Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m8s7h Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T06:02:19.601Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Survey of International Legal Instruments to Examine Their Effectiveness in Improving Global Health and in Realizing Health Rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Arthur Wilson  and
Abdallah S. Daar
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In this paper we review selected international legal instruments, the effect, if any, that they have had on global health, and how these instruments might have contributed to the realization of health rights. We consider a number of instruments from the international health law field as well as two from the field of international environmental law.1 The latter two, in addition to the considerable link between health and climate/environment, are considered with the purpose of drawing more generalized lessons about what contributes to the success or failure of an international legal instrument; the lessons are then applied to our analysis of the health law instruments that are the primary focus of our paper.

Type
Symposium
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , Spring 2013 , pp. 89 - 102
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

The first author, Arthur Wilson, researched environmental laws for his Master's thesis.Google Scholar
Committee on the U.S. Commitment to Global Health, The U.S. Commitment to Global Health: Recommendations for the Public and Private Sectors, available at <http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2009/The-US-Commitment-to-Global-Health-Recommendations-for-the-Public-and-Private-Sectors.aspx> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
WHO, Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, June 19–22, 1946; signed on July 22, 1946 by the representatives of 61 States (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into force on April 7, 1948, available at <http://apps.who.int/gb/bd/PDF/bd47/EN/constitution-en.pdf> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
World Health Organization, Health Topics – Human Rights, available at <http://www.who.int/topics/human_rights/en/> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, December 16, 1966, S. Treaty Doc. No. 95-19, 6 I.L.M. 360 (1967), 993 U.N.T.S. 3. Art. 12, available at <http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx> [hereinafter cited as ICESCR]. (last visited March 9, 2013).+[hereinafter+cited+as+ICESCR].+(last+visited+March+9,+2013).>Google Scholar
UN CESCR, Substantive Issues Arising in the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. General Comment No. 14 (2000): The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), available at <http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/%28symbol%29/E.C.12.2000.4.En> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
See United Nations, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, available at <http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
United Nations Population Fund, Human Rights – The Human Rights Based Approach, available at <http://www.unfpa.org/rights/approaches.htm> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
An example of lack of international respect for human health would be, when one country emits toxic chemicals into the environment that then spread to neighbouring countries to harm the citizens of the latter country.Google Scholar
Daar, A. and Singer, P., The Grandest Challenge: Taking Life-saving Science from Lab to Village (Toronto: Random House, 2011).Google Scholar
World Health Organization, The Smallpox Eradication Programme – SEP (1966–1980), available at <http://www.who.int/features/2010/smallpox/en/index.html> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
Koplow, D., Smallpox: The Fight to Eradicate a Global Scourge (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004). See also World Health Organization, Media Centre Fact Sheet, Smallpox, available at <http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/smallpox/en/index.html> (last visited December 3, 2012).Google Scholar
World Health Organization, WHO – Its People and Offices, available at <http://www.who.int/about/structure/en/index.html> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
World Health Organization, The Operational Response to SARS, available at <http://www.who.int/csr/sars/goarn2003_4_16/en/> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
World Health Organization, H1N1 in Post-Pandemic Period; Director-General's Opening Statement at Virtual Press Conference (August 10, 2010), available at <http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2010/h1n1_vpc_20100810/en/index.html> (last visited March 6, 2013). (last visited March 6, 2013).' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=World+Health+Organization,+H1N1+in+Post-Pandemic+Period;+Director-General's+Opening+Statement+at+Virtual+Press+Conference+(August+10,+2010),+available+at++(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
World Health Organization, Influenza at the Human-Animal Interface (HAI), available at <http://www.who.int/influenza/human_animal_interface/en/> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
World Health Organization, Malaria, available at <http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/index.html> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
World Health Organization, Tuberculosis, available at <http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs104/en/> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
World Health Organization, HIV/AIDS, available at <http://www.who.int/hiv/en/> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
World Health Organization, 65th World Health Assembly, available at <http://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/2012/wha65/en/index.html> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
ICESCR, Art. 12.Google Scholar
ICESCR, Art. 2 [emphasis added].Google Scholar
Maastricht Guidelines on Violation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, available at <http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/Maastrichtguidelines_.html> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
UN Economic and Social Council, General Comment 14, The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health, at para. 39, available at <http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/%28symbol%29/E.C.12.2000.4.En> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
Circle of Rights, Justiciability of ESC Rights – The Indian Experience, available at <http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/edumat/IHRIP/circle/justiciability.htm> (last visited March 6, 2013), referencing Francis Coralie Mullin v. The Administrator, Union Territory of Delhi (1981) 2 SCR 516.+(last+visited+March+6,+2013),+referencing+Francis+Coralie+Mullin+v.+The+Administrator,+Union+Territory+of+Delhi+(1981)+2+SCR+516.>Google Scholar
Susanti, B., “The Implementation of the Rights to Health Care and Education in Indonesia,” in Gauri, V. and Brinks, D. M., eds., Courting Social Justice: Judicial Enforcement of Social and Economic Rights in the Developing World (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008): 224–267, at 228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Id., at 262 and 265.Google Scholar
World Health Organization, International Health Regulations (2005), available at <http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2008/9789241580410_eng.pdf> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
Fidler, D. P. and Gostin, L. O., “The New International Health Regulations: An Historic Development for International Law and Public Health,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 34, no. 1 (2006): 85–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UN Secretary-General, In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security, and Human Rights for All: Report of the Secretary-General, U.N. Doc. A/59/2005 (March 21, 2005).Google Scholar
World Health Organization, WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, available at <http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2003/9241591013.pdf> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
Cabrera, O. A. and Carballo, J., “Tobacco Control Litigation: Broader Impacts on Health Rights Adjudication,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 41, no. 1 (2013): 147–162.Google Scholar
World Bank, Economics of Tobacco Control – Myths and Facts, at <http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTHEALTHNUTRITIONANDPOPULATION/EXTETC/0,contentMDK:20365226∼menuPK:478891∼pagePK:148956∼piPK:216618∼theSitePK:376601,00.html> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
Colombian Constitutional Court, Expediente D-8096 – Sentencia C-830/10, 2010, and Peruvian Constitutional Tribunal, Jaime Barco Rodas contra el Artículo 3° de la ley N. 28705 – Ley general para la prevención y control de los riesgos del consumo de tabaco, unconstitutionality proceeding, July 2011. For a more detailed discussion of these cases, see Cabrera, and Carballo, , id.Google Scholar
Framework Convention Alliance, South African Appeal Court Cites FCTC, available at <http://www.fctc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=781:south-african-appeal-court-cites-fctc&catid=183:news&Itemid=503> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
WHO, Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Document No. FCTC/COP/INB-IT/5/REC/1, Summary of the Conference of the Parties to the Who Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Intergovernmental Negotiating Body on a Protocol on Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, Fifth Session Geneva, March 29-April 4, 2012.Google Scholar
FCTC COP Sessions, New International Protocol Adopted to Combat Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, available at <http://www.who.int/fctc/cop/sessions/new_treaty/en/index.html> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
American Cancer Society, Questions About Smoking, Tobacco, and Health (2012), available at <http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/002974-pdf.pdf> (last visited March 6, 2013). (2012).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).+(2012).>Google Scholar
United Nations, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Art 3(1), available at http://www.unicef-irc.org/portfolios/crc.html (last visited March 10, 2013).Google Scholar
UNICEF, Despite Progress, Children's Rights far from Universal, Press Release, available at <http://www.unicef.org/media/media_24176.html> (last visited March 6, 2013). (last visited March 6, 2013).' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=UNICEF,+Despite+Progress,+Children's+Rights+far+from+Universal,+Press+Release,+available+at++(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
UN Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, available at <http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Education/SREducation/Pages/SREducationIndex.asp> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
UN Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography, available at <http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Children/Pages/ChildrenIndex.aspx> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
The U.K. Committee for UNICEF, Every Child Matters: The Five Outcomes and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), available at <https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/32016.pdf> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011, at 13–14, available at <http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/(2011_E)%20MDG%20Report%202011_Book%20LR.pdf> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
Id., at 16.Google Scholar
Id., at 22, 26.Google Scholar
World Health Organization, Constitution of the World Health Organization, available at <www.who.int/governance/eb/who_constitution_en.pdf> (last visited March 6, 2013) [emphasis added].+(last+visited+March+6,+2013)+[emphasis+added].>Google Scholar
Prince, M. et al., “No Health without Mental Health,” The Lancet 370, no. 9590 (2007): 859–877, at 859, available at <http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS01406736%2807%2961238-0/fulltext> (last visited March 6, 2013).Google Scholar
World Health Organization, Constitution of the World Health Organization, available at <www.who.int/governance/eb/who_constitution_en.pdf> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
ICESCR, Art. 12.Google Scholar
World Federation of Mental Health, Declaration of Human Rights and Mental Health, available at <www.wfmh.org/PDF/DeclarationHR&MH.pdf> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
United Nations General Assembly, Resolution 46/119, 75th plenary meeting, December 17, 1991, The Protection of Persons with Mental Illnesses and the Improvement of Mental Health Care, available at <http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/46/a46r119.htm> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
65th World Health Assembly, Resolution WHA 65.4, The Global Burden of Mental Disorders and the Need for a Comprehensive, Coordinated Response from Health and Social Sectors at the Country Level, available at <http://www.who.int/entity/mental_health/WHA65.4_resolution.pdf> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
See, e.g., Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19.Google Scholar
Collins, P. Y. et al., “Grand Challenges in Global Mental Health,” Nature 475, no. 7354 (2011): 27–30.Google Scholar
Gable, L. and Gostin, L. O.. “Mental Health as a Human Right,” in Clampham, A. and Robinson, M., eds., Swiss Human Rights Book Vol. 3: Realizing the Right to Health (Zurich: Rüffer & Rub, 2009): 249–261, available at: <http://www.swisshumanrightsbook.com/SHRB/shrb_03_files/15_453_Gable_Gostin.pdf> (last visited March 6, 2013).Google Scholar
WHO (2004). Epilepsy in the WHO African Region: Bridging the Gap. The Global Campaign Against Epilepsy: Out of the Shadows, available at <http://www.who.int/mental_health/management/epilepsy_in_African-region.pdf> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
WHO, Mental Health Atlas-2011 Country Profiles, available at <http://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/atlas/profiles/en/index.html> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
See reference no. 58.Google Scholar
World Health Organization, Suicide Prevention (SUPRE), available at <http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suicideprevent/en/> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
“China's Suicide Rate ‘among Highest in World,’” AFP, September 8, 2011, available at <http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i1FL2q8ZO_Z93-mOqOx5eSYQW36Q?docId=CNG.fe11c1b55d60e484a37a458dccdd1b34.8f1/> (last visited March 6, 2013). (last visited March 6, 2013).' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=“China's+Suicide+Rate+‘among+Highest+in+World,’”+AFP,+September+8,+2011,+available+at++(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
Ramirez, L., “For Pentagon, Soldier Suicides a Frustrating Problem,” Voice of America, June 27, 2012, available at <http://www.voanews.com/content/for-pentagon-soldier-suicides-a-frustrating-problem/1262993.html> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
For a more exhaustive list of mental health-related instruments, see WHO, WHO Resource Book on Mental Health, Human Rights, and Legislation, at 8–14, available at <http://www.who.int/entity/mental_health/policy/who_rb_mnh_hr_leg_FINAL_11_07_05.pdf> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
See the Work of the Movement for Global Mental Health, available at <http://www.globalmentalhealth.org> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
Health Effects of Ozone Depletion: Skin Cancer, available at <http://www.ozone-hole.org.uk/11.php> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, 26 I.L.M. 1529 (1985).Google Scholar
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, September 16, 1987, 26 ILM 154 (1987).Google Scholar
Id., at Art. 5(1).Google Scholar
Id., at Art. 5(5).Google Scholar
Velders, G. et al., “The Importance of the Montreal Protocol in Protecting Climate,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104, no. 12 (2007): 4814–4819, available at <http://www.pnas.org/content/104/12/4814.long> (last visited March 6, 2013).Google Scholar
United Nations, International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer – Background, available at <http://www.un.org/en/events/ozoneday/background.shtml> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
Material for this section draws in part on earlier research done by one of the co-authors of this paper, Arthur Wilson: The China Syndrome: Challenges for Addressing Climate Change in the 21st Century, Masters Thesis, University of Toronto (2010), on file with authors.Google Scholar
McKubbin, W. J. Wilcoxen, P. J., and Woo, W. T., “China Can Grow and Still Help Prevent the Tragedy of the CO2 Commons,” in Song, L. and Woo, T.W., eds., China's Dilemma: Economic Growth, the Environment, and Climate Change (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2008): 190–225, at 196.Google Scholar
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics, Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must Be Avoided (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2012), available at <http://climatechange.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/Turn_Down_the_heat_Why_a_4_degree_centrigrade_warmer_world_must_be_avoided.pdf> (last visited March 4, 2013).+(last+visited+March+4,+2013).>Google Scholar
Kim, J. Y., “The Latest Predictions on Climate Change Should Shock Us into Action,” The Guardian (2012), available at <http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/nov/19/latest-predictions-climate-change-shock-action> (last visited March 6, 2013).+(last+visited+March+6,+2013).>Google Scholar
Morales, A., Lack of Political Will Limited Rio+20: EU Commissioner, Bloomberg, June 27, 2012, available at <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-27/lack-of-political-will-limited-rio-20-eu-commissioner.html> (last visited March 6, 2013).Google Scholar