Category: Volume 23 Number 2

Volume 23/2, December 2021, pp. 1-5  |  PDF Hope R. Ferdowsian In 1946, the Constitution of the World Health Organization defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”[1] Within 20 years, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognized the right to health as a human right, and many states have reinforced the right to…

Continue reading “EDITORIAL Ecological Justice and the Right to Health: An Introduction”

Volume 23/2, December 2021, pp. 7-11  |  PDF Himani Bhakuni Introduction Almost two decades ago, in light of mounting evidence of the extinction of various species and biodiversity hotspots, Brian Baxter, in A Theory of Ecological Justice, argued that we should expand our community of justice to include all sentient and non-sentient beings.[1] This essentially means that biotic and abiotic non-humans have a claim in justice against moral agents. This…

Continue reading “PERSPECTIVE Beyond Anthropocentrism: Health Rights and Ecological Justice”

Volume 23/2, December 2021, pp. 13-20  |  PDF Mia Macdonald Abstract This essay argues that the global response to COVID-19 should lead to new thinking and action, and specifically, a new relationship with the nonhuman world that is centered on mutuality and respect, not commodification and exploitation. Such a response would acknowledge and embed concepts like ecological justice and One Welfare in policy and practice, particularly regarding the consequences of…

Continue reading “PERSPECTIVE Emerging from COVID-19: A New, Rights-Based Relationship with the Nonhuman World?”

Volume 23/2, December 2021, pp. 21-33  |  PDF Delcianna J. Winders and Elan Abrell Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a bright light on industrial slaughterhouses in the United States and their impacts on the vulnerable beings—both human and animal—they exploit. But the severity of these impacts is the result of a long history of failed regulatory oversight. This paper highlights the inadequacies of the current regulatory system in the…

Continue reading “Slaughterhouse Workers, Animals, and the Environment: The Need for a Rights-Centered Regulatory Framework in the United States That Recognizes Interconnected Interests”

Volume 23/2, December 2021, pp. 35-47  |  PDF Kimberly Bernotas, Laurie Sellars, and Jeff Sebo Abstract COVID-19 is a reminder that human, nonhuman, and environmental health are linked, and so efforts to improve human, nonhuman, and environmental health should be linked as well. But current efforts to link these issues fall short by not doing enough for humans, not doing enough for nonhumans, and focusing narrowly on health instead of…

Continue reading “One Health, COVID-19, and a Right to Health for Human and Nonhuman Animals”

Volume 23/2, December 2021, pp. 49-61  |  PDF Leah Utyasheva and Lovleen Bhullar Abstract Pesticide exposure and poisoning among children can lead to devastating long-lasting health effects that impact their human rights, with communities in low- and middle-income countries experiencing the negative impacts of pesticides more profoundly than those in high-income countries. While United Nations agencies recommend banning highly hazardous pesticides responsible for serious pesticide poisonings, childhood pesticide poisoning is…

Continue reading “Human Rights Perspective on Pesticide Exposure and Poisoning in Children: A Case Study of India”

Volume 23/2, December 2021, pp. 63-73  |  PDF L. Syd M Johnson Abstract Two problems are considered here. One relates to who has moral status, and the other relates to who has moral responsibility. The criteria for mattering morally have long been disputed, and many humans and nonhuman animals have been considered “marginal cases,” on the contested edges of moral considerability and concern. The marginalization of humans and other species…

Continue reading “Shifting the Moral Burden: Expanding Moral Status and Moral Agency”

Volume 23/2, December 2021, pp. 81-94  |  PDF Audrey R. Chapman and A. Karim Ahmed Abstract The global community is facing an existential crisis that threatens the web of life on this planet. Climate change, in addition to being a fundamental justice and ethical issue, constitutes a human rights challenge. It is a human rights challenge because it undermines the ability to promote human flourishing and welfare through the implementation…

Continue reading “Climate Justice, Humans Rights, and the Case for Reparations”

Volume 23/2, December 2021, pp. 109-120  |  PDF David W. Patterson Abstract Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its protocols, states have legal obligations to address the climate crisis. The principle of participation is increasingly acknowledged as central to the protection and promotion of human rights, including the right to health. This paper explores states’ obligations to address the climate crisis—and concomitant health crises—from a right…

Continue reading “The Right to Health and the Climate Crisis: The Vital Role of Civic Space”

Volume 23/2, December 2021, pp. 95-108  |  PDF Giulia Gasparri, Omnia El Omrani, Rachael Hinton, David Imbago, Heeta Lakhani, Anshu Mohan, William Yeung, and Flavia Bustreo Abstract Climate change is the greatest challenge of our century. Children, adolescents, and youth will bear the most severe impacts, physically, socially, economically, and psychologically. In response to this immense threat and to the failure of international climate negotiations to date, young people are…

Continue reading “Children, Adolescents, and Youth Pioneering a Human Rights-Based Approach to Climate Change”