Health, human rights and mobilization of resources for health

BACKGROUND: There has been an increased interest in the role of a human rights framework to mobilize resources for health. DISCUSSION: This paper argues that the human rights framework does provide us with an appropriate understanding of what values should guide a nation's health policy, and a potentially powerful means of moving the health agenda forward. It also, however, argues that appeals to human rights may not necessarily be effective at mobilizing resources for specific health problems one might want to do something about. Specifically, it is not possible to argue that a particular allocation of scarce health care resources should be changed to a different allocation, benefiting other groups. Lack of access to health care services by some people only shows that something has to be done, but not what should be done. SUMMARY: The somewhat weak claim identified above together with the obligation to realize progressively a right to health can be used to mobilize resources for health

Anti?Privatisation Debates, Opaque Rules and ‘Privatised’ Water Services Provision: Some Lessons from Indonesia

Anti?privatisation debates dominate Indonesia's contemporary water discourse. This has culminated in attempts at invalidating the Water Law through a Judicial Review. Finally rejected by the Constitutional Court, the law remains in place, although polarised debate remains and prevents greater regulation across the sector. The polarised debate leads to hesitations in regulating private sector participation (PSP). As a result, there is a major lack of regulation of PSP in the water sector. This article examines two contexts – Jakarta, where a concession takes place and Bogor, where the service is run entirely by a publicly owned company. Customer rights, such as the right to be connected, to enjoy certain service levels, to compensation, to financial aid, to redress mechanisms, including the right to participation and transparency, barely exist in Jakarta but are adequately guaranteed in Bogor

Sanitation, human rights, and disaster management

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to link debates around the international law on human rights and disaster management with the evolving debate around the human right to sanitation, in order to explore the extent to which states are obliged to account for sanitation in their disaster management efforts. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on analysis of existing laws and policy relating to human rights, sanitation and disaster management. It further draws upon relevant academic literature. Findings The paper concludes that, while limitations exist, states have legal obligations to provide sanitation to persons affected by a disaster. It is further argued that a human rights-based approach to sanitation, if respected, can assist in strengthening disaster management efforts, while focusing on the persons who need it the most. Research limitations/implications The analysis in this paper focuses on the obligations of states for people on their territory. Due to space limitations, it does not examine the complex issues relating to enforcement mechanisms available to disaster victims. Originality/value This is the first scholarly work directly linking the debates around international human rights law and disaster management, with human rights obligations in relation to sanitation. The clarification of obligation in relation to sanitation can assist in advocacy and planning, as well as in ensuring accountability and responsibility for human rights breaches in the disaster context

Smokes and mirrors at the United Nations’ universal periodic review process

Purpose: In 2006, the United Nations’ Human Rights Council was tasked to establish a new human rights monitoring mechanism: the Universal Periodic Review Process. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of discussions held in the process, over the two cycles of review in relation to women’s rights to access health care services. Design and Methodology: This investigation is a documentary analysis of the reports of 193 United Nations’ state reports, over two cycles of review. Findings: The primary findings of this investigation reveal that despite an apparent consensus on the issue, a deeper analysis of the discussions suggest the dialogue between states is superficial in nature, with limited commitments made by states under review in furthering the protection of women’s right to access health care services in the domestic context. Practical Implications: Considering the optimism surrounding the UPR process, the findings reveal that the nature of discussions held on women’s rights to health care services is at best a missed opportunity to make a significant impact to initiate, and inform, changes to practices on the issue in the domestic context; and at worst, raises doubts as to whether the core aim of the process, to improve the protection and promotion of all human rights on the ground, is being fulfilled. Originality/Value: Deviating from the solely technocratic analysis of the review process in the existing literature, this investigation has considered the UPR process as a phenomenon of exploration in itself, and will provide a unique insight as to how this innovative monitoring mechanism operates in practice, with a particular focus on women’s right to access health care services

Ensuring the right to education for Roma children : an Anglo-Swedish perspective

Access to public education systems has tended to be below normative levels where Roma children are concerned. Various long-standing social, cultural, and institutional factors lie behind the lower levels of engagement and achievement of Roma children in education, relative to many others, which is reflective of the general lack of integration of their families in mainstream society. The risks to Roma children’s educational interests are well recognized internationally, particularly at the European level. They have prompted a range of policy initiatives and legal instruments to protect rights and promote equality and inclusion, on top of the framework of international human rights and minority protections. Nevertheless, states’ autonomy in tailoring educational arrangements to their budgets and national policy agendas has contributed to considerable international variation in specific provision for Roma children. As this article discusses, even between two socially liberal countries, the UK and Sweden, with their well-advanced welfare states and public systems of social support, there is a divergence in protection, one which underlines the need for a more consistent and positive approach to upholding the education rights and interests of children in this most marginalized and often discriminated against minority group

Indigenous adult women, learning and social justice: Challenging deficit discourses in the current policy environment

Indigenous education engages directly with an overtly politicised process of knowledge construction, recognising and building on existing skills and informal learning practices within communities. Given the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda’s emphasis on social justice and gender equality, this paper sets out to explore what indigenous movements can offer in terms of developing an alternative approach to adult learning based on a rights perspective. The article compares documentary analysis of policy on indigenous women and adult education internationally with a case study of indigenous movements and government policy in Nepal. The analysis reveals that international policy recognises indigenous women as a particularly marginalised group, but is not informed by a transformative notion of empowerment nor consideration of the implications of indigenous knowledge for mainstream education. In Nepal, indigenous federations and the government non formal education programmes similarly aim to impart skills for a modernised economy. However women’s indigenous movements are committed to developing capabilities and creating new spaces for indigenous women to engage in political debate and representation. This politicised informal learning offers insights for developing the cross-sectoral rights-based adult education envisaged in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda

Mitigating humanitarian crises during non-international armed conflicts:the role of human rights and ceasefire agreements

Situations of humanitarian crisis are often caused by armed conflicts. Given the prevalence of non-international armed conflicts today, ways of ameliorating these situations are at the forefront of concerns. The international humanitarian law rules governing non-international armed conflict remain much less developed than those for international armed conflicts. This is exacerbated by the lack of direct human rights obligations for non-state armed groups, which makes governing the behaviour of non-state parties to non-international armed conflicts (non-state armed groups) even more challenging. Although several initiatives have been taken to encourage non-state actors to mitigate situations of humanitarian crisis, the role of human rights law is in need of further clarification. The paper aims to assess what role human rights may have in improving humanitarian crises, suggesting one specific way: The paper will first discuss the international laws applicable to situations of non-international armed conflict, before critically analysing some of the initiatives that have already been taken to govern the behaviour of non-state armed groups. Part 3 will assess the possibility of using cease-fire agreements to impose specific human rights obligations on all parties to a non-international armed conflict. Finally, a conclusion will be drawn in Part 4 as to the role that human rights and ceasefire agreements could have during humanitarian crises