Category: Blog

Earlier this month, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment released a report focusing “on certain forms of abuses in health-care settings that may cross a threshold of mistreatment.” According to this report, certain health care policies such as drug treatment can cover up abusive practices and torture that often go unnoticed. This report comes on the heels of a joint statement…

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The François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights is hosting a set of expert panel discussions to mark International Roma Day on April 8, 2013 from 1:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (27 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA). The “Realizing Roma Rights: Addressing Violence, Discrimination and Segregation in Europe” conference will bring together policymakers, academics, and activists from across Europe and the…

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By Brigit Toebes, Lecturer in international law, University of Groningen, Netherlands The environment in which humanitarian assistance is provided has changed dramatically over the past decades. While most conflicts taking place in the world today are of a non-international character, there has also been a significant increase in the number of people in need in the aftermath of other emergencies and man-made and natural disasters. In such settings, the security…

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Ruth C. White Jones & Bartlett (December 2012) ISBN 9780763781538 342 pages $76.95 Global Case Studies in Maternal and Child Health brings into focus the ongoing issues that complicate the field of maternal and child health (MCH). As the author points out, two Millennium Development Goals specify the need to focus on MCH, and a number of other human rights issues, including gender equality and health concerns, critically intersect with…

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Following a nationwide assessment, UNICEF reports that the ongoing conflict in Syria has resulted in pressing health concerns due to the disruption of water and sanitation services and subsequent lack of access to basic hygiene. These conditions pose a particular threat to children, who are especially vulnerable to waterborne diseases. In an article from the UN News Centre, UNICEF reports that more than 4 million people are in need of…

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Brigit Toebes, Mette Hartlev, Aart Hendriks, and Janne R. Herrmann (eds.) Intersentia (April 2012) ISBN 9789800001510 310 pages $97.00 The editors of Health and Human Rights in Europe provide a convincing legal argument and framework for applying human rights law to various health issues, addressing the idea of “health and human rights” from international, European, and national public health and legal perspectives. In this broad analysis of health and human…

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A joint 2009 publication by UNICEF and WHO, Diarrhoea: Why children are still dying and what can be done, revives action-oriented discussion about diarrheal disease — one of the world’s direst threats to babies and infants living in unsanitary, under-resourced environments. The report provides current data on the distribution and burden of the disease and on how the most affected countries are working to reduce the toll of infant diarrhea.…

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By FXB Research Associate Carrie Bronsther In December, war photographer and journalist Finbarr O’Reilly delivered a talk at the FXB Center on the “Ethics of Covering Conflict.” O’Reilly, currently a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, discussed his personal experiences in Africa and the Middle East and how these experiences have shaped his approach to photojournalism. In 1994, O’Reilly travelled to Africa, where he witnessed the genocide unfolding in Rwanda and…

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By HHR editorial assistant Kathy Wang Agence France Presse and other outlets report that the Chinese Ministry of Health has issued a mandate ordering all hospitals to provide HIV/AIDS patients with proper care. The mandate was issued after a lung cancer patient was denied hospital treatment because of his HIV/AIDS status. This incident, one of several documented incidents of hospital discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients, spurred China’s Vice Premier Li Keqiang…

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Claudia Tavani Martinus Nijhoff Publishers (October 2012) ISBN 9789004206610 380 pages $233 Reviewed by FXB Researcher Dr. Margareta Matache Collective rights and the cultural identity of the Roma: A case study of Italy introduces a model for the inclusion of the Roma, a minority group enduring widespread discrimination in Europe. According to official data, Italy is home to approximately 120,000 Roma and Sinti, but only 60% of this group has…

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