Showing papers in "Health and Human Rights in 2003"

RESPONDING TO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: WHO's Multicountry Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence

Abstract: The World Health Organization (WHO), in response to the lack of data on the magnitude and nature of violence against women, initiated a multicountry study on women's health and domestic violence. The WHO study, implemented in eight countries, was the first global effort to gather reliable and comparable data on domestic violence and women's health across countries. The study also demonstrates how carefully developed and applied research can act as a useful intervention at many levels of society and government and for all participants, researchers as well as respondents. The study further illustrates how partnering with researchers and women's organizations to collect evidence of the magnitude, consequences, and determinants of domestic violence can help strengthen national efforts to address violence against women and can act as a facilitating force for change.

Violations of Reproductive Rights during Hospital Births in Mexico

Abstract: Denouncing all types of violations of womens human rights that occur in health care institutions is clearly indispensable for achieving gender equity. But complaints and legal actions alone cannot bring about change. A sociological study of the mechanism that operate between health care providers and their patients and how they contribute to violations of rights is also necessary. Additionally patterns of interaction and communication as well as submission strategies that characterize physician-patient encounters must be explored. The physician-patient relationship plays a central role in what we call "violations of reproductive rights during birth." This article is based on a research project whose general objective has been to identify and examine physical and psychological aspects of abuse that women have suffered. Characterizing dimensions of abuse can help to identify violations of reproductive rights and formulate interventions that may diminish the problem and help to empower women to defend and protect their reproductive rights. (excerpt)

HOMICIDE RATES AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN S?O PAULO, BRAZIL: 1990 to 2002

Abstract: ®he growth of violence in urban areas in Brazil (and in a number of Latin American cities) cannot be properly understood and prevented without recognizing that large sectors of those urban populations have little access to many social and economic rights. This article hopes to shed some light on the impact that this deprivation of rights has on the growing rate of violent crime-in particular, homicide-in areas of Brazil. According to available statistics, homicides are often concentrated in urban areas where social and economic rights are limited; however, not all such areas have high homicide rates. This article therefore explores what combinations of poor access to rights result in increased homicide rates. As other variables-exposure to violence, poor social capital, and the abusive use of force by law enforcement agents-are seen to have a role, they are included in this analysis. Nancy Cardia is Coordinator of Knowledge Transfer and ViceCoordinator of Nuicleo de Estudos da Violencia (NEV), Universidade de S?o Paulo (USP); S?rgio Adorno is Scientific Coordinator of the NEV/USP, Professor of Sociology at the School of Philosophy, Languages and Human Sciences, USP; and Frederico Z. Poleto is a graduate student in mathematics and statistics at USP. Please address all correspondence to the authors at ncardia@usp.br.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health: Key Objectives, Themes, and Interventions

Abstract: In April 2002, the United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights established a new "special procedure"-the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, to which the author was appointed in September 2002. It is in this capacity that the author has written this first-person commentary, in which he sets out his vision for the key objectives, themes, and interventions to be pursued over the course of his mandate. Included here are his three primary objectives-to promote and encourage others to promote the right to health as a fundamental human right; to clarify the contours and content of the right to health; and to identify good practices for operationalizing the right to health at the community, national, and international levels-and the ways they should be

SUICIDE AND HUMAN RIGHTS: A Suicidologist's Perspective

Abstract: Suicide is violence-lethal violence, constituting serious public- and mental-health problems worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that in the year 2000, more than 800,000 people worldwide had died by suicide. In many countries, suicide ranks among the top 10 causes of death. Lithuania, at times, has had the world's highest rate of suicide, a distinction often shared by Hungary. Suicide rates, however, are not static within nations. Indeed, a century ago, Russia had one of the lowest suicide rates (3 per 100,000) in the world. Within the last decades of the Soviet Union (USSR), its rates of suicide had increased significantly, from 17.1 per 100,000 in 1965 to 29.6 in 1984. This public health problem was persistently glossed over during that time (but such responses are not unusual across the world). For example, the State Statistics

Human rights and conflict

Abstract: Studies of past instances of mass violence have identified general categories of significant precursor trends and events, such as the crucial influence of elite incitement of ethnic tensions, economic plundering and corruption, rampant small-arms trade, denial of basic human rights, and collapse of respected constraining authority.1-5 These crises do not simply erupt without notice; informed and aware people on the ground can sense and identify sources of rising tension. The risks to local observers may be too high for them to speak out with sustained impact. In these contexts, it has become standard for human rights investigators to enter a region from the outside, conduct their own research on these early warning indicators (often interacting clandestinely with local interlocutors), and then return to relative safety before issuing reports to the international community. An influential report on the crisis in Kashmir, published in 1993 and based on three separate missions to the area, detailed extensive violations of human rights committed against civilian populations by the Indian government in its attempts to suppress a violent local insurgency fed by Pakistan.6 The information in this report attracted significant attention, putting the Indian government on notice that despite its attempts to restrict access to the region, its conduct could be subject to international observation and

Integrating Human Rights and Public Health to Prevent Interpersonal Violence

Abstract: Interpersonal violence accounts for a significant portion of the global burden of disease and imposes substantial direct and indirect costs on society. This article reviews a public health approach to the problem, describing the health dimensions of interpersonal violence and strategies for intervention, and then looks at human rights approaches to the problem, focusing on specific examples of violence against women and child abuse. The discussion shows that public health and human rights approaches to interpersonal violence are complementary and can operate in tandem with shared goals and strategies. Deliberate integration of the two approaches could facilitate a more comprehensive and sustainable response to interpersonal violence.

Violence against women

Abstract: The family is consistently presented as the moral foundation of our society, and yet, apart from the police and the military, the family is society’s most violent grouping and the home its most violent setting. At some time in their lives, as many as one in four women suffer violence at the hands of the men with whom they have intimate relationships. The 1992 British crime survey showed that violence against women by partners, former partners, and relatives is the most common form of physical interpersonal crime. The total number of domestic assaults in the 12 months covered by the survey was estimated at just over 500 000. Domestic violence, occurring across all social classes and all ethnic groups, makes a huge contribution to the totality of violence and crime in society. The evidence suggests that domestic violence usually escalates in frequency and severity. By the time a woman’s injuries are visible, violence may be a long established pattern. On average, a woman has been assaulted by her partner or former partner 35 times before actually reporting it to the police. For some women, the escalation is fatal: one in five of all murder victims is a woman killed by a partner or former partner, and almost half of all murders of women are killings by a partner or former partner. None of this is new, but over the past two decades feminist campaigning and scholarship have created a much greater awareness of the extent and prevalence of violence against women. This, in turn, has led to a gradual extension of the definitions of crime to recognise more of the reality of women’s experience of violence, and to signal progress, albeit slow, towards zero tolerance. The NHS and the medical establishment have been relatively slow to acknowledge these shifts of attitude, and the consequent obligation to provide a more substantive response to the pervasive effects of violence against women beyond the minimum treatment of obvious physical injuries. Violence tends to worsen during pregnancy and has been associated with miscarriages, premature labour, low birth weight, and fetal injury and death. Responding to this particular challenge, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists convened a special study group last summer, bringing obstetricians and gynaecologists together with a range of other experts including midwives, lawyers, police, sociologists, and Women’s Aid activists. The aim was to raise awareness of the size and nature of the problem, particularly among doctors, and to formulate recommendations covering clinical practice, education and training, and research. This excellent book is the product of the group’s deliberations. It includes a series of papers offered by a comprehensive range of experts, interspersed with a record of the discussions that took place within the group. In this way, it provides an inspiring account of a profession, sometimes regarded as insular, in the process of opening itself to knowledge and expertise from beyond its traditional boundaries. Only time will tell whether this imported learning will lead to a more sensitive and effective response from ordinary obstetricians and gynaecologists to the needs of women who have been subject to violence. The book deserves such an outcome. Iona Heath, general practitioner, Kentish Town Health Centre, London Rating: ★★★

DISTRICT SURGEONS IN APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA: A Case Study of Dual Obligations

Abstract: C entral to South Africa's democratic transformation have been attempts to understand how and why human rights abuses were committed under apartheid. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) convened Health Sector Hearings in June 1997 to explore how decades of systematic "racial discrimination had shaped South Africa's health services and how the health sector contributed to

The Humanity of Humans: Philosophy, Science, Health, or Rights?

Abstract: he term \"humanity\" can mean an attitude, a morality, or sentiment of good will toward fellow humans; it can also mean the collective existence of all humans. The first meaning-morality or sentiment-has long been associated with moral philosophy, becoming somewhat more concrete in the context of the first principle of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Even then, however, the term refers only to the spirit in which certain acts are planned and committed., In that sense, humanity refers to the humanity of humans. The second meaning-the collective existence of humans-refers to an evolved biological and social phenomenon that scientists from multiple disciplines have studied extensively. The distinction between the meanings of \"humanity\" is rarely made because of the instinctive feeling that the two are linked. But that link is not readily apparent. Furthermore, the fact that humans are capable of extraordinary acts of inhumanity makes it difficult to argue that all humans are equipped with humanity. Humanity-no matter which meaning is used-frequently

Violence, Health, and Human Rights: Toward a Shared Agenda for Prevention

Abstract: he World Report on Violence and Health, launched in October 2002 by the World Health Organization, shows with alarming clarity the devastating effects that violence has on global health. Violence, in its various forms, leaves no nation or community untouched. People throughout the world experience its effects, which extend beyond mortality, injury, and disability, to cause and exacerbate depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, and sexually transmitted infections. At a state level, morbidity and mortality that result from violence drain scarce health resources and impose substantial direct and indirect costs on all sectors of society. The causes and consequences of violence pose significant barriers to achieving the fundamental right to the highest attainable standard of health-"the right to health"-as enshrined in WHO's Constitution and international human rights law. Nevertheless, as violence is not an inevitable part of the human condition, the time has come to tackle this obstacle to human well-being on all fronts. The roots of violence are complex and not fully understood, but they are not immutable. Violence and its risk factors do not occur randomly throughout the world, an indication that active measures can be taken to ameliorate the

Advancing safety as a fundamental human right

Abstract: T he Montreal Declaration: People's Right to Safety is a timely declaration that recognizes the increasing magnitude, devastating consequences, and structural antecedents of violent injuries internationally. It provides an additional impetus for the safety-promotion sector to address the physical, psychosocial, cultural, and economic conditions that have a fundamental impact on safety, especially within low-income contexts, and to facilitate the recognition of safety as a basic human right. Moreover, the Declaration directs the promotion of safety and other sectors toward consciously tackling armed confliets, human security, and development of sustainable livelihoods throughout Africa, with specific focus on marginalized groups, minorities, women, and children. This is particularly important, given that, by 2020, wars, civil conflicts, and interpersonal violence are expected to account for a significant proportion of injury, morbidity, and mortality in Africa. ' Similar to many existing international human rightsbased documents, the Montreal Declaration raises important possibilities for coalescing the promotion of safety with a range of other human rights on common, international goals. It offers the potential to engage in "universal" criteria that extend beyond safety as it is embodied implicitly in civil liberties-the right to bodily integrity and the right to social stability-to generate a "minimum gold standard" for safety in and of itself. In this regard, the Declaration is a

Human Rights from a U.S. State Health Department Perspective

Abstract: T he mission of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH)-to advance public health in a rapidly shrinking world-first awakened us to the link between human rights and public health. As a result, over the past several years, the MDPH has launched an initiative to focus on specific dimensions of human rights within the realm of our daily work. The MDPH is one of the first state health departments in the United States to explicitly incorporate human rights considerations into its working responsibilities. These efforts are set forth here to serve as a catalyst for broader collaborations nationwide.

The Role of Nucleo de Estudos da Violencia in the Struggle for Universal Access to Human Rights in Brazil

Abstract: he Center for the Study of Violence, or Nuicleo de Estudos da Violencia (NEV), was conceived in 1987 as an interdisciplinary academic center dedicated to studying the persistence of human rights violations and resistance to the rule of law during Brazil's transition from military rule to democracy. Fifteen years later, the main theoretical challenge in NEV's work remains the persistence of human rights violations-in particular, such gross violations as those that inhibit the right to life and to physical integrityand their impact on establishing a democratic society in Brazil. At first, NEV's work concentrated mainly on the right to life, particularly the right to physical integrity and protection against abuses by the state. After 1993, and as a result of the Vienna Declaration and Program Of Action (the final document issued by the World Conference on Human Rights) NEV's work expanded to include the full spectrum of rights, encompassing economic and social rights as well

RIGHT TO SAFETY? DECLARATION OR NOT, IT Is TIME FOR ACTION

Abstract: he Montreal Declaration is a welcome addition to the set of declarations that have emerged recently from the health field.' And yet, in many respects, it appears to be different from its counterparts: It addresses an area of health that has been relatively neglected in global decisions; it emerges from a developing country orientation; and it is the product of a largely technical audience with wider consultations. Although these features make the Declaration somewhat unique, it needs to be analyzed for its ethical and public health rationale, as well as for its content with special regard to the actions needed for people in low- and middleincome countries.

Declaring the Right to Safety: Advancing Health and Human Rights?

Abstract: afety is a fundamental right.\" However laudable this opening principle from the Montreal Declaration: People's Right to Safety may be, its utility from a human rights perspective is neither evident nor necessarily desirable. To understand why a fundamental right to safety may be troublesome, it is necessary to know what human rights are, from where they derive, and how those responsible for promoting and protecting them can be held accountable. Human rights are a set of international, agreed-on norms, principles, and standards that are fixed and operationalized through national, regional, and international institutions and processes. Three foundational instruments-the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, together with the two International Covenants-have established the core content of human rights.2 The right to \"safety\" does not figure in any of these documents, nor is it in the four other principal human rights treaties.3 That does not mean the concepts advanced by the right to safety are wholly foreign to human rights. Rather, they give pause to reflect on the motivation for the Montreal Declaration. Declarations may state aspirations and goals that provide individuals, associations, and governments with recommendations and guidance, but unlike those created by international human rights treaties, they are not binding obligations. If the ultimate aim of the Montreal Declaration is to require states to \"control [risks] in order to preserve the health and well-being of individuals and the community, \" it

Using Social Justice, Public Health, and Human Rights to Prevent Violence in South Africa

Abstract: The University of South Africa's (UNISA) Institute for Social and Health Sciences was formed in mid-1997 following a decision to combine the University's Institute for Behavioral Sciences with its Health Psychology Unit, including its Center for Peace Action. This merger brought together two groups of researcher-practitioners-one from the social sciences and the other from the health sciencesthat had differing but complementary strengths. Several senior researchers possessed expertise in child neuropsychology and social-developmental psychology and were also well-known for technical innovations in research methodology. There were also a significant number of researchers who had been interested in critical social theory and community development and were actively challenging the oppressive conditions and consequences of the apartheid system. In the past, the latter group had focused on the impact of violence as a manifestation of apartheid political policy as well as on the social injustices associated with this, and attempted to programmatically address this manifestation particularly in low-income communities. The group's emphasis on marginalized communities has shaped the ethos of much of the Institute's current work. In addition, this conscious, grassroots focus resulted from mounting