Showing papers in "Health and Human Rights in 2004"

Sexuality, Violence against Women, and Human Rights: Women Make Demands and Ladies Get Protection

Abstract: ®I begin this essay with a paradox: The variety of sexual harms experienced by women or men are nowhere understood, effectively prevented, or responded to; and yet, sexual threats to girls and women are in the headlines everywhere. Not only are they in the headlines, but increasingly they are framed as women's human rights issues. A moment that epitomizes this extraordinary combination of partially successful rights advocacy and its incongruous results can be seen in the speech of the President of the United States to the UN General Assembly in September 2003 in which he condemned the practice of "sexual slavery of girls and women" and called for action against this horror as an example of the kind of steps toward "moral clarity" required in the global "war against terror."1 A critical success of women's human rights has been the increased global recognition of sexual harm as an element of

SEX WORK AND MIGRATION: The Dangers of Oversimplification- A Case Study of Vietnamese Women in Cambodia

Abstract: In recent years, the international sex trade has received increasing media coverage and policy attention, particularly in regard to associated migration and the growing role played by organized criminal networks. In an effort to protect women from exploitation, the 2001 United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children made all forms of trafficking illegal, explicitly including forced prostitution. The Protocol defined trafficking as: The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments of benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.1

Sexuality, Human Rights, and Health

Abstract: Sexuality can no longer be overlooked or ignored in work on health and human rights.1 The growing diversity of rights-based advocacy and documentation, and new initiatives in public health, health policy, and service delivery, have inevitably engaged questions of sexuality. At the international level, UN human rights bodies are increasingly taking on new norms and laws relating to sexual diversity, health, and harm.2 Local and national struggles for legal reform engage with sexuality and rights claims in the context of sexual violence, HIV/AIDS, and emerging demands for sexual non-discrimination. WHO has formulated newly revised definitions of sexual health and rights,3 and health policy-makers and planners increasingly address sexuality in their work. Health programmers recognize that effective health interventions require an understanding of complex sexualities, as well as of the constrained contexts in which many women and men exercise rights. While sexuality can no longer be ignored, it is not entirely clear what the nature or terms of its inclusion will be. In her work on global feminisms, Uma Narayan emphasizes the need to examine terms of inclusion in order to do accountable and self-reflective work.4 How will sexuality be

World Bank Policies and the Obligation of Its Members to Respect, Protect and Fulfill the Right to Health

Abstract: The majority of World Bank donors are States parties to the main inter-national human rights conventions. This article uses the right to health as a lens for examining the obligations of donor States parties with re-spect to their involvement in the World Bank's development activities, which use the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) process as their framework. The article uses the concept of core obligations to examine and assess public expenditure budgeting in the health care sectors of Mozambique, Rwanda, and Uganda, as provided for in the PRSP process. It argues that the current PRSPs make it impossible to fund public health care at a level that satisfies the requirements of core obligations. It concludes by calling on donor countries to comply with their interna-tional human rights obligations.

Prohibiting Sex Work Projects, Restricting Women's Rights: The International Impact of the 2003 U.S. Global AIDS Act

Abstract: I n his State of the Union address on January 28, 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush asked Congress to commit $15 billion to \"turn the tide against AIDS in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean.\" Thus began the rapid process to draft and enact new legislation, eventually named the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act (known as the \"Global AIDS Act\"), an act that became law in May of 2003.1 Bush's announcement in support of global HIV funding surprised many and appeared to open new possibilities for both treatment and prevention initiatives. It seemed a remarkable achievement that HIV/AIDS concerns should be recognized by this conservative administration, especially at a time when fears about terrorism dominated the agenda. Yet, the euphoria engendered by the pronouncement gave way to disappointment over the actual funds made available, and it also became clear that a commitment to increase the amount of U.S. global AIDS funding did not mean significant advances in terms of strategies to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS.2 The final legislation includes provisions that undermine key aspects of prevention-specifically, assailing the efficacy of condoms-while promoting \"abstinence until marriage\" education and curtailing support for sex work projects.

(Dis)Continuities of custom in Zimbabwe and South Africa: the implications for gendered and sexual rights

Abstract: This article historicizes the legal regulation of sexuality and claims to sexual rights in South Africa and Zimbabwe, analyzing their implications. Focusing on the interaction of formal Constitutions and informal customary law in the differential development of agency and rights, it highlights the constancy of women's partial legal subjectivity alongside shifts in authority from lineage to nation-state. The tensions between the legal formalism of rights, and the historical authority of customary structures buttress the regulation of sex and the claims to sexual rights within these two countries, and they frame a discussion of how sexualhealth programs and policies might better engage with the development of sexual agency.

WHEN DOCTORS TORTURE: The Anus and the State in Egypt and Beyond

Abstract: his was no ordinary doctor's office His sarcophagal desk made him look like a statue on a gravestone His card announced he was a Deputy Minister of Justice The walls bore awards from international associations, a reliquary of professional renown He headed Egypt's national Forensic Medical Authority, an agency responsible for scientific investigation of crimes-and for evaluating allegations of official torture We were interviewing this plump man with salt-andpepper hair, who answered in alternate, brusque Arabic and English, and curtly tried to change the subject No more at ease than he, we shifted in our seats In a corner, half-concealed behind a tactful curtain like the Wizard of Oz, was a small examining table We knew it was the scene of the crime, where the doctor committed torture

Empowerment and human rights in addressing violence and improving health in australian indigenous communities

Abstract: Life expectancy for Indigenous Australians is approximately 20 years less than that of other Australians, and endemic family violence is a causal factor This article discusses evaluation data gathered from an Indigenous empowerment program aimed at increasing personal empowerment in order to improve individual and social wellbeing Our analysis of the data demonstrates the success of the program in building personal strength, increasing ability to assist others, and increasing motivation to challenge structural factors impacting on health equality We consider the operational implications of a human rights framework and argue that empowerment programs and human rights discourse, focusing on exploration of self and an analysis of colonization, discrimination, and human rights, could empower individuals and communities with an innovative approach to challenging health inequality

Sexuality and human rights

Abstract: E fforts to develop the concepts and strategies of sexuality and human rights have been emerging over the past two decades.1 A wide range of groups engaged in a number of often-overlapping movements (such as women's health, human rights, anti-violence, and reproductive rights) have actively initiated and participated in a process of trying to better understand sexuality in the context of human rights.2 As the following bibliography illustrates, the range of issues encompassed under the rubric of sexual rights/sexuality and human rights is quite wide-ranging. Sexuality is understood to be composed of sexual identity and orientation, gender identity, sexual desire, and sexual practices, which together constitute an individual's sexual "subjectivity" in society. Sexuality is, of course, affected by social location and, in particular, by experiences of race, class, culture, and community. Most of the articles annotated in this bibliography argue that our understanding of our body and self is shaped by a specific cultural, material, socioeconomic, and political context.3 Sexuality is also variable and fluid, and individuals' relationship to sexuality can evolve over time. And since sexuality-related advocacy can

INTEGRATING RIGHTS-BASED APPROACHES INTO COMMUNITY-BASED HEALTH PROJECTS: Experiences from the Prevention of Female Genital Cutting Project in East Africa

Abstract: CARE International is one of the largest relief and development agencies in the world, working with poor and vulnerable people in underserved areas in more than 60 countries in a variety of sectors, including agriculture, income generation, water and sanitation, basic education and girls' education, and health In 2000, CARE joined with the international development community to work towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, now understood to be critical for sustainable reductions in poverty This helped concretize a fundamental reorientation of CARE's work that had begun in the late 1990s, of shifting from a needs-based to a rights-based approach (RBA) to programming This reorientation was made in the belief that using a basic human rights framework to work with communities and other actors would address-both more systematically and more systemically-the matrix of underlying causes of poverty; this would, in turn, empower people and communities to action and sustainable improvements

Health and human rights: What can ten years of democracy in South Africa tell us?

Abstract: South Africa's transition to democracy illustrates both obstacles and opportunities for advancing the right to health. The broad definition of human rights in the context of the anti-apartheid struggle, while instrumental for overthrowing an unjust regime, laid the seeds for divergent emphases on how rights should be mainstreamed in post-apartheid public policy. This is evident in the current framing of public health policies as merely issues of service delivery. This retreat from embracing the place of socio-economic rights in public health policies is exacerbated by the neo-liberal policy context and lack of governance experience in translating policy into practice. The training of health professionals must by necessity include the skills to advocate for the rights of the vulnerable and ensure the agency of communities in the redress of socioeconomic rights violations. Le passage a la democratie en Afrique du Sud montre a la fois les obstacles et les opportunites que rencontre l'avancement du droit a la sante. La definition au sens large des droits de la personne dans le contexte de la lutte contre l'apartheid, tout en ayant joue un grand r6le dans le renversement d'un regime injuste, a ee a l'origine de conceptions oppos&es sur la maniere d'integrer ces droits dans les politiques d'apres l'apartheid. On le voit bien a present dans la formulation des politiques de sante publique qu'on presente uniquement sous l'angle de la prestation de services. Ce recul par rapport a l'integration des droits socio-economiques dans les politiques de sante publique est exacerbe par le contexte politique neoliberal et le manque d'experience en matiere de gouvernance pour mettre cette politique en pratique. La formation des professionnels de la sante doit obligatoirement inclure les aptitudes a defendre les droits des personnes vulnerables et assurer un mandat aux collectivites dans les recours exerces en cas d'infractions socio-economiques. La transicion de Africa del Sur a la democracia ilustra tanto obstdculos como oportunidades para el avance del derecho a la salud. Aunque fue clave para derrocar a un regimen injusto en el contexto de la lucha contra el apartheid,, la definici6n general de los derechos humanos sent6 las bases para varios enfasis divergentes sobre la forma en que los derechos se deben incorporar a la polftica ptiblica post-apartheid. Esto se evidencia actualmente en la formulacion de politicas de salud publica como meramente cuestiones de entrega de servicios. Este paso hacia atras en el reconocimiento del lugar que deben ocupar los derechos socioecon6micos en las polfticas de salud ptiblica se intensifica con el contexto de la polftica neoliberal y la falta de experiencia de los que gobiernan en llevar las polfticas a la prictica. Por necesidad, la capacitaci6n de los profesionales de salud debe incluir las habilidades para abogar por los derechos de los vulnerables y asegurar la participaci6n de comunidades en la reparaci6n de violaciones de los derechos socioecon6micos. This content downloaded from 137.158.99.24 on Fri, 10 Nov 2017 10:02:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: Linking Health to Human Rights

Abstract: Military closures imposed on the Palestinians since March 2002 severely impair the right of freedom of movement and other human rights -es- pecially the right to health. International humanitarian law requires that the occupying power ensure the well-being of the civilian popula- tion in an occupied territory. However, the Israeli government relies on the international relief community to provide Palestinians basic health services that otherwise are impossible for the Palestinian health system to deliver because of closures. By delivering humanitarian aid to Palestinians, the international community is, in practice, subsidizing the occupation. International actors in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) should consider the need to reconcile epidemiological, technological, political, and economic pressures with ethical impera- tives, including advocating equity of access to health care and other basic services. Les fermetures des frontieres par l'armee imposee aux Palestiniens depuis mars 2002 affecte gravement la liberte de mouvement et autres droits humains fondamentaux - notamment le droit a la sante. La legis- lation humanitaire internationale prcconise que la puissance occupante assure le bien-etre des populations civiles en territoire occupe. Cependant, le gouvernement israelien compte sur les secours de la com- munaute internationale pour apporter aux Palestiniens les services de sante fondamentaux que le systeme de sante palestinien est incapable d'assurer raison des fermetures. En fournissant une aide humanitaire aux Palestiniens, la communaute internationale subventionne, en pra- tique, l'occupation. Les acteurs internationaux dans les territoires pales- tiniens occupes (PTO) devraient reflechir a la nccessite de rcconcilier les pressions epidemiologiques, technologiques, politiques et cconomiques avec les imperatifs ethiques, et d'y inclure un plaidoyer pour la defense de l'egalite d'acces a la sante et autres services de base. Los cierres militares impuestos a los palestinos desde marzo de 2002 per- judican severamente el derecho de libertad de movimiento y otros dere- chos humanos basicos-sobre todo el derecho a la salud. La ley humani- taria internacional exige que la fuerza ocupante asegure el bienestar de la poblacion civil en un territorio ocupado. Sin embargo, el gobierno is- raeli depende de la comunidad de auxilio internacional para brindarles a los palestinos servicios de salud bisicos que, de otra forma, el sistema de salud palestino no puede proveer debido a los cierres. Al entregar ayuda humanitaria a los palestinos, en la practica, la comunidad inter- nacional esta subsidiando la ocupaci6n. Los participantes interna- cionales en el Territorio Palestino Ocupado (TPO) deben considerar la necesidad de conciliar las presiones epidemiol6gicas, tecnol6gicas, polfticas y economicas con las exigencias eticas, incluso la defensa de la equidad de acceso a la atenci6n de la salud y otros servicios basicos.

Interrogating the absence of hiv/aids interventions for migrant sex workers in south korea

Abstract: W ith a focus on HIV/AIDS prevention, this commentary discusses the marginalization of migrant sex workers' right to health by both the state and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in South Korea (henceforth "Korea"). It first examines how state policy on migrant workers and migrant entertainers, in the sex industry in particular, engenders human rights violations on multiple fronts. It then explores how relevant NGOs fail to intervene because of both ideological and practical preoccupations. The avid concern of anti-prostitution NGOs to position migrant women as "victims of trafficking," together with the lack of intervention from HIV/AIDS NGOs and migrantworkers NGOs, effectively ignores the health needs of these women, relegating them to the "regulation and deportation" approach of the government, exacerbating their vulnerability, and violating their basic rights to health information and services. In order for HIV/AIDS interventions to be integrated into NGO advocacy and state policy for migrant sex workers, it is essential that both NGOs and the state adopt a rights-based approach to sex work, migrant issues, and HIV/AIDS for both Koreans and non-Koreans. This analysis draws in part on the author's fieldwork

Sexuality Scholarship as a Foundation for Change: Lawrence v. Texas and the Impact of the Historians' Brief

Abstract: n the last Thursday in June 2003, the United States Supreme Court struck down a Texas state law criminalizing homosexual sex, determining that the 30-year-old law violated the U.S. Constitution. The decision, Lawrence v. Texas, which affirmed the right of John Lawrence and Tyron Garner to have sex at home, was a watershed moment. The next day, newspapers across the country shouted headlines like "Gay Rights Affirmed in Historic Ruling" and "Decision Represents an Enormous Turn in the Law."' Indeed, while it is not uncommon for the nation's highest court to strike down state laws and reverse the decisions of lower courts, in this case the court also overturned its own decision from 17 years earlier. In so doing, the court declared all anti-sodomy laws unconstitutional and, according to some observers, articulated one of the most significant human rights decisions in the country in nearly 50 years.2 Clearly, the implications of such a decision are widespread and multi-faceted. One set of implications, though, derives from the fact that the arguments presented to the Supreme Court-and reiterated by the justices in their decision-rested heavily on the scholarship of historians of sexuality. The historians' interpretation of the past, and particularly of the changing meaning of sodomy and sodomy laws, proved crucial to convincing the justices to go against their own precedent. Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion

Not Your Average Sex Story: Critical Issues in Recent Human Rights Reporting Related to Sexuality

Abstract: his commentary explores recent trends in human rights reporting related to sexuality. It argues that the health, human rights and sexuality movements have much to learn from one another and that an enhanced dialogue between and among these communities would be beneficial. To consider and evaluate some of the ways documentation of sexuality-related violations has taken cues from and contributed to expansion in both form and content of traditional human rights reporting, this commentary focuses on four recently-published human rights reports grounded in sexual orientation and non-conforming gender identity and behaviors. While these reports are not the first to address these topics, each makes a new contribution to the expanding canon of human rights reporting that addresses the ways rights and sexuality are actively linked, especially within the context of non-normative sexual orientations, gender identities and practices.1 It is also important to note that the attention to non-normative sexual orientations and

Promising but Elusive Engagements: Combining Human Rights and Public Health to Promote Women's Well-Being

Abstract: A decade after Cairo there remains a serious gap between the fields of reproductive health and reproductive rights. This article draws on findings of a multi-year project that brought together experts from around the world from both fields to analyze case studies in the areas of maternal mortality, access to care, trafficking, gender-based violence, internally displaced persons, and sexual orientation. Based on these analyses as well as outside sources, this article makes explicit some of the key premises and strategies in each field and examines some of the possibilities as well as challenges for bringing the two together. It then takes up issues relating to underlying philosophies, goals and outlooks, strategies and roles, and methods—exploring each for divergences and convergences, as well as for conflicts within each field.

HEALTH, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND ISLAM: A Focus on Yemen

Abstract: he increasing penetration of human rights into contemporary public health strategies, however partial and incomplete, draws attention to the relationship between supposedly universal human rights and local cultural constructs. Ensuring the effectiveness of health and human rights-based strategies depends on demonstrating the relevance of human rights as a tool that can advance rather than conflict with the agency and interests of local social and cultural groups.' This relationship between the local and a global regime can be especially fraught in the context of the Muslim world. In using human rights to strategically address health issues in the predominantly Muslim Middle East, the public health sector must take into account this region's particular political, social, and cultural context and the international community's efforts to demonstrate the relevance of international human rights to issues of local concern. Within sections of the Muslim Middle East, most acutely in some parts of the Arab world, Islam is at times flagged as an obstacle to the implementation of human rights.2 This must be forthrightly addressed, and the relationship between human rights and Islam appropriately conceptualized, if arguments opposing the integration on an Islamic basis of human rights in public health efforts in this region are to be engaged. Islam is not inherently an opponent or proponent of human rights. There are constructs of

Rationally Defensible Standards for Research in Developing Countries

Abstract: D ebates on ethical requirements for conducting international collaborative medical research in developing countries have achieved considerable prominence in recent years. The stark implications of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, major escalation of clinical research in developing countries, and the imbalance of only 10% of world medical research expenditure on diseases causing 90% of the global burden of disease have rekindled concern about relationships between researchers and their subjects. Information gained from clinical trials conducted efficiently and expeditiously in developing countries has the appeal of allowing early registration of drugs, thus considerably enhancing profits. Growing sensitivity to the potential for exploitation has been associated with the expectation that profits should also benefit the citizens of developing