local contents of various societies on the other hand and offers a “thick” conception of human rights principles. قبل از اثبات هر نوع حق برای بشر باید ابتدا بشر را شناخت. بهترین شیوه شناسایی بشر استفاده از معارفی است که خدای متعال به عنوان خالق بشر در اختیار ما قرار داده است. او بهتر از هرکس بشری را که ساخته است می‌شناسد. این مقاله درصدد

  10. National Award for Human Rights Education in 2008

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariê Luise Campos

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available In 2008, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights completed 60 years of existence. To commemorate this date, the Ministry of Education, the Special Secretariat for Human Rights of the Presidency, the Organization of Iberoamerican States with the sponsorship and implementation of the SM Foundation, created the National Award for Human Rights Education.

  11. Perspective: Economic Human Rights: The Time Has Come!

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mittal, Anuradha

    1998-01-01

    Maintains that the high poverty levels in the United States implies that the goals of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) have not yet transformed the reality of U.S. citizens. Describes the national campaign called "Economic Human Rights: The Time Has Come!" that combats the violations of basic human rights like poverty.…

  12. From The Human-Environment Theme Towards Sustainability – Danish Geography and Education for Sustainable Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grindsted, Thomas Skou

    2013-01-01

    Research on geography in relation to education for sustainable development (ESD), has only recently climbed the research agenda. The geopolitics of intended learning outcomes in the ESD debate, carries policy that produce dilemmas and challenges confronted with disciplinary traditions....... In this article it is examined dialectically how the changing climate and the paradigm of sustainability have been dealt with in Danish geographical university education. It is shown how curriculum programs in higher geographical education have taken different approaches to address issues of sustainability...... and climate change and how geographers articulate their role and function as knowledge on human-environment interactions changes. The analysis of the geographical education reveal that geographers’ find their discipline contribute considerably to ESD, and thus the human environment theme seems...

  13. The golden triangle of human dignity: human security, human development and human rights

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gaay Fortman, B. de

    2004-01-01

    The success or failure of processes of democratization cannot be detached from processes of development related to the aspirations of people at the grassroots. Human rights, in a more theoretical terminology, require human development in order to enhance human security.

  14. Sustained attention is associated with right superior longitudinal fasciculus and superior parietal white matter microstructure in children

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Klarborg, Brith; Skak Madsen, Kathrine; Vestergaard, Martin

    2013-01-01

    Sustained attention develops during childhood and has been linked to the right fronto-parietal cortices in functional imaging studies; however, less is known about its relation to white matter (WM) characteristics. Here we investigated whether the microstructure of the WM underlying and connecting...... the right fronto-parietal cortices was associated with sustained attention performance in a group of 76 typically developing children aged 7-13 years. Sustained attention was assessed using a rapid visual information processing paradigm. The two behavioral measures of interest were the sensitivity index d......' and the coefficient of variation in reaction times (RT(CV) ). Diffusion-weighted imaging was performed. Mean fractional anisotropy (FA) was extracted from the WM underlying right dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC) and parietal cortex (PC), and the right superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), as well as equivalent...

  15. A "Child's Rights Perspective": The "Right" of Children and Young People to Participate in Health Care Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clarke, Sonya

    2015-01-01

    As all human beings are consumers of health care provision across the life span and in receipt of care delivered by accountable health care professionals, all should have the right to be involved in shaping the future of their own health care. Rights-based participation, when applied successfully, has the potential to inform and influence the delivery of child health care, the child's experience of health care, plus children's nursing education (Coyne & Gallagher, 2011). The "right" of every child and young person to participate in research that relates to their own health care is also sustained by the author's lead position as a Senior Lecturer in Higher Education for pre-registration children's nursing in Northern Ireland and the appreciation of their voice when practicing as a registered children's nurse and ward sister. The report provides an insight into seminal work on human and child rights; the historical context of children in Western society, and the evolution of children's nursing amid the child's right to participate in shaping their own health care.

  16. Teaching Human Rights? "All Hell Will Break Loose!"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cassidy, Claire; Brunner, Richard; Webster, Elaine

    2014-01-01

    Human rights education is a prominent concern of a number of international organisations and has been dominant on the United Nations' agenda for the past 20 years. The UN Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004) has been followed by the World Programme for Human Rights Education (2005-ongoing) and the recently adopted UN Declaration on Human…

  17. social work and human rights in zimbabwe

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Mugumbate

    The place of the social work profession on the human rights arena is beyond doubt. .... Human Rights and the Media Institute of Southern Africa. THE NEXUS ..... Becket, C.; 2006 Ethics and values in social work 3rd Edition. Basingstoke: ...

  18. Reflexive regulation of CSR to promote sustainability

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buhmann, Karin

    2011-01-01

    and the EU CSR Alliance. Focusing on human rights based in international law, it analyses the patterns of negotiation in the MSF and the background for the launch of the CSR Alliance. It shows that analysing public-private regulation of CSR from the perspective of reflexive law theory assists us......This article discusses Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) from the perspective of governmental regulation as a measure to promote public policy interests through public-private regulation intended to influence firms’ self-regulation. Presenting a ‘government case’ for CSR, the connection between...... climate change and environmental sustainability, and social, economic and other human rights lend human rights as part of CSR a potential for meeting some environmental and climate concerns and handling adverse side-effects. The article analyses two EU initiatives: The EU Multi-Stakeholder (MSF) on CSR...

  19. Human rights, politics, and reviews of research ethics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beyrer, Chris; Kass, Nancy E

    2002-07-20

    Although the human rights movement and the sphere of research ethics have overlapping principles and goals, there has been little attempt to incorporate external political and human rights contexts into research ethics codes or ethics reviews. Every element of a research ethics review--the balance of risks and benefits, the assurance of rights for individual participants, and the fair selection of research populations--can be affected by the political and human rights background in which a study is done. Research that at first seems to be low in risk may become high in risk if implemented in a country where the government might breach the confidentiality of study results or where results might be used to deport a refugee group. Researchers should determine whether research could or should be done by consulting human rights organisations and, when possible, a trusted colleague, to learn the background political context and human rights conditions of the settings in which they propose to do research.

  20. Human development and sustainability of energy systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2003-07-01

    This seminar on human development and sustainability was jointly organized by the French agency of environment and energy mastery (Ademe) and Enerdata company. This document summarises the content of the different presentations and of the minutes of the discussions that took place at the end of each topic. The different themes discussed were: 1 - Political and methodological issues related to sustainability (sustainability concept in government policy, sustainability and back-casting: lessons from EST); 2 - towards a socially viable world: thematic discussions (demography and peoples' migration; time budget and life style change - equal sex access to instruction and labour - geopolitical regional and inter-regional universal cultural acceptability; welfare, poverty and social link and economics); 3 - building up an environmentally sustainable energy world, keeping resources for future generations and preventing geopolitical ruptures (CO{sub 2} emissions; nuclear issues; land-use, noise, and other industrial risks). The memorandum on sustainability issues in view of very long term energy studies is reprinted in the appendix. The transparencies of seven presentations are attached to this document. (J.S.)

  1. Human development and sustainability of energy systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2003-07-01

    This seminar on human development and sustainability was jointly organized by the French agency of environment and energy mastery (Ademe) and Enerdata company. This document summarises the content of the different presentations and of the minutes of the discussions that took place at the end of each topic. The different themes discussed were: 1 - Political and methodological issues related to sustainability (sustainability concept in government policy, sustainability and back-casting: lessons from EST); 2 - towards a socially viable world: thematic discussions (demography and peoples' migration; time budget and life style change - equal sex access to instruction and labour - geopolitical regional and inter-regional universal cultural acceptability; welfare, poverty and social link and economics); 3 - building up an environmentally sustainable energy world, keeping resources for future generations and preventing geopolitical ruptures (CO{sub 2} emissions; nuclear issues; land-use, noise, and other industrial risks). The memorandum on sustainability issues in view of very long term energy studies is reprinted in the appendix. The transparencies of seven presentations are attached to this document. (J.S.)

  2. Bioethics, Human Rights, and Childbirth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erdman, Joanna

    2015-06-11

    The global reproductive justice community has turned its attention to the abuse and disrespect that many women suffer during facility-based childbirth. In 2014, the World Health Organization released a statement on the issue, endorsed by more than 80 civil society and health professional organizations worldwide.The statement acknowledges a growing body of research that shows widespread patterns of women's mistreatment during labor and delivery-physical and verbal abuse, neglect and abandonment, humiliation and punishment, coerced and forced care-in a range of health facilities from basic rural health centers to tertiary care hospitals. Moreover, the statement characterizes this mistreatment as a human rights violation. It affirms: "Every woman has the right to the highest attainable standard of health, which includes the right to dignified, respectful health care throughout pregnancy and childbirth."The WHO statement and the strong endorsement of it mark a critical turn in global maternal rights advocacy. It is a turn from the public health world of systems and resources in preventing mortality to the intimate clinical setting of patient and provider in ensuring respectful care. Copyright 2015 Erdman. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

  3. Toward Cosmopolitan Ethics in Teacher Education: An Ontological Dimension of Learning Human Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adami, Rebecca

    2014-01-01

    There is a globalization trend in teacher education, emphasizing the role of teachers to make judgments based on human rights in their teaching profession. Rather than emphasizing the epistemological dimension of acquiring knowledge "about" human rights through teacher education, an ontological dimension is emphasized in this paper of…

  4. Governmentality, Democratic State, and Education in Human Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernal, Oscar Orlando Espinel

    2017-01-01

    Faced with the incessant concern on the part of national and supranational institutions in promoting, expanding, and implementing education on human rights in schools and educational systems, it is necessary to stand back for a moment and review the political and discursive ways in which these projects work and the mechanisms they are based on…

  5. Sustainable Markets Investment Briefings: Overview

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cotula, Lorenzo

    2007-08-15

    This is the first of a series of briefings which discuss the sustainable development issues raised by legal arrangements for the protection of foreign investment. The briefings are based on legal research by IIED and its partners. The goal is to provide accessible but accurate information for human rights, development and environmental organisations working on issues raised by foreign investment in low- and middle-income countries. Briefing 1 provides a general overview of key issues.

  6. Of sweatshops and subsistence: Habermas on human rights

    OpenAIRE

    Ingram, David

    2009-01-01

    In this paper I argue that the discourse theoretic account of human rights defended by Jürgen Habermas contains a fruitful tension that is obscured by its dominant tendency to identify rights with legal claims. This weakness in Habermas’s account becomes manifest when we examine how sweatshops diminish the secure enjoyment of subsistence, which Habermas himself (in recognition of the UDHR) recognizes as a human right. Discourse theories of human rights are unique in tying the legit...

  7. Technological innovation, human capital and social change for sustainability. Lessons learnt from the industrial technologies theme of the EU's Research Framework Programme.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sabadie, Jesús Alquézar

    2014-05-15

    Europe is facing a twofold challenge. It must maintain or even increase its competitiveness, a basic requirement in a globalised economy and under the current demographic threat. It needs also to tackle the so-called "grand challenges", especially environmental issues, through a sustainable model of production and consumption. Such challenges should lead to new business and industrial models, based on more sustainable production and consumption chains, from design to end of life. This implies a need for new industrial materials and processes, new skills and, indeed, new values and life-styles. Sustainability and innovation are key elements of EU's Research and Innovation Framework Programmes, particularly in the field of industrial technologies (nanotechnologies, materials and industrial technologies), which objective is to "improve the competitiveness of the European industry and generate knowledge to ensure its transformation from a resource intensive to a knowledge intensive industry". Sustainability and innovation are interrelated challenges for R&D. Research can develop technical solutions to tackle environmental or societal challenges, but such technologies need to be successfully commercialised to have a real environmental impact. Several socio-economic studies carried-out by the European Commission show not only the emerging technological and industrial trends, but they also emphasise the need for linking sustainable technologies with social change. Human capital and new social behaviours are critical factors to combine economic competitiveness and sustainability: technology alone is no longer able to solve global challenges. But what kind of human capital (skills, behaviours, and values) are we referring to? How to encourage the shift towards a greener society through human capital? Which reforms are needed in education systems to move towards a sustainable economy? Are there examples of social innovation to be extrapolated and/or generalised? © 2013

  8. Radiation pollution: present and future perplexities about human rights

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kumar, Raj; Bharti, Mukesh

    2012-01-01

    Out of the several pollutions included in environmental pollution, the radiation pollution is also a part of this, which is most damageable and serious for the society. Historical evidences reveal about the devastating effects of radiation pollution on human being. No form of pollution exists in the world which influences the human race with its devastating affects for more than one generation except radiation pollution. The radiation pollution affects human health in several ways. It is a man made problem and also affects human rights of masses for which state are responsible ultimately. The radiation pollution affects a big spectrum of human rights. The sources of radiation pollution and its impact on human health may be different according to the sources. These sources may be classified as electronic goods, Nuclear tests, Nuclear war, Reactors and thermal plants etc. Although we have some legal provisions to handle the problem of radiation pollution but there is no specific laws available for the protection and promotion of human rights from radiation pollution in the lights of international human rights principles. At present, there is no human right oriented policy framework is available to protect and promote the human rights of the radiation pollutions sufferers. The paper explores Present and Future Perplexities about Human Rights. It also tells about the available legal framework, state obligations and judicial responses for radiation pollution. The paper concludes with some suggestions in the light of present and future perplexities about human rights. (author)

  9. Procedural abortion rights: Ireland and the European Court of Human Rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erdman, Joanna N

    2014-11-01

    The Irish Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act seeks to clarify the legal ground for abortion in cases of risk to life, and to create procedures to regulate women's access to services under it. This article explores the new law as the outcome of an international human rights litigation strategy premised on state duties to implement abortion laws through clear standards and procedural safeguards. It focuses specifically on the Irish law reform and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, including A. B. and C. v. Ireland (2010). The article examines how procedural rights at the international level can engender domestic law reform that limits or expands women's access to lawful abortion services, serving conservative or progressive ends. Copyright © 2014 Reproductive Health Matters. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Gender, health, and human rights in sites of political exclusion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laurie, M; Petchesky, R P

    2008-01-01

    In this paper, we investigate the intersections of gender, health and human rights in sites of political exclusion. We apply the political theory of Giorgio Agamben on 'states of exception', seeking to better understand how the recent 'war on terror', that seemingly knows no limits of time or space, is driving health outcomes in refugee and Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. Reproductive health, militarization, and gender-based violence in camps are explored in depth. The evidence presented reveals a number of contradictions of refugee and IDP camps, further highlighting the need for a more rights based humanitarianism. We conclude that foregrounding states of exception, as a way of understanding current gender dynamics in the social determinants of health, is both epidemiologically necessary and conceptually useful. We find that, in these sites of exclusion, the indispensability of a human rights approach to gender and health equity issues is revealed most directly. Furthermore, we are able to make new connections between the 'crisis of humanitarianism', gender, and health.

  11. Teaching Strategy: Human Rights Around the World and at Home.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manson, Patrick

    1998-01-01

    Presents a lesson on human rights for middle and secondary school students in which they identify human rights, cite examples of human-rights abuses and affirmations, and relate actions to the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Explains that students identify human-rights issues globally and at home. (CMK)

  12. Strengths and Weaknesses in a Human Rights-Based Approach to International Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Broberg, Morten; Sano, Hans-Otto

    2017-01-01

    we show how the approach works in practice, and we identify and discuss three human rights principles that play particularly important roles in its implementation: (i) participation and inclusion, (ii) non-discrimination and equality, and (iii) accountability. We show that in terms of implementation...

  13. Human rights education (HRE) and transnational activism

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mihr, A.; Schmitz, Hans-Peter

    2007-01-01

    Transnational human rights activism occupies today a significant place in the practice and scholarship of current global affairs. This article reviews the past successes and limits of this activism and suggests Human Rights Education (HRE) as a strategic tool currently underutilized by activists and

  14. The object of "Rights" : third world women and the production of global human rights discourse

    OpenAIRE

    Hua, Julietta Y.

    2006-01-01

    The US "women's rights as human rights" doctrine continues to represent campaigns for international women's rights through the stories and images of Asian, African, and Latin American women. As both the idea of global human rights, and the place of women within the context of international human rights discourse become more powerful in framing a U.S. national identity, it seems that only certain issues (located in Other places that are always assumed to be "behind") come to define the US wome...

  15. Protecting Socio-Economic Rights Through the European Convention on Human Rights : Trends and Developments in the European Court of Human Rights

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    E. Palmer (Ellie)

    2009-01-01

    textabstractThis article is concerned with jurisprudential trends and developments in the protection of socio-economic rights through the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It focuses on the potential to gain access to health care and welfare services, and the

  16. Arguments for the Normative Validity of Human Rights

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Esther Oluffa

    2016-01-01

    . The philosophical conceptions of law, justice and right stated by Hobbes and Rousseau and in the Declaration will be discussed in connection with two seminal criticisms. By excluding women from politics, Olympe de Gouge objected, the Declaration contradicted the universal understanding of human rights. Jeremy......The paper highlights clashes between different conceptions of right, law and justice crystalizing in the French Declaration of Human and Civic Rights from 1789 and the criticisms it aroused. Hobbes’ Leviathan (1651) and Rousseau’s Social Contract (1762) are discussed as important predecessors...... Bentham protested against the Declaration’s core idea of inalienable human rights....

  17. We "Must" Integrate Human Rights into the Social Studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Brien, Ed

    1999-01-01

    Asserts that educators need to teach about human rights issues, such as social and economic rights, in the social studies curriculum because these issues are disregarded throughout the country. Defines human rights, discusses the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and provides two lessons. (CMK)

  18. Sovereignty, human rights, and international migrations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rossana Rocha Reis

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available This article discusses the relationship between sovereignty and human rights concerning the elaboration of immigration policies. It deals with the role of the State in international migrations, the effects of the development of an international human rights legislation over the immigration question, and finally discusses the idea that the increasing international migration is leading the State to lose control over its population and territory, two central features of the sovereignty concept.

  19. The human right to water: the importance of domestic and productive water rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Ralph P; Van Koppen, Barbara; Van Houweling, Emily

    2014-12-01

    The United Nations (UN) Universal Declaration of Human Rights engenders important state commitments to respect, fulfill, and protect a broad range of socio-economic rights. In 2010, a milestone was reached when the UN General Assembly recognized the human right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation. However, water plays an important role in realizing other human rights such as the right to food and livelihoods, and in realizing the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. These broader water-related rights have been recognized but have not yet been operationalized. This paper unravels these broader water-related rights in a more holistic interpretation of existing international human rights law. By focusing on an emerging approach to water services provision--known as 'domestic-plus' services--the paper argues how this approach operationalizes a comprehensive range of socio-economic rights in rural and peri-urban areas. Domestic-plus services provide water for domestic and productive uses around homesteads, which challenges the widespread practice in the public sector of planning and designing water infrastructure for a single-use. Evidence is presented to show that people in rural communities are already using their water supplies planned for domestic uses to support a wide range of productive activities. Domestic-plus services recognize and plan for these multiple-uses, while respecting the priority for clean and safe drinking water. The paper concludes that domestic-plus services operationalize the obligation to progressively fulfill a comprehensive range of indivisible socio-economic rights in rural and peri-urban areas.

  20. Teaching the History of Human Rights and "Humanitarian" Interventions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mary Nolan

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available This article explores how I teach about human rights and so-called humanitarian interventions to MA and Ph.D. students.  The course has three main themes or foci.  First, what are human rights and why have the social and economic human rights laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights been so neglected or rejected, especially by the U.S.  Second, how has American foreign policy used and abused human rights.  Third, why have liberal or humanitarian interventions of a militarized sort become so prevalent since the end of the Cold War and why are they so damaging.  The goal is to get students to look critically at the meaning and uses of human rights, about which many display a naive enthusiasm.

  1. Islamic movement and human rights: Pertubuhan Jamaah Islah Malaysia’s involvement in the “Abolish Internal Security Act Movement,” 2000-2012

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maszlee Malik

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Human rights has been acknowledged as one of the essential characteristics of good governance. Abuse of human rights is strongly associated with bad governance, which is believed by many to be a serious impediment to development and sustainable growth. Despite the active participations of Islamic movements in many parts of the political world, very little is known of their involvement in advocating human rights issues as part of their struggle for power. Nevertheless, as an Islamic movement and an Islamic revivalism actor in Malaysia, Pertubuhan Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM has shown otherwise. JIM has resembled a different attitude towards the issue of human rights that they believe as an integrated and pertinent composition of good governance. By scrutinising their political activities and discourse since 2000, it becomes clear that JIM has been actively engaged in good governance and human rights issues, especially those that relate to the political rights of citizens through its involvement in the Abolish Internal Security Act (ISA Movement (Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA. This paper examines JIM’s involvement in human rights issues with a special focus on its active and leading role in calling for the abolishment of the Internal Security Act (ISA.

  2. Human Rights Education before the Challenges of the Emerging Human Rights of the 21st Century

    OpenAIRE

    Gloria Ramirez

    2006-01-01

    This article examines Human Rights Education vis-a-vis the challenges of the emerging human rights of the 21st century. It discusses the difficult situation of HRE in the uncertain and insecure times of globalization and permanent violence particularly after the September 11 attacks. In spite of these unfavorable circumstances, it can be concluded that HRE has gained ground in the agenda of NGO´s to become a demand formulated hand in hand with the fight for democracy and peace. Due to the fac...

  3. Respecting the right to access to medicines: Implications of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights for the pharmaceutical industry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moon, Suerie

    2013-06-14

    What are the human rights responsibilities of pharmaceutical companies with regard to access to medicines? The state-based international human rights framework has long struggled with the issue of the human rights obligations of non-state actors, a question sharpened by economic globalization and the concomitant growing power of private for-profit actors ("business"). In 2011, after a six-year development process, the UN Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed the Guiding Principles advanced by the UN Secretary General's Special Representative on Business and Human Rights, John Ruggie. The Ruggie Principles sought to clarify and differentiate the responsibilities of states and non-state actors-in this case, "business" -with respect to human rights. The framework centered on "three core principles: the state duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including business; the corporate responsibility to respect human rights; and the need for more effective access to remedies." The "Protect, Respect, and Remedy" Framework emerged from a review of many industrial sectors operating from local to global scales, in many regions of the world, and involving multiple stakeholder consultations. However, their implications for the pharmaceutical industry regarding access to medicines remain unclear. This article analyzes the 2008 Human Rights Guidelines for Pharmaceutical Companies in relation to Access to Medicines advanced by then-UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Paul Hunt, in light of the Ruggie Principles. It concludes that some guidelines relate directly to the industry's responsibility to respect the right to access to medicines, and form a normative baseline to which firms should be held accountable. It also finds that responsibility for other guidelines may better be ascribed to states than to private actors, based on conceptual and practical considerations. While not discouraging the pharmaceutical industry from making additional

  4. Sustainability of plant-based diets: back to the future.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sabaté, Joan; Soret, Sam

    2014-07-01

    Plant-based diets in comparison to diets rich in animal products are more sustainable because they use many fewer natural resources and are less taxing on the environment. Given the global population explosion and increase in wealth, there is an increased demand for foods of animal origin. Environmental data are rapidly accumulating on the unsustainability of current worldwide food consumption practices that are high in meat and dairy products. Natural nonrenewable resources are becoming scarce, and environmental degradation is rapidly increasing. At the current trends of food consumption and environmental changes, food security and food sustainability are on a collision course. Changing course (to avoid the collision) will require extreme downward shifts in meat and dairy consumption by large segments of the world's population. Other approaches such as food waste reduction and precision agriculture and/or other technological advances have to be simultaneously pursued; however, they are insufficient to make the global food system sustainable. For millennia, meatless diets have been advocated on the basis of values, and large segments of the world population have thrived on plant-based diets. "Going back" to plant-based diets worldwide seems to be a reasonable alternative for a sustainable future. Policies in favor of the global adoption of plant-based diets will simultaneously optimize the food supply, health, environmental, and social justice outcomes for the world's population. Implementing such nutrition policy is perhaps one of the most rational and moral paths for a sustainable future of the human race and other living creatures of the biosphere that we share. © 2014 American Society for Nutrition.

  5. Chinese Human Rights Guidance on Minerals Sourcing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buhmann, Karin

    2017-01-01

    in the minerals sector and due diligence to ensure socially responsible sourcing of minerals with a particular focus on human rights, the guidelines refer to international human rights standards and are designed to be consistent with guidance issued by the OECD. The article discusses the Chinese guidelines...

  6. Global human rights awareness, education and democratization

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mihr, A.

    The 1990s was the era of human rights awareness, democratic transitions, and growing involvement of international organizations and the nongovernmental sector in human rights education (HRE). The UN Decade for HRE from 1995–2004 was not only born out of the initiatives and pressures of

  7. Human Aspect as a Critical Factor for Organization Sustainability in the Tourism Industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehmet Ulus

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Organizations adopt diverse strategies to govern the technical and managerial aspects of sustainability implementation processes. The need for better leading and managing people-related issues emerges as companies aim for more effective change towards sustainability. The human aspect of the sustainability implementation process is mostly not paid enough attention, but it can significantly affect the success of a change management program by creating hurdles or easing the process. This study considers three human-related factors: resistance to change, internal communication, and employee engagement in sustainability activities of organizations. The aim of the study is to explore how these human factors are managed by tourism companies for organizational sustainability. For this purpose four companies from different sectors of tourism are chosen as case studies and the results are examined using qualitative data analysis techniques. The results indicate that the companies which are in a more advanced stage of sustainability implementation manage human factors using a greater number of channels and employ varied strategies. The results can provide insights into how organizations tackle the challenges of managing human aspect and display the practices that contribute to successful change management programs for achieving organizational sustainability through people.

  8. A tool for improving the management of social and human rights risks at project sites: The Human Rights Sphere

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Ploeg, Lidewij; Vanclay, Frank

    2017-01-01

    This paper identifies and addresses the challenges of implementing the corporate responsibility to respect human rights in practice at project sites. To support on-ground operational staff, we offer the Human Rights Sphere (HRS), a practical tool we developed from empirical research in three

  9. A tool for improving the management of social and human rights risks at project sites : The Human Rights Sphere

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Ploeg, Lidewij; Vanclay, Frank

    2017-01-01

    This paper identifies and addresses the challenges of implementing the corporate responsibility to respect human rights in practice at project sites. To support on-ground operational staff, we offer the Human Rights Sphere (HRS), a practical tool we developed from empirical research in three

  10. Pursuing the Right to an Effective Remedy for Human Rights ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    MJM Venter

    2017-12-19

    Dec 19, 2017 ... effective remedy for a human rights violation.1 In other words, a victim of a human ... authorities to take responsibility; the absence of legislative ... shall be entitled to compensation from that other person". 3 .... Put in a practical and comparative perspective, there is a great ...... See also Beyleveld 1995 Public.

  11. The Human Right to Equal Access to Health Care

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M. San Giorgi (Maite)

    2012-01-01

    textabstractThe right to equal access to health care is a fundamental principle that is part of the human right to health care. For victims of a violation of the human right to equal access to health care it is important that a judicial or quasi-judicial human rights body can adjudicate their

  12. Sustainable Markets Investment Briefings: the regulatory taking doctrine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cotula, Lorenzo

    2007-08-15

    This is the third of a series of briefings which discuss the sustainable development issues raised by legal arrangements for the protection of foreign investment. The briefings are based on legal research by IIED and its partners. The goal is to provide accessible but accurate information for human rights, development and environmental organisations working on issues raised by foreign investment in low- and middle-income countries. Briefing 3 introduces one of the most controversial legal doctrines of investment law – 'regulatory taking' – and sets out its implications for sustainable development.

  13. Health and Human Rights in Karen State, Eastern Myanmar.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, William W; Mullany, Luke C; Shwe Oo, Eh Kalu; Richards, Adam K; Iacopino, Vincent; Beyrer, Chris

    2015-01-01

    Decades of conflict in eastern Myanmar have resulted in high prevalence of human rights violations and poor health outcomes. While recent ceasefire agreements have reduced conflict in this area, it is unknown whether this has resulted in concomitant reductions in human rights violations. We conducted a two-stage cluster survey of 686 households in eastern Myanmar to assess health status, access to healthcare, food security, exposure to human rights violations and identification of alleged perpetrators over the 12 months prior to January 2012, a period of near-absence of conflict in this region. Household hunger (FANTA-2 scale) was moderate/high in 91 (13.2%) households, while the proportion of households reporting food shortages in each month of 2011 ranged from 19.9% in December to 47.0% in September, with food insecurity peaking just prior to the harvest. Diarrhea prevalence in children was 14.2% and in everyone it was 5.8%. Forced labor was the most common human rights violation (185 households, 24.9%), and 210 households (30.6%) reported experiencing one or more human rights violations in 2011. Multiple logistic regression analysis identified associations between human rights violations and poor health outcomes. Human rights violations and their health consequences persist despite reduced intensity of conflict in eastern Myanmar. Ceasefire agreements should include language that protects human rights, and reconciliation efforts should address the health consequences of decades of human rights violations.

  14. Towards a Human Rights Culture in Social Work Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Werkmeister Rozas, Lisa; Garran, Ann Marie

    2016-06-01

    A human rights perspective must be embedded in the institutions, organisations or agencies where social work students find themselves. This paper will focus on one particular strategy that could be helpful to the process of solidifying a commitment to human rights for our students. Using a pedagogical tool from a school of social work in the USA originally developed to combat the social injustice of racism, the example transcends the academic institution and offers a solid link in connecting human rights, social justice and social work. Using the construct of critical realism, we argue that, for social work programmes to take steps towards an explicit commitment to human rights, not only must human rights be infused throughout the curriculum, but educators must provide opportunities for making more overt the links between human rights principles, social justice and social work. By addressing behaviours, tendencies and attitudes, students then acquire not only the skills and deeper understanding, but they internalise the motivation and commitment to broaden their human rights frame. In the process of developing a more firm commitment to human rights, we must not be limited to the walls of the academy, but rather extend beyond to our field agencies, organisations and communities.

  15. Towards a Human Rights Culture in Social Work Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Werkmeister Rozas, Lisa; Garran, Ann Marie

    2016-01-01

    A human rights perspective must be embedded in the institutions, organisations or agencies where social work students find themselves. This paper will focus on one particular strategy that could be helpful to the process of solidifying a commitment to human rights for our students. Using a pedagogical tool from a school of social work in the USA originally developed to combat the social injustice of racism, the example transcends the academic institution and offers a solid link in connecting human rights, social justice and social work. Using the construct of critical realism, we argue that, for social work programmes to take steps towards an explicit commitment to human rights, not only must human rights be infused throughout the curriculum, but educators must provide opportunities for making more overt the links between human rights principles, social justice and social work. By addressing behaviours, tendencies and attitudes, students then acquire not only the skills and deeper understanding, but they internalise the motivation and commitment to broaden their human rights frame. In the process of developing a more firm commitment to human rights, we must not be limited to the walls of the academy, but rather extend beyond to our field agencies, organisations and communities. PMID:27559204

  16. Human rights, public health and medicinal cannabis use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bone, Melissa; Seddon, Toby

    2016-01-01

    This paper explores the interplay between the human rights and drug control frameworks and critiques case law on medicinal cannabis use to demonstrate that a bona fide human rights perspective allows for a broader conception of 'health'. This broad conception, encompassing both medicalised and social constructionist definitions, can inform public health policies relating to medicinal cannabis use. The paper also demonstrates how a human rights lens can alleviate a core tension between the State and the individual within the drug policy field. The leading medicinal cannabis case in the UK highlights the judiciary's failure to engage with an individual's human right to health as they adopt an arbitrary, externalist view, focussing on the legality of cannabis to the exclusion of other concerns. Drawing on some international comparisons, the paper considers how a human rights perspective can lead to an approach to medicinal cannabis use which facilitates a holistic understanding of public health.

  17. Protection of the right to privacy in the practice of the European Court of Human Rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mladenov Marijana

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The right to privacy is a fundamental human right and an essential component of the protection of human autonomy and freedom. The development of science and information systems creates various opportunities for interferences with physical and moral integrity of a person. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the precise content of the right to privacy. The European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms guarantees this right under Article 8. The European Court of Human Rights did not precisely define the content of the right to privacy and thereby the applicants could bring different aspects of life into the scope of respect for private life. According to the Court, the concept of privacy and private life includes the following areas of human life: the right to establish and maintain relationships with other human beings, protection of the physical and moral integrity of persons, protection of personal data, change of personal name, various issues related to sexual orientation and transgender. The subject of this paper is referring to previously mentioned spheres of human life in the light of interpretation of Article 8 of the Convention.

  18. Human rights in the energy sector: where are we going?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wright, Jim [KBC Advanced Technologies, Surrey (United Kingdom)

    2012-07-01

    There is considerable guidance and tools to avoid and remediate adverse Human Rights impacts; Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), specific Human Right Impact Assessments or stand alone assessments across the whole spectrum of Human Rights. However the oil and gas sector has yet to address Human Rights risks in a comprehensive manner. In 2011 the Special Representative of the Secretary-General issued Guiding Principles (GP) to implement the United Nations 'Protect, Respect and Remedy' Framework. A survey of Human Rights performance against GP16 by the largest International Oil Companies (IOCs) and National Oil Companies (NOCs) shows a dichotomy with most (93%) of IOCs having a Human Rights Policy, approved at the highest level and available via the www to the general public (compliant with GP16) whilst 27% of NOCs have a Policy, of which, 9% are GP16 compliant. When service companies are included, only 23% are GP16 compliant. Only 8% provide Human Rights training. Human Rights in 41% of new projects are assessed via an EIA process, 18% via a specific Human Rights process, and 41% do not focus on Human Rights at all. Most companies do not have a Human Rights grievance mechanism. Whilst the IOCs are performing well the rest of the oil and gas sector, including the NOCs and service companies, are under-performing. The apparent reliance on the EIA process to Protect, Respect and Remedy Human Rights may be inadequate as the delivery of EIA is: still heavily biased toward environment compared to social and health impacts; they are time consuming and the Human Rights landscape can change during the EIA process; and the EIA disclosure process may expose vulnerable people to abuse. The oil and gas sector needs to address the record of poor compliance and develop and integrate some of the widely available Human rights tools. (author)

  19. AIDS and human rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tarantola, D; Mann, J

    1995-01-01

    HIV/AIDS is a health problem that is inseparable from individual and collective behavior and social forces, particularly linked with societal respect for human rights and dignity. In its second decade, the HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to thrive. Where organized communities have access to adequate information, education, and services, the incidence of infection has begun to decline. Elsewhere, HIV continues to reach new populations and new geographic areas. Lessons learned in more than a decade of prevention work point to new directions for expanding national responses, at a time when the UNAIDS program, to be launched in January 1996, offers opportunities for innovative, broad-based, coordinated, and expanded global action. Prevention activities have shown that the spread of HIV can be effectively reduced. Public health interventions, including providing information and applying prevention methods, reduce the probability of infection, the risk of transmission, and the chances of not accessing appropriate care or support once infection has set in. These are proximal interventions that yield the short-term benefits of the decline of incidence and improved quality and duration of life for those infected. Societal vulnerability translates today into the focus the pandemic has on individuals, communities, and nations that are disadvantaged, marginalized, or discriminated against for reasons of gender, age, race, sexual orientation, economic status, or cultural, religious, or political affiliation. A fully expanded response to HIV/AIDS requires a combination of risk-reduction (proximal) and contextual interventions--those directed at reducing vulnerability through social change to enable people to exert control over their own health. Contextual actions can be implemented in the short term (changing laws, policies, practices that discriminate, promoting human rights, developing the most vulnerable communities) and in the long term (cultural changes, gender equality in

  20. Poverty and the violation of human rights: a proposed conceptual framework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schuftan, Claudio

    2012-01-01

    The paper proposes a conceptual framework linking the causes of poverty with the causes of human rights violations. Both are presented as outcomes of a cascading chain of determinants grouped as immediate, underlying, and basic causes. The framework will make situation analyses focused on poverty and human rights better adjusted to the reality on the ground. It is also the first step in using the human rights-based approach, now an established methodology being used by a growing number of health and development practitioners and seen by the United Nations system as the way forward. The framework also provides guidance to communities in identifying, in a participatory way, causes of the problems that affect them. The framework is presented in a diagram format followed by a list of the major determinants in each causal level.

  1. Preventing and Addressing Homophobic and Transphobic Bullying in Education: A Human Rights-Based Approach Using the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cornu, Christophe

    2016-01-01

    Homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools can have a serious effect on children and young people subjected to it at a crucial moment in their lives. It is an obstacle to the right to education, which is one of the basic universal human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and various United Nations Conventions. This…

  2. Gender equality and human rights approaches to female genital mutilation: a review of international human rights norms and standards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khosla, Rajat; Banerjee, Joya; Chou, Doris; Say, Lale; Fried, Susana T

    2017-05-12

    Two hundred million girls and women in the world are estimated to have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM), and another 15 million girls are at risk of experiencing it by 2020 in high prevalence countries (UNICEF, 2016. Female genital mutilation/cutting: a global concern. 2016). Despite decades of concerted efforts to eradicate or abandon the practice, and the increased need for clear guidance on the treatment and care of women who have undergone FGM, present efforts have not yet been able to effectively curb the number of women and girls subjected to this practice (UNICEF. Female genital mutilation/cutting: a statistical overview and exploration of the dynamics of change. 2013), nor are they sufficient to respond to health needs of millions of women and girls living with FGM. International efforts to address FGM have thus far focused primarily on preventing the practice, with less attention to treating associated health complications, caring for survivors, and engaging health care providers as key stakeholders. Recognizing this imperative, WHO developed guidelines on management of health complications of FGM. In this paper, based on foundational research for the development of WHO's guidelines, we situate the practice of FGM as a rights violation in the context of international and national policy and efforts, and explore the role of health providers in upholding health-related human rights of women at girls who are survivors, or who are at risk. Findings are based on a literature review of relevant international human rights treaties and UN Treaty Monitoring Bodies.

  3. Human Rights Education: A Pedagogical and Didactic (Teaching Strategy Focused in a Controversial Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abraham Magendzo-Kolstrein

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this article, which can be envision as an essay, is to present a pedagogical-didactic strategy for human rights education focusing on the controversy. Advancements and setbacks faced by human rights education in Latin America are exposed in order to support this strategy. Therefore, it indicates that education has denied the conflict and explains the need for its inclusion under the idea of ‘controversial issue’. Additionally, the existence of conflicts in the interpretation, violation and/or respect for human rights is pointed out. The principal tensions that cross human rights are displayed. Based on the above, the need to support the existence of a human rights education focusing on the conflict and central components of its teaching strategy are described, and it ends by referring to its didactic approach and the role which should be assumed by faculty when teaching human rights including the conflict.

  4. Human right education and the Nigerian child: implications for ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper examines the concept of human right to education as listed in Article 26 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights of December 1948. Human right is viewed as natural or moral law which has the force of conscience. The declaration is directed at the right to formal Western education in Nigeria, rather ...

  5. Oriental Culture and Human Rights Development

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Leon Wessels

    Universality is much more than the determination by a majority at a particular moment ..... accepted human rights and not only the favourite rights of any particular .... sole breadwinners, caring for children and taking important decisions on.

  6. Environmental law and sustainable development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María Oliva Sirgo Álvarez

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This article analyses the origin and birth of the human right to a safe and healthy environment in order to allow everyone to live a dignified and quality life. It also analyses the essential content of sustainable development, which must always guide the development of environmental law to ensure a healthy environment for human present and future generations, and a sustainable economic growth that contributes to the development of equal opportunities for all people.

  7. Human rights, public health and medicinal cannabis use

    OpenAIRE

    Bone, Melissa; Seddon, Toby

    2015-01-01

    This paper explores the interplay between the human rights and drug control frameworks, and critiques case law on medicinal cannabis use to demonstrate that a bona fide human rights perspective allows for a broader conception of ‘health’. This broad conception, encompassing both medicalised and social constructionist definitions, can inform public health policies relating to medicinal cannabis use. The paper also demonstrates how a human rights lens can alleviate a core tension between the St...

  8. Relevant Education for Sustainable Human Development in Nigeria ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In human development, conscious efforts are made to enlarge people's choices to enable them live a healthy and prolonged life, acquire knowledge, and have access to resources needed to earn a decent living. Obviously, sustained improvement in African human development still falls short of those experienced in other ...

  9. Gender Equality, Citizenship and Human Rights

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    reflect upon challenges to gender equality, citizenship, and human rights in their respective societies; it combines theoretical insights with empirically grounded studies. The volume contextualises feminist political theory in China and the Nordic countries and subsequently puts it into a global......This comparative volume examines the ways in which current controversies and political, legal, and social struggles for gender equality raise conceptual questions and challenge our thinking on political theories of equality, citizenship and human rights. Bringing together scholars and activists who...

  10. The Integrated Model of Sustainability Perspective in Spermatophyta Learning Based on Local Wisdom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartadiyati, E.; Rizqiyah, K.; Wiyanto; Rusilowati, A.; Prasetia, A. P. B.

    2017-09-01

    In present condition, culture is diminished, the change of social order toward the generation that has no policy and pro-sustainability; As well as the advancement of science and technology are often treated unwisely so as to excite local wisdom. It is therefore necessary to explore intra-curricular local wisdom in schools. This study aims to produce an integration model of sustainability perspectives based on local wisdom on spermatophyta material that is feasible and effective. This research uses define, design and develop stages to an integration model of sustainability perspectives based on local wisdom on spermatophyta material. The resulting product is an integration model of socio-cultural, economic and environmental sustainability perspective and formulated with preventive, preserve and build action on spermatophyta material consisting of identification and classification, metagenesis and the role of spermatophyta for human life. The integration model of sustainability perspective in learning spermatophyta based on local wisdom is considered proven to be effective in raising sustainability’s awareness of high school students.

  11. Evaluating the environmental sustainability of biomass-based energy strategy: Using an impact matrix framework

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Weldu, Yemane W., E-mail: ywweldem@ucalgary.ca [Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta 2500, University Drive NW, T2N 1N4 (Canada); Assefa, Getachew [Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta 2500, University Drive NW, T2N 1N4 (Canada); Athena Chair in Life Cycle Assessment in Design (Canada)

    2016-09-15

    A roadmap for a more sustainable energy strategy is complex, as its development interacts critically with the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. This paper applied an impact matrix method to evaluate the environmental sustainability and to identify the desirable policy objectives of biomass-based energy strategy for the case of Alberta. A matrix with the sustainability domains on one axis and areas of environmental impact on the other was presented to evaluate the nexus effect of policy objectives and bioenergy production. As per to our analysis, economic diversification, technological innovation, and resource conservation came up as the desirable policy objectives of sustainable development for Alberta because they demonstrated environmental benefits in all environmental impact categories, namely climate change, human health, and ecosystem. On the other hand, human health and ecosystem impacts were identified as trade-offs when the policy objectives for sustainability were energy security, job creation, and climate change. Thus, bioenergy can mitigate climate change but may impact human health and ecosystem which then in turn can become issues of concern. Energy strategies may result in shifting of risks from one environmental impact category to another, and from one sustainable domain to another if the technical and policy-related issues are not identified.

  12. Evaluating the environmental sustainability of biomass-based energy strategy: Using an impact matrix framework

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weldu, Yemane W.; Assefa, Getachew

    2016-01-01

    A roadmap for a more sustainable energy strategy is complex, as its development interacts critically with the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. This paper applied an impact matrix method to evaluate the environmental sustainability and to identify the desirable policy objectives of biomass-based energy strategy for the case of Alberta. A matrix with the sustainability domains on one axis and areas of environmental impact on the other was presented to evaluate the nexus effect of policy objectives and bioenergy production. As per to our analysis, economic diversification, technological innovation, and resource conservation came up as the desirable policy objectives of sustainable development for Alberta because they demonstrated environmental benefits in all environmental impact categories, namely climate change, human health, and ecosystem. On the other hand, human health and ecosystem impacts were identified as trade-offs when the policy objectives for sustainability were energy security, job creation, and climate change. Thus, bioenergy can mitigate climate change but may impact human health and ecosystem which then in turn can become issues of concern. Energy strategies may result in shifting of risks from one environmental impact category to another, and from one sustainable domain to another if the technical and policy-related issues are not identified.

  13. HUMAN BEINGS TRAFFICKING IN THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS CASE-LAW

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura-Cristiana SPĂTARU-NEGURĂ

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available After last year’s analysis regarding the European Union’s commitment to fight against the human beings trafficking, we have considered to further explore the human beings trafficking approach in the European Court of Human Rights case-law, the most developped regional jurisdiction on human rights. Surprisingly, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms does not make an express reference to the human beings trafficking. However, we have to bear in mind that the Convention is a living instrument, its interpretation being made in the light of the present-day conditions. Thus, taking into consideration the global threat of this phenomenon, it is more obvious than ever that the Convention could not neglect this issue.

  14. Human Rights and Health Services

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skitsou, Alexandra; Bekos, Christos; Charalambous, George

    2016-01-01

    Background: It has been observed that health services provided to certain patients in Cyprus do not fully meet their human rights. Objective: This study was conducted to identify the main shortcomings of the Health System in Cyprus. Methodology: The relevant administrative decisions of the Ombuds......Background: It has been observed that health services provided to certain patients in Cyprus do not fully meet their human rights. Objective: This study was conducted to identify the main shortcomings of the Health System in Cyprus. Methodology: The relevant administrative decisions...... and their families to be essential. Conclusions: The paper concludes that implementing guidelines in accordance with international best practices, the establishment of at-home treatment and nursing facilities, counseling the mentally ill in a way that promotes their social integration and occupational rehabilitation......, ongoing education of health professionals along with relevant education of the community and the broad application of triage in the emergency departments will all contribute to delivering health services more effectively. Keywords: Cyprus, health services, patient rights...

  15. Measuring the way forward in Haiti: grounding disaster relief in the legal framework of human rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klasing, Amanda M; Moses, P Scott; Satterthwaite, Margaret L

    2011-07-14

    This article provides results from an online survey of humanitarian workers and volunteers that was conducted in May and June 2010. The purpose of the survey was to understand how the humanitarian aid system adopts or incorporates human rights into its post-natural disaster work and metrics. Data collected from Haiti suggest that humanitarians have embraced a rights-based approach but that they do not agree about how this is defined or about what standards and indicators can be considered rights-based. This disagreement may reveal that humanitarians are aware of a mismatch between the rights-based approach to post-disaster humanitarian work and the legal framework of human rights. Using participation and accountability as examples, this article identifies and examines this mismatch and suggests that the humanitarian aid system should more fully embrace engagement with the human rights framework. To do so, the article concludes, humanitarian actors and the human rights community should have an open dialogue about the development of metrics that accurately reflect and monitor adherence to the legal framework of human rights. This would allow the humanitarian aid system to ensure its interventions enhance the capacity of the disaster-affected state to fulfill its human rights obligations, and would allow humanitarian and human rights actors alike to measure the impact of such interventions on the realization of human rights in post-natural disaster settings. Copyright © 2011 Klasing, Moses, and Satterthwaite. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

  16. The role played by the South African human rights commission's ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    contains the commitment to, amongst other things, establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights, lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law and improve the quality ...

  17. [Human rights violations among people with mental illness; rural vs. urban comparison].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poreddi, Vijayalakshmi; Ramachandra; Nagarajaiah; Konduru, Reddemma; Badamath, Suresh

    2013-01-01

    Human rights violations are commonly reported against people with mental illness and have remained a major research issue in recent times. The present study was aimed to compare psychiatric patients' perceptions of human rights needs between rural and urban settings. A descriptive study design was carried out among 100 recovered psychiatric patients based on the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement Scale (CGI-I scale), at a tertiary care center. Participants were selected through a random sampling method. Data was collected through face to face interviews, using a structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed and interpreted using descriptive and inferential statistics. The present study highlighted the significant differences in meeting their basic human rights needs in a physical needs dimension i.e. availability of hot water for bathing (c2=8.305, p .019). Our findings revealed that human rights violations among mentally ill are evident across rural and urban environments. Thus, there is an urgent need to change the attitude of the general population towards people with mental illness through awareness campaign. In addition, educating the public about the human rights of mentally ill is also essential.

  18. Animal rights, animal minds, and human mindreading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mameli, M; Bortolotti, L

    2006-02-01

    Do non-human animals have rights? The answer to this question depends on whether animals have morally relevant mental properties. Mindreading is the human activity of ascribing mental states to other organisms. Current knowledge about the evolution and cognitive structure of mindreading indicates that human ascriptions of mental states to non-human animals are very inaccurate. The accuracy of human mindreading can be improved with the help of scientific studies of animal minds. However, the scientific studies do not by themselves solve the problem of how to map psychological similarities (and differences) between humans and animals onto a distinction between morally relevant and morally irrelevant mental properties. The current limitations of human mindreading-whether scientifically aided or not-have practical consequences for the rational justification of claims about which rights (if any) non-human animals should be accorded.

  19. Changing Landscapes in Documentation Efforts: Civil Society Documentation of Serious Human Rights Violations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brianne McGonigle Leyh

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Wittingly or unwittingly, civil society actors have long been faced with the task of documenting serious human rights violations. Thirty years ago, such efforts were largely organised by grassroots movements, often with little support or funding from international actors. Sharing information and best practices was difficult. Today that situation has significantly changed. The purpose of this article is to explore the changing landscape of civil society documentation of serious human rights violations, and what that means for standardising and professionalising documentation efforts. Using the recent Hisséne Habré case as an example, this article begins by looking at how civil society documentation can successfully influence an accountability process. Next, the article touches upon barriers that continue to impede greater documentation efforts. The article examines the changing landscape of documentation, focusing on technological changes and the rise of citizen journalism and unofficial investigations, using Syria as an example, as well as on the increasing support for documentation efforts both in Syria and worldwide. The changing landscape has resulted in the proliferation of international documentation initiatives aimed at providing local civil society actors guidelines and practical assistance on how to recognise, collect, manage, store and use information about serious human rights violations, as well as on how to minimise the risks associated with the documentation of human rights violations. The recent initiatives undertaken by international civil society, including those by the Public International Law & Policy Group, play an important role in helping to standardise and professionalise documentation work and promote the foundational principles of documentation, namely the ‘do no harm’ principle, and the principles of informed consent and confidentiality. Recognising the drawback that greater professionalisation may bring, it

  20. LGBT rights versus Asian values: de/re-constructing the universality of human rights

    OpenAIRE

    Lee, Po-Han

    2016-01-01

    Law, especially from the international human rights regime, is a direct reference on which minority groups rely when it comes to ‘non-discrimination’. Drawing upon LGBT rights in Taiwan, as well as Hong Kong and Singapore, this article – through an application of K.H. Chen’s (2010) Asia as Method – critically reviews how global LGBT politics interact with local societies influenced by Confucianism. Along a perpetual competition between the universalism and cultural relativism of human rights,...

  1. Do cultural diversity and human rights make a good match?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donders, Yvonne

    2010-01-01

    The link between cultural diversity and human rights was clearly established by the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, adopted by the member states of UNESCO in 2001, which holds that "the defence of cultural diversity is … inseparable from respect for human dignity" and that it "implies a commitment to human rights and fundamental freedoms." The UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, adopted in 2005, states that "cultural diversity can be protected and promoted only if human rights and fundamental freedoms … are guaranteed" (Article 2[1]). The precise relationship between cultural diversity and human rights, however, is not clarified and thus leaves room for further exploration. This contribution analyses the issues surrounding the relationship between cultural diversity and human rights, in particular cultural rights. Firstly, it addresses general human rights issues such as universality and cultural relativism and the principles of equality and non-discrimination. Secondly, it explores the scope of cultural rights, as well as the cultural dimension of human rights. Thirdly, several cases are discussed in which human rights were invoked to protect cultural interests, confirming the value of cultural diversity. Finally, some concluding remarks are presented, indicating which areas require attention in order to further improve the promotion and protection of human rights in relation to cultural diversity.

  2. The Paradox of Happiness: Health and Human Rights in the Kingdom of Bhutan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mason Meier, Benjamin; Chakrabarti, Averi

    2016-06-01

    The Kingdom of Bhutan is seeking to progressively realize the human right to health without addressing the cross-cutting human rights principles essential to a rights-based approach to health. Through a landscape analysis of the Bhutanese health system, documentary review of Bhutanese reporting to the United Nations human rights system, and semi-structured interviews with health policymakers in Bhutan, this study examines the normative foundations of Bhutan's focus on "a more meaningful purpose for development than just mere material satisfaction." Under this development paradigm of Gross National Happiness, the Bhutanese health system meets select normative foundations of the right to health, seeking to guarantee the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality of health care and underlying determinants of health. However, where Bhutan continues to restrict the rights of minority populations-failing to address the ways in which human rights are indivisible, interdependent, and interrelated-additional reforms will be necessary to realize the right to health. Given the continuing prevalence of minority rights violations in the region, this study raises research questions for comparative studies in other rights-denying national contexts and advocacy approaches to advance principles of non-discrimination, participation, and accountability through health policy.

  3. An Overview of Human Rights, Good Governance and Development ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    An Overview of Human Rights, Good Governance and Development. ... African Research Review ... The paper also addresses the economic and social effect of such human rights violations on national development as well as the effect of using communication to solve the problem of human rights violations and corruption.

  4. The question of autonomy in maternal health in Africa: a rights-based consideration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amzat, Jimoh

    2015-06-01

    Maternal mortality is still very high in Africa, despite progress in control efforts at the global level. One elemental link is the question of autonomy in maternal health, especially at the household level where intrinsic human rights are undermined. A rights-based consideration in bioethics is an approach that holds the centrality of the human person, with a compelling reference to the fundamental human rights of every person. A philosophical and sociological engagement of gender and the notion of autonomy within the household reveals some fundamental rights-based perplexities for bioethical considerations in maternal health. The right to self-determination is undermined, and therefore women's dignity, freedom and autonomy, capacities, and choices are easily defiled. This study applies a rights-based approach to maternal health and demonstrates how rights concerns are associated with negative outcomes in maternal health in Africa. The discussion is situated at the household level, which is the starting point in health care. The paper submits that beyond legal and political rights within the context of the state, rights-based issues manifest at the household level. Many of those rights issues, especially relating to women's autonomy, are detrimental to maternal health in Africa. Therefore, a rights-based approach in the social construction of maternal health realities will contribute to alleviating the burden of maternal mortality in Africa.

  5. Neglecting legumes has compromised human health and sustainable food production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foyer, Christine H; Lam, Hon-Ming; Nguyen, Henry T; Siddique, Kadambot H M; Varshney, Rajeev K; Colmer, Timothy D; Cowling, Wallace; Bramley, Helen; Mori, Trevor A; Hodgson, Jonathan M; Cooper, James W; Miller, Anthony J; Kunert, Karl; Vorster, Juan; Cullis, Christopher; Ozga, Jocelyn A; Wahlqvist, Mark L; Liang, Yan; Shou, Huixia; Shi, Kai; Yu, Jingquan; Fodor, Nandor; Kaiser, Brent N; Wong, Fuk-Ling; Valliyodan, Babu; Considine, Michael J

    2016-08-02

    The United Nations declared 2016 as the International Year of Pulses (grain legumes) under the banner 'nutritious seeds for a sustainable future'. A second green revolution is required to ensure food and nutritional security in the face of global climate change. Grain legumes provide an unparalleled solution to this problem because of their inherent capacity for symbiotic atmospheric nitrogen fixation, which provides economically sustainable advantages for farming. In addition, a legume-rich diet has health benefits for humans and livestock alike. However, grain legumes form only a minor part of most current human diets, and legume crops are greatly under-used. Food security and soil fertility could be significantly improved by greater grain legume usage and increased improvement of a range of grain legumes. The current lack of coordinated focus on grain legumes has compromised human health, nutritional security and sustainable food production.

  6. Promotion of Human Rights in the Republic of Kosovo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MSc. Albulena Ukimeraj

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Fundamental rights and freedoms are constitutional category of democratic states whereas the standards for guaranteeing these rights have been determined in the highest international acts of the United Nations. Promotion of equality and compliance with human rights initially originated in social developments in antiquity period. The Greek philosophy represented by world class philosophers Plato and Aristotle, created the foundation for complying with these rights which still serve as principles in the modern times and democratic developments. In later stages of social developments, despite the progress, compliance with human rights in the slavery era but even in the medieval times was faced with many challenges. Meanwhile, the development of the modern world, as an enlightening historic moment, it is the French Revolution, which was of course preceded by important documents in the history of development and advancement of human rights such as: Magna Carta Libertatum and the US Constitution. The reason for addressing this topic consists in the fact that these fundamental rights and freedoms are parts of constitutions of many countries including Kosovo, which are proclaimed and protected by different acts and norms, however they continue to be infringed either by individuals or institutions. Thus, with the aim of promotion of human rights and legal basis related to them in the Republic of Kosovo, this paper will elaborate development of human rights and the legal infrastructure for protection and compliance of human rights in a chronological manner by providing conclusions on the promotion of human rights in the Republic of Kosovo.

  7. The human right to science: An old right with a great future

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mikel Mancisidor

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available When we talk about the human right to science, many may think that we are speaking about a new right, recently created to face the challenges that science and technology generate in our society of the 21st century. However, the right to science is already enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948 and in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966. We can find it even earlier in the inter-American regional system, particularly, in the Charter of the Organization of American States (1948 and in the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (1948. Few know that, in fact, the Latin American countries in general and Chile in particular played a crucial role in the universal recognition of this right. The first part of the article explains the history of the right to science and its international legal recognition. In a second chapter, we will study its current institutional situation within the United Nations and, finally, in the third chapter, we will analyze the characteristics of this right, its normative content, elements and type of obligations that it creates.

  8. 76 FR 7695 - Iranian Human Rights Abuses Sanctions Regulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-11

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Office of Foreign Assets Control 31 CFR Part 562 Iranian Human Rights... Iranian Human Rights Abuses Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 562 (the ``Regulations''), to implement E.O...--IRANIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES SANCTIONS REGULATIONS Subpart A--Relation of This Part to Other Laws and...

  9. Democracy and Human Rights: Concepts, Measures, and Relationships

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Todd Landman

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The empirical literature on democracy and human rights has made great strides over the last 30 years in explaining (1 the variation in the transition to, consolidation of, and quality of democracy; (2 the proliferation and effectiveness of human rights law; and (3 the causes and consequences of human rights across many of their categories and dimensions. This work has in many ways overcome the ‘essentially contested’ nature of the concepts of democracy and human rights conceptually, established different measures of both empirically, and developed increasingly sophisticated statistical and other analytical techniques to provide stronger inferences for the academic and policy community. This article argues that despite these many achievements, there remain tensions between conceptualisations of democracy and human rights over the degree to which one includes the other, the temporal and spatial empirical relationships between them, and the measures that have been developed to operationalize them. These tensions, in turn, affect the kinds of analyses that are carried out, including model specification, methods of estimation, and findings. Drawing on extant theories and measures of both, the article argues that there must be greater specificity in the conceptualisation and operationalization of democracy and human rights, greater care in the development and use of measures, and greater attention to the kinds of inferences that are made possible by them.

  10. Human rights in patient care: a theoretical and practical framework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Jonathan; Ezer, Tamar

    2013-12-12

    The concept of "human rights in patient care" refers to the application of human rights principles to the context of patient care. It provides a principled alternative to the growing discourse of "patients' rights" that has evolved in response to widespread and severe human rights violations in health settings. Unlike "patients' rights," which is rooted in a consumer framework, this concept derives from inherent human dignity and neutrally applies universal, legally recognized human rights principles, protecting both patients and providers and admitting of limitations that can be justified by human rights norms. It recognizes the interrelation between patient and provider rights, particularly in contexts where providers face simultaneous obligations to patients and the state ("dual loyalty") and may be pressured to abet human rights violations. The human rights lens provides a means to examine systemic issues and state responsibility. Human rights principles that apply to patient care include both the right to the highest attainable standard of health, which covers both positive and negative guarantees in respect of health, as well as civil and political rights ranging from the patient's right to be free from torture and inhumane treatment to liberty and security of person. They also focus attention on the right of socially excluded groups to be free from discrimination in the delivery of health care. Critical rights relevant to providers include freedom of association and the enjoyment of decent work conditions. Some, but not all, of these human rights correspond to rights that have been articulated in "patients' rights" charters. Complementary to—but distinct from—bioethics, human rights in patient care carry legal force and can be applied through judicial action. They also provide a powerful language to articulate and mobilize around justice concerns, and to engage in advocacy through the media and political negotiation. As "patients' rights" movements and

  11. The United States and the universality of human rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chomsky, N

    1999-01-01

    The United States takes a highly relativistic stance toward the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It regards the socio-economic rights and the right to development as without status; exempts itself from all provisions of the Declaration by failing to sign the conventions designed to implement these provisions; and unilaterally qualifies its support of civil and political rights. Leading recipients of U.S. aid have traditionally included regimes with atrocious human rights records. Those struggling for human rights should have no illusions about the systems of power and their servants.

  12. Globalization, human rights, and the social determinants of health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chapman, Audrey R

    2009-02-01

    Globalization, a process characterized by the growing interdependence of the world's people, impacts health systems and the social determinants of health in ways that are detrimental to health equity. In a world in which there are few countervailing normative and policy approaches to the dominant neoliberal regime underpinning globalization, the human rights paradigm constitutes a widely shared foundation for challenging globalization's effects. The substantive rights enumerated in human rights instruments include the right to the highest attainable level of physical and mental health and others that are relevant to the determinants of health. The rights stipulated in these documents impose extensive legal obligations on states that have ratified these documents and confer health entitlements on their residents. Human rights norms have also inspired civil society efforts to improve access to essential medicines and medical services, particularly for HIV/AIDS. Nevertheless, many factors reduce the potential counterweight human rights might exert, including and specifically the nature of the human rights approach, weak political commitments to promoting and protecting health rights on the part of some states and their lack of institutional and economic resources to do so. Global economic markets and the relative power of global economic institutions are also shrinking national policy space. This article reviews the potential contributions and limitations of human rights to achieving greater equity in shaping the social determinants of health.

  13. Human resource management in the construction industry – Sustainability competencies

    OpenAIRE

    Renard Yung Jhien Siew

    2014-01-01

    While environmental sustainability has been the subject of much debate in the last decade, it was not until recently that attention started to shift towards human resource management as an enabler for sustainability.  Yet, this is still a relatively under researched area.  Much is still unknown about the role of an individual worker in contributing towards sustainable development.  This paper addresses the gap by proposing a framework to measure sustainability competencies of employees within...

  14. Andrei Sakharov Prize: Human Rights and Peace - A Personal Odyssey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lerman, Zafra

    2016-03-01

    For more than 30 years, I have devoted my life to promoting scientific freedom and human rights around the world. This devotion led me to put pressure on the American Chemical Society (ACS) to become active in the fight for human rights. Due to this pressure, in 1986, ACS established the Subcommittee on Scientific Freedom and Human Rights, which I chaired since its' inception for over 25 years. In 1988, I met with Andrei Sakharov who advised me to never stop pressuring governments or organizations that abuse human rights. Based on his council, I took a crash course in Russian before traveling to the Soviet Union several times to meet with dissidents, despite the risk to my own safety. After the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989, I worked diligently on the issue of human rights in China. Traveling often to work on the release of pro-democracy prisoners, I met with several dissidents of China, including physicist Xu Liangying who was under house arrest. In my lecture, I will discuss additional cases of my fight for human rights. After 9/11/2001, I expanded my work on scientific freedom and human rights to the Middle East by organizing the Malta Conferences, which use science for diplomacy and as a bridge to peace. These conferences bring together scientists from 15 Middle East countries including Iran, Iraq, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, etc. with 6 Nobel Laureates to work for 5 days on solving regional problems. Although acts of war and terrorism have destabilized the political and economic climate in the Middle East, the Malta Conferences have made it possible for scientists from countries that are on the opposing sides of political and cultural conflicts to meet in a politically neutral environment. There they can work to forge relationships that bridge the deep chasms of mistrust and intolerance. Scientists who normally don't have the opportunity to speak with one another are able to discuss their research and issues of mutual concern. In a time when the

  15. Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Garth Nettheim

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available The paper begins by noting the low level of reference to Indigenous Australians in the Commonwealth Constitution at the start of Federation, and goes on to discuss the limits to what was achieved by the 1967 amendments. The situation represents a marked contrast with the USA and Canada in terms of treaties and constitutional recognition. In Australia, particularly during the period of the ‘Reconciliation’ process in the 1990s, important steps were taken by Indigenous Australians to identify items of ‘unfinished business’ in a ‘Statement of Indigenous Rights’. But there has been limited progress to meet these aspirations. And Australian law still lacks a tradition of recognition of human rights generally, let alone Indigenous rights. International law, too, largely lacked recognition of human rights, generally prior to the adoption in 1945 of the Charter of the United Nations. The brief references in the Charter were subsequently developed in a range of declarations and of treaties. These applied to people generally, with scant reference to Indigenous peoples. But, since the 1970s, there has been growing international recognition of the rights of Indigenous peoples under existing declarations and treaties. Since the 1990s, in particular, the UN system has established specific mechanisms for addressing such issues. On 13 September 2007, the General Assembly finally adopted a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

  16. Human Rights and Religion in the English Secondary RE Curriculum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowie, Robert

    2011-01-01

    The relationship between religion and human rights is an ambiguous and complex one, but there are academic, moral and political arguments for the inclusion of human rights in religious education (RE). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights advocates education in human rights and the English school curriculum aims to encourage a commitment to…

  17. Defining, Measuring, and Incentivizing Sustainable Land Use to Meet Human Needs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicholas, K. A.; Brady, M. V.; Olin, S.; Ekroos, J.; Hall, M.; Seaquist, J. W.; Lehsten, V.; Smith, H.

    2016-12-01

    Land is a natural capital that supports the flow of an enormous amount of ecosystem services critical to human welfare. Sustainable land use, which we define as land use that meets both current and future human needs for ecosystem services, is essential to meet global goals for climate mitigation and sustainable development, while maintaining natural capital. However, it is not clear what governance is needed to achieve sustainable land use under multiple goals (as defined by the values of relevant decision-makers and land managers), particularly under climate change. Here we develop a conceptual model for examining the interactions and tradeoffs among multiple goals, as well as their spatial interactions (teleconnections), in research developed using Design Thinking principles. We have selected five metrics for provisioning (food production, and fiber production for wood and energy), regulating and maintenance (climate mitigation and biodiversity conservation), and cultural (heritage) ecosystem services. Using the case of Sweden, we estimate indicators for these metrics using a combination of existing data synthesis and process-based simulation modeling. We also develop and analyze new indicators (e.g., combining data on land use, bird conservation status, and habitat specificity to make a predictive model of bird diversity changes on agricultural or forested land). Our results highlight both expected tradeoffs (e.g., between food production and biodiversity conservation) as well as unexpected opportunities for synergies under different land management scenarios and strategies. Our model also provides a practical way to make decision-maker values explicit by comparing both quantity and preferences for bundles of ecosystem services under various scenarios. We hope our model will help in considering competing interests and shaping economic incentives and governance structures to meet national targets in support of global goals for sustainable management of land-based

  18. Cultural Diversities and Human Rights: History, Minorities, Pluralization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    EDUARDO J. RUIZ VIEYTEZ

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Cultural diversity plays today a prominent role in the updating and developing of human rights. Past developments in the protection of rights have essentially forgotten the democratic management of cultural and identity-based diversity. States have stifled the main developments of the rights and constrained them to partial views in favour of the majority or dominant groups in each country. The current context of regional progressive integration and social diversification within each state agrees on the need to address the adequacy of systems for the protection of rights from different strategies to the context of multiculturalism. Against the process of "nationalization of rights" it is necessary to adopt a strategy for pluralization. On the one hand, the concept of minority has to be given its corresponding importance in both international and domestic law. On the other hand, different kind of policies and legal instruments for the accommodation of diversity can be identified and used to foster this necessary process of pluralization.

  19. Maximal sustained levels of energy expenditure in humans during exercise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, Jamie A; Nguyen, David D; Ruby, Brent C; Schoeller, Dale A

    2011-12-01

    Migrating birds have been able to sustain an energy expenditure (EE) that is five times their basal metabolic rate. Although humans can readily reach these levels, it is not yet clear what levels can be sustained for several days. The study's purposes were 1) to determine the upper limits of human EE and whether or not those levels can be sustained without inducing catabolism of body tissues and 2) to determine whether initial body weight is related to the levels that can be sustained. We compiled data on documented EE as measured by doubly labeled water during high levels of physical activity (minimum of five consecutive days). We calculated the physical activity level (PAL) of each individual studied (PAL = total EE / basal metabolic rate) from the published data. Correlations were run to examine the relationship between initial body weight and body weight lost with both total EE and PAL. The uppermost limit of EE was a peak PAL of 6.94 that was sustained for 10 consecutive days of a 95-d race. Only two studies reported PALs above 5.0; however, significant decreases in body mass were found in each study (0.45-1.39 kg·wk(-1) of weight loss). To test whether initial weight affects the ability to sustain high PALs, we found a significant positive correlation between TEE and initial body weight (r = 0.46, P body weight (r = 0.27, not statistically significant). Some elite humans are able to sustain PALs above 5.0 for a minimum of 10 d. Although significant decreases in body weight occur at this level, catabolism of body tissue may be preventable in situations with proper energy intake. Further, initial body weight does not seem to affect the sustainability of PALs.

  20. The right to be loved

    CERN Document Server

    Liao, Matthew S

    2015-01-01

    S. Matthew Liao argues here that children have a right to be loved. To do so he investigates questions such as whether children are rightholders; what grounds a child's right to beloved; whether love is an appropriate object of a right; and other philosophical and practical issues. His proposal is that all human beings have rights to the fundamental conditions for pursuing a good life; therefore, as human beings, children have human rights to the fundamental conditions for pursuing a good life. Since being loved is one of those fundamental conditions, children thus have a right to be loved. Liao shows that this claim need not be merely empty rhetoric, and that the arguments for this right can hang together as a coherent whole. This is the first book to make a sustained philosophical case for the right of children to be loved. It makes a unique contribution to the fast-growing literature on family ethics, in particular, on children's rights and parental rights and responsibilities, and to the emerging field of...

  1. Introduction: Radical Teaching About Human Rights Part II

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Bennett

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available In our introduction to the first of these two issues of Radical Teacher devoted to “Radical Teaching About Human Rights,” we cautioned that all forms of Human Rights Education (HRE are not radical.  The problem, we pointed out, with rights discourse is that it can mask the politics of how rights are defined, whose rights are recognized, and how they are enforced.  This problem becomes evident when HRE is bound up with a neoliberal, or worse than neoliberal, perspective that points fingers at others and rallies troops for supposedly humanitarian interventions while eliding the role of the United States as an imperializing settler colonial state.  Fortunately, we have once again received several essays that seem to us to be aware of this danger and provide admirable examples of radical teaching about human rights.

  2. Political sociology of human rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mahdi Kazemi

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available The dominant approach in the field of human rights is Legal attitude. Legal attitude more than anything else on the identification and recognition of human rights by the government is focused. At the same time, governments are the biggest violators of human rights norms. Despite the gap between the legal obligations of states and the real world, legal analysis of this gap is not possible. Therefore, in the era of inflation of rights, according to Louis Henkin , transition needs based approach to the protection of human rights is justified. Social sciences, especially political sociology may be, to identify obstacles to the realization of human rights in different societies and operate it is used. Since the main subject of political sociology "explores the relationship between state and society" is, knowledge can be produced in the field of political sociology in understanding the inability of governments establishing human rights norms and effective ways to fix it. Therefore, it can be said that human rights political sociology focus on: how to advance the state of human rights in a society and its institutionalization and consolidation within all relationships and political processes. رهیافت مسلط در حوزه مطالعات حقوق بشر، نگرش حقوقی است.نگرش حقوقی بیش از هرچیز بر شناسایی و به رسمیت شناختن حقوق بشر توسط دولت‌ها متمرکز است.در عین حال، دولت‌ها خود بزرگترین ناقضین هنجارهای حقوق بشری می‌باشند. با وجود شکاف میان تعهدات حقوقی دولت‌ها و جهان واقعی، تحلیل حقوقی از این شکاف ممکن نیست. لذا، در عصر تورم حقوق به تعبیر هنکین، نیازمند گذار از رهیافت مبتنی بر توجیه به حفاظت از حقوق بشر هستیم. علوم اجتماعی بویژه جامعه

  3. Women's Rights in Human Rights Systems: Past, Present and Future ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Abstract. In the 2009 Dullah Omar Memorial Lecture, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay contextualises many of the issues facing women that were raised in earlier articles.

  4. The World War II Era and Human Rights Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waters, Stewart; Russell, William B., III

    2012-01-01

    International revulsion at the violation of human rights during World War II helped spark a global movement to define and protect individual human rights. Starting with the creation of war crimes tribunals after the war, this newfound awareness stimulated a concerted international effort to establish human rights for all, both in periods of war…

  5. Human Rights Education: Is Social Work behind the Curve?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steen, Julie A.; Mathiesen, Sally

    2005-01-01

    This article presents a descriptive assessment of human rights education within schools of social work and law. A review of course titles and descriptions within MSW programs and law programs was conducted for identification of human rights content. The results suggest a dearth of human rights content in social work curricula and a great disparity…

  6. SHARI’A, INDIGENOUS WISDOM AND HUMAN RIGHTS: A Brief Review of Human Rights Enforcement in the Context of Indonesian History

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    JM. Muslimin

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This article deals with the analysis of how human rights discourses have been articulated in the landscape of Indonesia’s history. The paper argues that the idea of Shari’aization can undermine the search for the common ground in building the discourses of human rights. The history of Indonesia can be classified into three eras: pre-colonial, post-colonial and reform era. Along the history, the spirit of human rights enforcement grows from, and interacts with, Islam and local culture. The language and expression take various forms in accordance with socio-cultural contexts and challenges. However, the essence of the enforcement is rooted in the universal values: freedom from oppression, fear, discrimination and gender inequality. In the future, smart dialogue, sharp debate and sincere discussion between ‘local’ symbolic expression and universal standardization are still needed. In addition, the gap can be narrowed also by responding actual violation of human right as it is indicated by Indonesian history: history of social consensus.

  7. Evolving International Practices for Protection of Human Rights- the UN Human Rights Advisory Panel and EU Human Rights Review Panel

    OpenAIRE

    Remzije ISTREFI

    2017-01-01

    This article analyses the unique development of the international human rights non judicial protection mechanism in Kosovo. Since 1999 Kosovo has been placed under international supervision carried out by international organizations, namely the United Nations and the European Union. The UN’s Mission in Kosovo (UNMK) was unprecedented both in scope and structural complexity. After the Declaration of Independence by Kosovo authorities on 17 February 2008, the European Union Rule ...

  8. International human rights and cultural diversity: a balancing act

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Donders, Y.

    2013-01-01

    It is broadly agreed that international human rights law and cultural diversity have a mutually interdependent and beneficial relationship. Many human rights, such as the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, as well as the rights to take part in cultural life

  9. Health and human rights in eastern Myanmar prior to political transition: a population-based assessment using multistaged household cluster sampling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parmar, Parveen K; Benjamin-Chung, Jade; Smith, Linda S; Htoo, Saw Nay; Laeng, Sai; Lwin, Aye; Mahn, Mahn; Maung, Cynthia; Reh, Daniel; Shwe Oo, Eh Kalu; Lee, Thomas; Richards, Adam K

    2014-05-05

    Myanmar/Burma has received increased development and humanitarian assistance since the election in November 2010. Monitoring the impact of foreign assistance and economic development on health and human rights requires knowledge of pre-election conditions. From October 2008-January 2009, community-based organizations conducted household surveys using three-stage cluster sampling in Shan, Kayin, Bago, Kayah, Mon and Tanintharyi areas of Myanmar. Data was collected from 5,592 heads of household on household demographics, reproductive health, diarrhea, births, deaths, malaria, and acute malnutrition of children 6-59 months and women aged 15-49 years. A human rights focused survey module evaluated human rights violations (HRVs) experienced by household members during the previous year. Estimated infant and under-five rates were 77 (95% CI 56 to 98) and 139 (95% CI 107 to 171) deaths per 1,000 live births; and the crude mortality rate was 13 (95% CI 11 to 15) deaths per thousand persons. The leading respondent-reported cause of death was malaria, followed by acute respiratory infection and diarrhea, causing 21.2% (95% CI 16.5 to 25.8), 16.6% (95% CI 11.8 to 21.4), and 12.3% (95% CI 8.7 to 15.8), respectively. Over a third of households suffered at least one human rights violation in the preceding year (36.2%; 30.7 to 41.7). Household exposure to forced labor increased risk of death among infants (rate ratio (RR) = 2.2; 95% CI 1.1 to 4.4) and children under five (RR = 2.1; 95% CI 1.3 to 3.6). The proportion of children suffering from moderate to severe acute malnutrition was higher among households that were displaced (prevalence ratio (PR) = 3.3; 95% CI 1.9 to 5.6). Prior to the 2010 election, populations of eastern Myanmar experienced high rates of disease and death and high rates of HRVs. These population-based data provide a baseline that can be used to monitor national and international efforts to improve the health and human rights situation in the

  10. Human rights in occupational therapy education: A step towards a more occupationally just global society.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crawford, Emma; Aplin, Tammy; Rodger, Sylvia

    2017-04-01

    Education on human rights will place occupational therapists in a strong position to address societal inequities that limit occupational engagement for many client groups. The imminent changes to the Minimum Standard for the Education of Occupational Therapists engender efforts towards social change and will require university-level human rights education. This education might enhance the profession's influence on disadvantaging social structures in order to effect social change. To contribute to the evidence base for social change education in occupational therapy, this research aims to understand the knowledge, skills, confidence and learning experiences of occupational therapy students who completed a human rights course. Final year occupational therapy students responded to questionnaires which included listing human rights, a human rights scale measuring knowledge and confidence for working towards human rights, and open questions. Numbers of rights listed, knowledge scores and confidence scores were calculated. Responses to the open questions were thematically analysed. After completing a human rights course, students had good knowledge and moderate confidence to work with human rights. Three themes were identified including 'learning about human rights', 'learning about structural, societal and global perspectives on occupational engagement' and 'learning how occupational therapists can work with groups, communities and populations: becoming articulate and empowered'. Human rights education fosters the development of occupational therapists who are skilled, knowledgeable, confident and empowered to address occupational injustices, according to these research findings. To develop a more occupationally just global society, education that considers iniquitous social structures and human rights is necessary. © 2016 Occupational Therapy Australia.

  11. Menneskerettighedernes Æstetik /The Aesthetics of Human Rights

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2012-01-01

    The idea of this thematic issue on "The Aesthetics of Human Rigths" of the journal "Academic Quarter" is to focus on the staging of human rights in popular culture and fine arts and in different media and genres.......The idea of this thematic issue on "The Aesthetics of Human Rigths" of the journal "Academic Quarter" is to focus on the staging of human rights in popular culture and fine arts and in different media and genres....

  12. BODIL BEGTRUP AND THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS Individual agency, transnationalism and intergovernmentalism in early UN human rights

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Midtgaard, K.

    2011-01-01

    The article investigates the individual agency of the little studied transnational, Bodil Begtrup, in the subfields of women's and minority rights, and refugee and asylum policy. Begtrup fulfilled many roles - as state representative, expert advisor, member of the United Nations' Commission...... on the Status of Women, and president of a national NGO. This article shows how Begtrup enjoyed wide room for manoeuvre in the subfield of women's rights, and acted in this as a transnational norm entrepreneur and process entrepreneur advocating women's rights as an integral part of human rights and forging...... the change of the institutional design of the UN human rights institutions. In the subfield of minority rights, refugee and asylum policy, Begtrup acted under tight governmental control because the issue at hand was subject to national interest and domestic party politics. Her agency in the two subfields...

  13. Human Rights and National Poverty Reduction Strategies: Conceptual framework for human rights analysis of poverty reduction strategies and reviews of Guatemala, Liberia and Nepal

    OpenAIRE

    Sakiko Fukuda-Parr

    2007-01-01

    Poverty is an important human rights concern. Human rights are claims that people have for social arrangements to guarantee their substantive freedoms; poverty reflects failures in these social arrangements and in the actions of duty bearers. It is the poorest people in society --- those with low incomes, education, insecure health, and political power --- who are most vulnerable to severe abuse of their human rights in multiple areas. At the same time, it is lack of human rights protection t...

  14. The Ebola Virus and Human Rights Concerns in Africa

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    AJRH Managing Editor

    2015-09-03

    Sep 3, 2015 ... Keywords: Ebola, Public Health, human right. Résumé ... Mots clé : Ebola, de santé publique, droit humain. Introduction ... public health and human rights. This article .... Political Rights (ICCPR)21 and the International.

  15. Using international human rights law to improve child health in low-income countries: a framework for healthcare professionals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Hare, Bernadette Ann-Marie; Devakumar, Delan; Allen, Stephen

    2016-03-30

    The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights states that the right to health is closely related to, and dependent upon, the realization of other human rights, including the right to food, water, education and shelter which are important determinants of health. Children's healthcare workers in low income settings may spend the majority of their professional lives trying to mitigate deficiencies of these rights but have little influence over them. In order to advocate successfully at a local level, we should be aware of the proportion of children living in our catchment population who do not have access to their basic rights. In order to carry out a rights audit, a framework within which healthcare workers could play their part is required, as is an agreed minimum core of rights, a timeframe and a set of indicators. A framework to assess how well states and their developmental partners are adhering to human rights principles is discussed, including the role that a healthcare worker might optimally play. A minimum core of economic and social rights seeks to establish a legal minimum set of protections, which should be available with immediate effect and applicable to all nations despite very different resources. Minimum core rights and the impact that progressive realisation may have had on the right to health is discussed, including what they should include from the perspective of children's health. A set of absolute rights are suggested, based on physiological needs and aligned with the corresponding articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The development indicators which are likely to be used to monitor progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals is suggested as a way to monitor rights. We consider the ways in which the healthcare worker could use a rights audit to advocate with, and for their community. These audits could achieve several objectives. They may legitimise healthcare workers' interests in the determinants

  16. Advancement of human rights standards for LGBT people through the perspective of international human rights law

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucie Cviklová

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The article addresses the issue how various religious and legal systems cope with current developments that undermine binary opposition of man and woman including definition of their sexual and cultural identities. More concretely, it tries to explain, how concrete societies and legislations deal with claims of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transsexuals (LGBT that claim broader recognition. It elucidates differences among Western provisions and policies of the relevant legal bodies such as the General Assembly of the United Nations, the European Court of Human Rights and the Supreme Court concerning these issues. It also points to the nature and real impact of international civil society forces such as Yogyakarta principles that formulate extension of rights concerning lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transsexuals. On the basis of comparison of various legal and religious discourses it explains current practices of direct and indirect discrimination and in some non-European national systems even extra-judicial killings, torture and ill-treatment, sexual assault, rape and other violations of human rights. When emphasizing substantial differences among current European states and non-European ones concerning policies toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT, it shows current tendencies of advancement in the field by common policies of Council of Europe, recent judgments issued by the European Court of Human Rights as well as civil society efforts such as Yogyakarta principles. Swedish standards have been introduced in order to emphasize existing progressive attitudes to LGBT people concerning gay marriages and adoption procedures.

  17. A human rights approach to the health implications of food and nutrition insecurity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayala, Ana; Meier, Benjamin Mason

    2017-01-01

    Food and nutrition insecurity continues to pose a serious global challenge, reflecting government shortcomings in meeting international obligations to ensure the availability, accessibility, and quality of food and to ensure the highest attainable standard of health of their peoples. With global drivers like climate change, urbanization, greater armed conflict, and the globalization of unhealthy diet, particularly in under-resourced countries, food insecurity is rapidly becoming an even greater challenge for those living in poverty. International human rights law can serve a critical role in guiding governments that are struggling to protect the health of their populations, particularly among the most susceptible groups, in responding to food and nutrition insecurity. This article explores and advocates for a human rights approach to food and nutrition security, specifically identifying legal mechanisms to "domesticate" relevant international human rights standards through national policy. Recognizing nutrition security as a determinant of public health, this article recognizes the important links between the four main elements of food security (i.e., availability, stability, utilization, and access) and the normative attributes of the right to health and the right to food (i.e., availability, accessibility, affordability, and quality). In drawing from the evolution of international human rights instruments, official documents issued by international human rights treaty bodies, as well as past scholarship at the intersection of the right to health and right to food, this article interprets and articulates the intersectional rights-based obligations of national governments in the face of food and nutrition insecurity.

  18. Towards new human rights in the age of neuroscience and neurotechnology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ienca, Marcello; Andorno, Roberto

    2017-12-01

    Rapid advancements in human neuroscience and neurotechnology open unprecedented possibilities for accessing, collecting, sharing and manipulating information from the human brain. Such applications raise important challenges to human rights principles that need to be addressed to prevent unintended consequences. This paper assesses the implications of emerging neurotechnology applications in the context of the human rights framework and suggests that existing human rights may not be sufficient to respond to these emerging issues. After analysing the relationship between neuroscience and human rights, we identify four new rights that may become of great relevance in the coming decades: the right to cognitive liberty, the right to mental privacy, the right to mental integrity, and the right to psychological continuity.

  19. Towards a sustainable world through human factors and ergonomics: it is all about values.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lange-Morales, Karen; Thatcher, Andrew; García-Acosta, Gabriel

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we analyse two approaches that attempt to address how a human factors and ergonomics (HFE) perspective can contribute to the sustainability of the human race. We outline the principles, purposes and fields of application of ergoecology and green ergonomics, and thereafter deal with their context of emergence, and the overlaps in purpose, and principles. Shared values are deduced and related to socio-technical principles for systems' design. Social responsibility and environmental/ecospheric responsibility are the leading threads of ergoecology and green ergonomics, giving rise to the values of: respect for human rights, respect for the Earth, respect for ethical decision-making, appreciation of complexity, respect for transparency and openness, and respect for diversity. We discuss the consequences of considering these values in HFE theory and practice.

  20. A Population-Based Assessment of Human Rights Abuses Committed Against Ethnic Albanian Refugees From Kosovo

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iacopino, Vincent; Frank, Martina W.; Bauer, Heidi M.; Keller, Allen S.; Fink, Sheri L.; Ford, Doug; Pallin, Daniel J.; Waldman, Ronald

    2001-01-01

    Objectives. This study assessed patterns of displacement and human rights abuses among Kosovar refugees in Macedonia and Albania. Methods. Between April 19 and May 3, 1999, 1180 ethnic Albanian refugees living in 31 refugee camps and collective centers in Macedonia and Albania were interviewed. Results. The majority (68%) of participants reported that their families were directly expelled from their homes by Serb forces. Overall, 50% of participants saw Serb police or soldiers burning the houses of others, 16% saw Serb police or soldiers burn their own home, and 14% witnessed Serb police or soldiers killing someone. Large percentages of participants saw destroyed mosques, schools, or medical facilities. Thirty-one percent of respondents reported human rights abuses committed against their household members, including beatings, killings, torture, forced separation and disappearances, gunshot wounds, and sexual assault. Conclusions. The present findings confirm that Serb forces engaged in a systematic and brutal campaign to forcibly expel the ethnic Albanian population of Kosovo. In the course of these mass deportations, Serb forces committed widespread abuses of human rights against ethnic Albanians. PMID:11726386

  1. Mapping Progress : Human Rights and International Students in Australia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew Jakubowicz

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The rapid growth in international student numbers in Australia in the first decade of the  2000s was accompanied by a series of public crises. The most important of these was the outbreak in Melbourne Victoria and elsewhere of physical attacks on the students. Investigations at the time also pointed to cases of gross exploitation, an array of threats that severely compromised their human rights. This paper reviews and pursues the outcomes of a report prepared by the authors in 2010 for Universities Australia and the Human Rights Commission. The report reviewed social science research and proposed a series of priorities for human rights interventions that were part of the Human Rights Commission’s considerations.  New activity, following the innovation of having international students specifically considered by the Human Rights Commission, points to initiatives that have not fully addressed the wide range of questions at state.

  2. The Society's Involvement in the Defense of Human Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerjuoy, Edward

    2015-04-01

    The history of the Society's involvement in the defense of human rights, a history of which the Society can be proud, will be summarized; the summary will include illustrative specific APS human rights defense actions in illustrative specific cases. As will be emphasized, the aforesaid involvement has been primarily through the activities of the APS Committee on International Freedom of Scientists (CIFS). It is noteworthy-and one of the reasons the Society can be proud-that CIFS is charged with ``monitoring concerns regarding human rights for scientists,'' not solely for physicists, and that CIFS indeed has sought to protect the human rights of nonphysicists.

  3. Agent-based modeling of sustainable behaviors

    CERN Document Server

    Sánchez-Maroño, Noelia; Fontenla-Romero, Oscar; Polhill, J; Craig, Tony; Bajo, Javier; Corchado, Juan

    2017-01-01

    Using the O.D.D. (Overview, Design concepts, Detail) protocol, this title explores the role of agent-based modeling in predicting the feasibility of various approaches to sustainability. The chapters incorporated in this volume consist of real case studies to illustrate the utility of agent-based modeling and complexity theory in discovering a path to more efficient and sustainable lifestyles. The topics covered within include: households' attitudes toward recycling, designing decision trees for representing sustainable behaviors, negotiation-based parking allocation, auction-based traffic signal control, and others. This selection of papers will be of interest to social scientists who wish to learn more about agent-based modeling as well as experts in the field of agent-based modeling.

  4. The Evolution of the Right of Individuals to Seise the European Court of Human Rights

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kjeldgaard-Pedersen, Astrid

    2010-01-01

    The year 2009 was a milestone for the European Court of Human Rights ("ECtHR" or "the Court") in at least two ways. On the bright side, the Court can celebrate its 50th anniversary and its continuous role as principal promoter of human rights in the now 47 Member States of the Council of Europe...... ("CoE" or "the Council"). However, 2009 was also the year in which the number of pending cases before the Court passed the disturbing 100,000 benchmark. Paradoxically, the main reason for both the Court's success and its current crisis is the right of petition of individuals. The present article...... contains a detailed inquiry into the coming into existence of this central feature of the control machinery of European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms ("ECHR" or "the Convention") that was labelled a breakthrough in the field of human rights as well as in general...

  5. CONSIDERATIONS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF OBSERVING HUMAN RIGHTS WITHIN EUROPEAN STATES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isabela, STANCEA

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available The detailed analysis of the institution of human rights and fundamental freedoms is necessary to know its role. The promotion of the human condition in the world leads to the innovative interpretation of this institution. The existence of so many international legal instruments aims towards a better protection of the human rights in contemporary society. The issue of human rights has occupied an important role within the states, human rights violations being a common concern, especially in the former communist states. The issue of human rights in Romania has emerged and developed very early. The changes made in Romania by the revolution of 22 December 1989 caused an intense process of amending the legislation in order to be correlated with the international standards. Within European states human rights observance has acquired great importance, a matter which will be emphasised in the future as well. The European Court of Human Rights ensures the guarantee of respecting human rights in Europe, having as legal instrument the European Convention on Human Rights.

  6. An Artist's Anthropological Approach to Sustainability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mackinnon-Day, Patricia

    2016-01-01

    Recent studies of sustainability draw attention to the impact art and culture have on communities. The Earth Charter, which originated in 1968, fostered the idea of "a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace." This article supports the idea that art can…

  7. Advancing palliative care as a human right.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gwyther, Liz; Brennan, Frank; Harding, Richard

    2009-11-01

    The international palliative care community has articulated a simple but challenging proposition that palliative care is an international human right. International human rights covenants and the discipline of palliative care have, as common themes, the inherent dignity of the individual and the principles of universality and nondiscrimination. However, when we consider the evidence for the effectiveness of palliative care, the lack of palliative care provision for those who may benefit from it is of grave concern. Three disciplines (palliative care, public health, and human rights) are now interacting with a growing resonance. The maturing of palliative care as a clinical specialty and academic discipline has coincided with the development of a public health approach to global and community-wide health problems. The care of the dying is a public health issue. Given that death is both inevitable and universal, the care of people with life-limiting illness stands equal to all other public health issues. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) includes the right to health care and General Comment 14 (paragraph 34) CESCR stipulates that "States are under the obligation to respect the right to health by, inter alia, refraining from denying or limiting equal access for all persons, ... to preventive, curative and palliative health services." However, these rights are seen to be aspirational-rights to be achieved progressively over time by each signatory nation to the maximum capacity of their available resources. Although a government may use insufficient resources as a justification for inadequacies of its response to palliative care and pain management, General Comment 14 set out "core obligations" and "obligations of comparable priority" in the provision of health care and placed the burden on governments to justify "that every effort has nevertheless been made to use all available resources at its disposal in order to satisfy, as

  8. "You cannot eat rights": a qualitative study of views by Zambian HIV-vulnerable women, youth and MSM on human rights as public health tools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muzyamba, Choolwe; Broaddus, Elena; Campbell, Catherine

    2015-10-05

    Human rights approaches now dominate the HIV prevention landscape across sub-Saharan Africa, yet little is known about how they are viewed by the populations they are designed to serve. Health interventions are most effective when they resonate with the worldviews and interests of target groups. This study examined local Zambian understandings of human rights approaches to HIV-prevention among three highly HIV-vulnerable groups: women, youth, and men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM). Focus groups included 23 women, youth, and MSM who had participated in activities organized by local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) using rights-based approaches, and interviews included 10 Zambian employees of these NGOs. Topics included participants' experiences and views of the utility of these activities. Thematic analysis mapped out diverse ways participants viewed the concept of human rights in relation to HIV-prevention. Whilst NGO workers noted the need for human rights programs to address the complex drivers of the HIV epidemic, they struggled to tailor them to the Zambian context due to donor stipulations. Women program beneficiaries noted that the concept of human rights helped challenge harmful sexual practices and domestic abuse, and youth described rights-based approaches as more participatory than previous HIV-prevention efforts. However, they criticized the approach for conflicting with traditional values such as respect for elders and 'harmonious' marital relationships. They also critiqued it for threatening the social structures and relationships that they relied on for material survival, and for failing to address issues like poverty and unemployment. In contrast, MSM embraced the rights approach, despite being critical of its overly confrontational implementation. A rights-based approach seeks to tackle the symbolic drivers of HIV-its undeniable roots in cultural and religious systems of discrimination. Yet, it fails to resonate with youth and women's own

  9. The 2013 Elections in Zimbabwe: End of an Era for Human Rights Discourse?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cornelias Ncube

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the implications of Zimbabwe’s 2013 harmonised elections on the opposition’s continued deployment of the rights-based discourse to make moral and political claims against and demands of the state. Since 2000, two polarising strands of the human rights discourse – 1 the right to self-determination and 2 civil and political rights – were deployed by the state and the opposition, respectively, in order to challenge extant relations and structures of power. The acutely strained state–society relations in post-2000 Zimbabwe emanated from human rights violations by the state as it responded to challenges to its political power and legitimacy. However, the relative improvement in the human rights situation in the country since the 2009 coalition government came into office, and during and since the recently concluded peaceful 2013 elections – the flawed electoral process itself notwithstanding – suggests a need for alternative new ways to make moral and political demands of the state in the future.

  10. Arguments for the Normative Validity of Human Rights. Philosophical Predecessors and Contemporary Criticisms of the 1789 French Declaration of Human and Civic Rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Esther Oluffa Pedersen

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The paper highlights clashes between different conceptions of right, law and justice crystalizing in the French Declaration of Human and Civic Rights from 1789 and the criticisms it aroused. Hobbes’ Leviathan (1651 and Rousseau’s Social Contract (1762 are discussed as important predecessors. The philosophical conceptions of law, justice and right stated by Hobbes and Rousseau and in the Declaration will be discussed in connection with two seminal criticisms. By excluding women from politics, Olympe de Gouge objected, the Declaration contradicted the universal understanding of human rights. Jeremy Bentham protested against the Declaration’s core idea of inalienable human rights.

  11. Bentham’s Panopticon and Instrumentalization of Human Rights

    OpenAIRE

    Beytía Reyes, Pablo; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

    2017-01-01

    This paper reviews the foundations of Jeremy Bentham’s utilitarianism and the main criticisms to this doctrine, especially those which deem it incompatible with unconditional respect of human rights. Bentham’s Panopticon, his proposal on prison reform published in the late eighteenth century, is discussed. Based on the analysis of the Panopticon –which is a consistent application of Bentham utilitarianism–, the author concludes that a) this doctrine promotes a humanitarian approach, although ...

  12. The Shaky Legal Foundations of the Global Human Rights Education Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vlaardingerbroek, Barend

    2015-01-01

    School students should be taught about the law and this includes rights education. The global human rights education (HRE) project focuses on universal human rights and has a strongly utopian orientation, drawing as it does on international declarations and principles of human rights law. International human rights law is, however, at best a…

  13. Human Rights Education: The Promise of the Third Millennium?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baxi, Upendra

    The 20th century could be characterized as the "Age of Rights." Never before has there been such progress and interest in human rights standards. To ensure this progress, human rights education (HRE) needs to look at the world history of the struggles for rights and against tyranny and injustice. The notions of HRE originated in the text…

  14. Reconciling female genital circumcision with universal human rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordon, John-Stewart

    2017-09-18

    One of the most challenging issues in cross-cultural bioethics concerns the long-standing socio-cultural practice of female genital circumcision (FGC), which is prevalent in many African countries and the Middle East as well as in some Asian and Western countries. It is commonly assumed that FGC, in all its versions, constitutes a gross violation of the universal human rights of health, physical integrity, and individual autonomy and hence should be abolished. This article, however, suggests a mediating approach according to which one form of FGC, the removal of the clitoris foreskin, can be made compatible with the high demands of universal human rights. The argument presupposes the idea that human rights are not absolutist by nature but can be framed in a meaningful, culturally sensitive way. It proposes important limiting conditions that must be met for the practice of FGC to be considered in accordance with the human rights agenda. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  15. Sustainable Rent-Based Closed-Loop Supply Chain for Fashion Products

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhi-Hua Hu

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The textile and clothing industry generates much pollution and consumes a large amount of resources. Improper uses and disposal of clothing products make the problems much more severe. Fast fashion products shorten the valid lifecycle and generate more waste than regular clothing products. Considering the features of fashion products, a system of a rent-based closed-loop supply chain is developed to improve the sustainability of fashion products. The supply chain processes (fashion design and manufacturing, laundry, logistics and disposal, the operations management issues (inventory management, closed-loop logistics, human-clothing matching, booking system and the rental pricing and the sustainability promotion aspects (customization, responsive system, culture and policy aspects are investigated by devising sustainable strategies. The rationalities of the developed system and strategies are reviewed and elucidated in detail. The results may contribute to building sustainable closed-loop fashion supply chains, the related information systems and operational and managerial mechanisms.

  16. Profiles of four women. Health and human rights activists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reiner, L; Sollom, R

    1997-01-01

    This article briefly profiles four women physicians working for health and human rights around the world. Dr. Ruchama Marton, an Israeli psychiatrist and activist for peace in the Middle East, is a founder of Physicians for Human Rights/Israel. Dr. Jane Green Schaller is a US pediatrician whose 1985 trip to South Africa initiated her human rights involvement, which includes the founding of Physicians for Human Rights. Dr. Judith van Heerden, a primary care physician in South Africa, has worked for reform of prison health care, to establish hospice care, and, most recently, for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) education for medical students. Dr. Ma Thida, the only physician not interviewed for this article, is currently held in a Burmese prison because of her work on behalf of the National League for Democracy. The profiles suggest the breadth of human rights work worldwide and are a testament to what physicians can do.

  17. An Integrated Model Based on a Hierarchical Indices System for Monitoring and Evaluating Urban Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xulin Guo

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Over 50% of world’s population presently resides in cities, and this number is expected to rise to ~70% by 2050. Increasing urbanization problems including population growth, urban sprawl, land use change, unemployment, and environmental degradation, have markedly impacted urban residents’ Quality of Life (QOL. Therefore, urban sustainability and its measurement have gained increasing attention from administrators, urban planners, and scientific communities throughout the world with respect to improving urban development and human well-being. The widely accepted definition of urban sustainability emphasizes the balancing development of three primary domains (urban economy, society, and environment. This article attempts to improve the aforementioned definition of urban sustainability by incorporating a human well-being dimension. Major problems identified in existing urban sustainability indicator (USI models include a weak integration of potential indicators, poor measurement and quantification, and insufficient spatial-temporal analysis. To tackle these challenges an integrated USI model based on a hierarchical indices system was established for monitoring and evaluating urban sustainability. This model can be performed by quantifying indicators using both traditional statistical approaches and advanced geomatic techniques based on satellite imagery and census data, which aims to provide a theoretical basis for a comprehensive assessment of urban sustainability from a spatial-temporal perspective.

  18. Right-handed fossil humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lozano, Marina; Estalrrich, Almudena; Bondioli, Luca; Fiore, Ivana; Bermúdez de Castro, José-Maria; Arsuaga, Juan Luis; Carbonell, Eudald; Rosas, Antonio; Frayer, David W

    2017-11-01

    Fossil hominids often processed material held between their upper and lower teeth. Pulling with one hand and cutting with the other, they occasionally left impact cut marks on the lip (labial) surface of their incisors and canines. From these actions, it possible to determine the dominant hand used. The frequency of these oblique striations in an array of fossil hominins documents the typically modern pattern of 9 right- to 1 left-hander. This ratio among living Homo sapiens differs from that among chimpanzees and bonobos and more distant primate relatives. Together, all studies of living people affirm that dominant right-handedness is a uniquely modern human trait. The same pattern extends deep into our past. Thus far, the majority of inferred right-handed fossils come from Europe, but a single maxilla from a Homo habilis, OH-65, shows a predominance of right oblique scratches, thus extending right-handedness into the early Pleistocene of Africa. Other studies show right-handedness in more recent African, Chinese, and Levantine fossils, but the sample compiled for non-European fossil specimens remains small. Fossil specimens from Sima del los Huesos and a variety of European Neandertal sites are predominately right-handed. We argue the 9:1 handedness ratio in Neandertals and the earlier inhabitants of Europe constitutes evidence for a modern pattern of handedness well before the appearance of modern Homo sapiens. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  19. Documenting human rights violations against sex workers in Kenya.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lukera, MaryFrances

    2007-12-01

    The human rights of sex workers are an increasing concern for prominent women's rights organizations such as the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA). As FIDA-Kenya's MaryFrances Lukera writes, documenting human rights abuses against sex workers is critical to responding to Kenya's HIV epidemic.

  20. Who’s Who at the Border? A rights-based approach to identifying human trafficking at international borders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marika McAdam

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available International borders are widely touted as bastions in the fight against trafficking in persons. This article acknowledges the important role border officials play in preventing human trafficking, but calls for expectations to be tempered by deference to the conceptual complexity of cross-border trafficking and the migration processes involved. The fact that many trafficked victims begin their journeys as irregular or smuggled migrants highlights the challenge posed to border officials in identifying trafficked persons among the people they encounter. Indicators of trafficking generally relate to the exploitation phase, leaving border officials with little guidance as to how persons vulnerable to trafficking can be accurately identified before any exploitation has occurred. Ultimately, this paper advocates a pragmatic rights-based approach in designating anti-trafficking functions to border officials. A rights-based approach to border control acknowledges the core work of border officials as being to uphold border integrity, while ensuring that their performance of this role does not jeopardise the rights of those they intercept nor result in missed opportunities for specialists to identify trafficked persons and other vulnerable people among them.

  1. Expanding the horizons of disability law in India: a study from a human rights perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chopra, Tushti

    2013-01-01

    Disabled/"differently abled" persons by virtue of being human have the right to enjoy human rights to life, liberty, equality, security, and dignity. However, due to social indifference, psychological barriers, a limited definition of "disability" entitling protection of law, and a lack of proper data, disabled persons in India remain an invisible category. Although several laws exit to ensure their full and effective participation in society, they remain insufficient as they are primarily based on the government's discretion. At the same time, whenever the judiciary finds an opportunity, it acts as a real protector of disabled persons, but it is not feasible to knock on the door of the judiciary for every request. Interestingly, various civil societies and human rights activists have occasionally asserted the rights of the disabled. However, unless the foundation stones of law are fortified, disabled persons cannot fully realize their rights. It is high time to enact effective laws, with timely implementation, to protect their interests and empower their capabilities that are based on a "rights-based approach" rather than on the charity, medical, or social approaches. Thus, the horizons of law must be expanded to provide a "human friendly environment" for all of the disabled to overcome the barriers that impair their development. © 2013 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

  2. Human Rights: Its Meaning and Practice in Social Work Field Settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steen, Julie A; Mann, Mary; Restivo, Nichole; Mazany, Shellene; Chapple, Reshawna

    2017-01-01

    The goal of the study reported in this article was to explore the conceptualizations of human rights and human rights practice among students and supervisors in social work field settings. Data were collected from 35 students and 48 supervisors through an online survey system that featured two open-ended questions regarding human rights issues in their agency and human rights practice tasks. Responses suggest that participants encountered human rights issues related to poverty, discrimination, participation/self-determination/autonomy, violence, dignity/respect, privacy, and freedom/liberty. They saw human rights practice as encompassing advocacy, service provision, assessment, awareness of threats to clients' rights, and the nature of the worker-client relationship. These results have implications for the social work profession, which has an opportunity to focus more intently on change efforts that support clients' rights. The study points to the possibilities of expanding the scope of the human rights competency within social work education and addressing the key human rights issues in field education. © 2016 National Association of Social Workers.

  3. Evaluating a Human Rights-Based Advocacy Approach to Expanding Access to Pain Medicines and Palliative Care: Global Advocacy and Case Studies from India, Kenya, and Ukraine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lohman, Diederik; Amon, Joseph J

    2015-12-10

    Palliative care has been defined as care that is person-centered and attentive to physical symptoms and psychological, social, and existential distress in patients with severe or life-threatening illness. The identification of access to palliative care and pain treatment as a human rights issue first emerged among palliative care advocates, physicians, and lawyers in the 1990s, with a basis in the right to health and the right to be free from cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. Using a case study approach, we evaluate the results of a human rights-based advocacy approach on access to pain medicine and palliative care in India, Kenya, and Ukraine. In each country, human rights advocacy helped raise awareness of the issue, identify structural barriers to care, define government obligations, and contribute to the reform of laws, policies, and practices impeding the availability of palliative care services. In addition, advocacy efforts stimulated civil society engagement and high-level political leadership that fostered the implementation of human rights-based palliative care programs. Globally, access to palliative care was increasingly recognized by human rights bodies and within global health and drug policy organizations as a government obligation central to the right to health. Copyright © 2015 Lohman, Amon. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

  4. The human right to water and sanitation: a new perspective for public policies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Colin; Neves-Silva, Priscila; Heller, Léo

    2016-03-01

    The recognition of the human right to water and sanitation (HRtWS) by the United Nations General Assembly and Human Rights Council in 2010 constituted a significant political measure whose direct consequences are still being assessed. Previous to this date, the HRtWS and its link to a healthy life and adequate standard of living had been recognised in diverse legal and judicial spheres worldwide, in some cases under the pressure of the initiatives of strong social movements. However, while the HRtWS is recognised by the UN State Members, it constitutes a concept in construction that has not been approached and interpreted in consensual ways by all concerned stakeholders. The present article presents a formal definition of this right with a base in human rights regulation. It attempts to dialogue with the different existing perspectives regarding the impact of its international recognition as a human right. It then elucidates the progressive development of the HRtWS in law and jurisprudence. Finally, it considers the urgency and challenge of monitoring the HRtWS and discusses important implications for public policies.

  5. International criminal tribunals and human rights law: Adherence and contextualization

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zeegers, K.J.

    2015-01-01

    Given their mandate to prosecute persons responsible for the most atrocious of human rights violations, International Criminal Tribunals (ICTs) are generally hailed as welcome enforcers of international human rights law: a new instrument in the toolkit of human rights protectors. However, ICTs

  6. Human Capital Development as a Strategy for Sustainable ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Nneka Umera-Okeke

    unfinished business of the Millennium Development Goals, and is intended ... The Sustainable Development Agenda has 17 global goals with 169 targets. .... Quality human capital has become one of the front burning issues in Nigeria today.

  7. Mainstreaming Human Rights Education: What’s Radical About That?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosemary Ann Blanchard

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available One of the most radical ways of teaching about universal human rights and international humanitarian law would be to teach about these fundamental internationally-recognized standards for humane interpersonal conduct to every child who enters school in the United States.  American illiteracy about human rights and humanitarian law standards contributes to the climate in which the United States preaches human rights to it's perceived opponents while refusing to apply universally recognized hr and ihl principles to itself. From the failure to incorporate into the American educational structure the cultural and linguistic rights of Indigenous peoples and ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities to the refusal to submit to the same standards of international humanitarian law which apply to all combatants, U.S. political and military leaders have been able to rely on the unfamiliarity of most Americans with the fundamental principles of human rights and international humanitarian law to insulate them from effective public scrutiny and meaningful challenge. This article describes efforts to mainstream human rights education at all levels of public education so it becomes a part of the educational experience of every child and, thus, part of the background of every adult. The risks of having HRE co-opted are dwarfed by the risks of having HRE sidelined.

  8. The Sustainability Cycle and Loop: models for a more unified understanding of sustainability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hay, Laura; Duffy, Alex; Whitfield, R I

    2014-01-15

    applied to a system described in the literature. It is shown that the S-Loop may be used to guide efforts towards sustainability in a particular system of interest, by prescribing the basic activities involved. The S-Cycle may be applied complementary to the S-Loop, to support the interpretation of activity behaviour described in the latter. Given their general nature, the models provide the basis for a more unified understanding of sustainability. It is hoped that their use may go some way towards improving the effectiveness of human action towards sustainability. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Human Rights versus Corporate Rights: Life Value, the Civil Commons and Social Justice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John McMurtry

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available

    This analysis maps the deepening global crisis and the principles of its resolution by life-value analysis and method. Received theories of economics and justice and modern rights doctrines are shown to have no ground in life value and to be incapable of recognizing universal life goods and the rising threats to them. In response to this system failure at theoretical and operational levels, the unifying nature and measure of life value are defined to provide the long-missing basis for understanding the common interest, human rights and social justice—that is, the universal life necessities of humanity across cultures and the evolving civil commons infrastructures to ensure them. In contrast, the treaty-imposed corporate rights system miscalled “globalization” is structured to predate life means and support systems at all levels with no accountability beyond itself. Only the logic of life value, human rights and life-protective law, it is concluded, can comprehend or govern this inherently life-blind and cumulatively eco-genocidal regime.

  10. Human Rights versus Corporate Rights: Life Value, the Civil Commons and Social Justice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John McMurtry

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available This analysis maps the deepening global crisis and the principles of its resolution by life-value analysis and method. Received theories of economics and justice and modern rights doctrines are shown to have no ground in life value and to be incapable of recognizing universal life goods and the rising threats to them. In response to this system failure at theoretical and operational levels, the unifying nature and measure of life value are defined to provide the long-missing basis for understanding the common interest, human rights and social justice—that is, the universal life necessities of humanity across cultures and the evolving civil commons infrastructures to ensure them. In contrast, the treaty-imposed corporate rights system miscalled “globalization” is structured to predate life means and support systems at all levels with no accountability beyond itself. Only the logic of life value, human rights and life-protective law, it is concluded, can comprehend or govern this inherently life-blind and cumulatively eco-genocidal regime.

  11. Safer childbirth: a rights-based approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boama, Vincent; Arulkumaran, Sabaratnam

    2009-08-01

    The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set very high targets for women's reproductive health through reductions in maternal and infant mortality, among other things. Reductions in maternal mortality and morbidity can be achieved through various different approaches, such as the confidential review of maternal deaths, use of evidence-based treatments and interventions, using a health systems approach, use of information technology, global and regional partnerships, and making pregnancy safer through initiatives that increase the focus on human rights. A combination of these and other approaches can have a synergistic impact on reductions in maternal mortality. This paper highlights some of the current global efforts on safer pregnancy with a focus on reproductive rights. We encourage readers to do more in every corner of the world to advocate for women's reproductive rights and, in this way, we may achieve the MDGs by 2015.

  12. E-cigarette use in pregnancy: a human rights-based approach to policy and practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Eijk, Yvette; Petersen, Anne Berit; Bialous, Stella A

    2017-11-01

    The health risks associated with e-cigarette use in pregnancy are mostly unknown. Guidelines by the World Health Organization and national health agencies warn women against using e-cigarettes in pregnancy; however, in the UK, a recent multiagency guideline takes a different approach by not discouraging e-cigarette use in pregnancy. Furthermore, e-Voke ™ , an e-cigarette, has been approved for use in pregnancy in the UK. We analyze United Nations human rights treaties to examine how they might inform best practice recommendations for e-cigarette use in pregnancy. These treaties oblige Parties to adopt policies that protect children's and women's right to health, appropriate pregnancy services, and health education. We argue that clinical practice guidelines related to use of e-cigarettes in pregnancy should consider both evidence and human rights principles, and ensure that healthcare providers and patients are given clear, accurate messages about the known and potential risks associated with e-cigarette use in pregnancy. © 2017 Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica.

  13. A Human Rights Approach to Localising The MDGs Through Gender-Equitable Local Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ron McGill

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available Until now, the United Nations Capital Development Fund’s (UNCDF Gender Equitable Local Development (GELD programme has not been presented within an explicit human rights framework. This is strange given that the human rights based approach to development (HRBAD aims to ensure that all human beings can live their lives fully and with dignity. HRBAD is fundamentally about the healthy and full development of individuals and communities. In addition, one of human rights’ central concerns is that people have equal access to the benefits of society. Initiatives to realize human rights therefore give priority to the most marginalized - the poorest - in a society. It is those individuals who have most difficulty in securing the basics that are essential to living their lives with dignity. Women in all communities are disproportionately represented among the poor. Thus, human rights have gender equity as a central focus. Put another way, we are dealing with the feminization of poverty. We are dealing with the concept of equal access (to development. In short, we are dealing with those who need (and deserve greater priority in access to infrastructure and supporting services in order to reach a point of equality.

  14. How Are Gender Equality and Human Rights Interventions Included in Sexual and Reproductive Health Programmes and Policies: A Systematic Review of Existing Research Foci and Gaps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khosla, Rajat; Krishnan, Suneeta; George, Asha; Gruskin, Sofia; Amin, Avni

    2016-01-01

    The importance of promoting gender equality and human rights in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) programmes and policies has been affirmed in numerous international and regional agreements, most recently the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Given the critical role of research to determine what works, we aimed to identify research gaps as part of a broader priority setting exercise on integrating gender equality and human rights approaches in SRH programmes and policies. A systematic literature review of reviews was conducted to examine the question: what do we know about how research in the context of SRH programmes and policies has addressed gender equality and human rights and what are the current gaps in research. We searched three databases for reviews that addressed the research question, were published between 1994–2014, and met methodological standards for systematic reviews, qualitative meta-syntheses and other reviews of relevance to the research question. Additional grey literature was identified based on expert input. Articles were appraised by the primary author and examined by an expert panel. An abstraction and thematic analysis process was used to synthesize findings. Of the 3,073 abstracts identified, 56 articles were reviewed in full and 23 were included along with 10 from the grey literature. The majority focused on interventions addressing gender inequalities; very few reviews explicitly included human rights based interventions. Across both topics, weak study designs and use of intermediate outcome measures limited evidence quality. Further, there was limited evidence on interventions that addressed marginalized groups. Better quality studies, longer-term indicators, and measurement of unintended consequences are needed to better understand the impact of these types of interventions on SRH outcomes. Further efforts are needed to cover research on gender equality and human rights issues as they pertain to a broader set of SRH topics

  15. How Are Gender Equality and Human Rights Interventions Included in Sexual and Reproductive Health Programmes and Policies: A Systematic Review of Existing Research Foci and Gaps.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miriam Hartmann

    Full Text Available The importance of promoting gender equality and human rights in sexual and reproductive health (SRH programmes and policies has been affirmed in numerous international and regional agreements, most recently the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Given the critical role of research to determine what works, we aimed to identify research gaps as part of a broader priority setting exercise on integrating gender equality and human rights approaches in SRH programmes and policies. A systematic literature review of reviews was conducted to examine the question: what do we know about how research in the context of SRH programmes and policies has addressed gender equality and human rights and what are the current gaps in research. We searched three databases for reviews that addressed the research question, were published between 1994-2014, and met methodological standards for systematic reviews, qualitative meta-syntheses and other reviews of relevance to the research question. Additional grey literature was identified based on expert input. Articles were appraised by the primary author and examined by an expert panel. An abstraction and thematic analysis process was used to synthesize findings. Of the 3,073 abstracts identified, 56 articles were reviewed in full and 23 were included along with 10 from the grey literature. The majority focused on interventions addressing gender inequalities; very few reviews explicitly included human rights based interventions. Across both topics, weak study designs and use of intermediate outcome measures limited evidence quality. Further, there was limited evidence on interventions that addressed marginalized groups. Better quality studies, longer-term indicators, and measurement of unintended consequences are needed to better understand the impact of these types of interventions on SRH outcomes. Further efforts are needed to cover research on gender equality and human rights issues as they pertain to a broader

  16. How Are Gender Equality and Human Rights Interventions Included in Sexual and Reproductive Health Programmes and Policies: A Systematic Review of Existing Research Foci and Gaps.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartmann, Miriam; Khosla, Rajat; Krishnan, Suneeta; George, Asha; Gruskin, Sofia; Amin, Avni

    2016-01-01

    The importance of promoting gender equality and human rights in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) programmes and policies has been affirmed in numerous international and regional agreements, most recently the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Given the critical role of research to determine what works, we aimed to identify research gaps as part of a broader priority setting exercise on integrating gender equality and human rights approaches in SRH programmes and policies. A systematic literature review of reviews was conducted to examine the question: what do we know about how research in the context of SRH programmes and policies has addressed gender equality and human rights and what are the current gaps in research. We searched three databases for reviews that addressed the research question, were published between 1994-2014, and met methodological standards for systematic reviews, qualitative meta-syntheses and other reviews of relevance to the research question. Additional grey literature was identified based on expert input. Articles were appraised by the primary author and examined by an expert panel. An abstraction and thematic analysis process was used to synthesize findings. Of the 3,073 abstracts identified, 56 articles were reviewed in full and 23 were included along with 10 from the grey literature. The majority focused on interventions addressing gender inequalities; very few reviews explicitly included human rights based interventions. Across both topics, weak study designs and use of intermediate outcome measures limited evidence quality. Further, there was limited evidence on interventions that addressed marginalized groups. Better quality studies, longer-term indicators, and measurement of unintended consequences are needed to better understand the impact of these types of interventions on SRH outcomes. Further efforts are needed to cover research on gender equality and human rights issues as they pertain to a broader set of SRH topics

  17. Human rights and access to healthcare services for indigenous peoples in Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Durojaye, Ebenezer

    2017-09-20

    In September 2015, the United Nations adopted the sustainable development goals (SDGs) to address among others poverty and inequality within and among countries of the world. In particular, the SDGs aim at ameliorating the position of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in societies. One of the over-arching goals of the SDGs is to ensure that no one is left behind in the realisation of their access to health care. African governments are obligated under international and regional human rights law to ensure access to healthcare services for everyone, including indigenous populations, on a non-discriminatory basis. This requires the governments to adopt appropriate measures that will remove barriers to healthcare services for disadvantaged and marginalised groups such as indigenous peoples.

  18. Tensions and Dilemmas about Education in Human Rights in Democracy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magendzo, Abraham

    1994-01-01

    Asserts that incorporating human rights issues into the curriculum causes tensions, especially in nations with histories of military dictatorships. Describes human rights education in Chile and other Latin American nations. Discusses whether human rights should be a separate curriculum subject or integrated into all courses. (CFR)

  19. Human rights of the mentally ill in Indonesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nurjannah, I; Mills, J; Park, T; Usher, K

    2015-06-01

    The mentally ill are vulnerable to human rights violations, particularly in Indonesia, where shackling is widespread. The aim of this study was to understand the provision of mental health care in Indonesia, thereby identifying ways to improve care and better support carers. Grounded theory methods were used. Study participants included health professionals, non-health professionals and individuals living with a mental disorder who were well at the time (n = 49). Data were collected through interviews conducted in 2011 and 2012. The core category of this grounded theory is 'connecting care' a term coined by the authors to describe a model of care that involves health professionals and non-health professionals, such as family members. Four main factors influence care-providers' decision-making: competence, willingness, available resources and compliance with institutional policy. Health professionals are influenced most strongly by institutional policy when deciding whether to accept or shift responsibility to provide care. Non-health professionals base their decisions largely on personal circumstances. Jointly-made decisions can be matched or unmatched. Unmatched decisions can result in forced provision of care, increasing risks of human rights violations. Generalization of this grounded theory is difficult as the research was conducted in two provinces of Indonesia. Institutional policy was important in the process of connecting care for the mentally ill in Indonesia and needs to be underpinned by legislation to protect human rights. Strengthening mental health legislation in Indonesia will allow nurses to connect care more effectively. © 2014 International Council of Nurses.

  20. Sustainable Markets Investment Briefings: Investment Treaties

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cotula, Lorenzo

    2007-08-15

    This is the second of a series of briefings which discuss the sustainable development issues raised by legal arrangements for the protection of foreign investment. The briefings are based on legal research by IIED and its partners. The goal is to provide accessible but accurate information for human rights, development and environmental organisations working on issues raised by foreign investment in low- and middle-income countries. Briefing 2 explains how investment treaties between states work to protect and promote foreign investment.