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The Paradox of Happiness: Health and Human Rights in the Kingdom of Bhutan

Benjamin Mason Meier and Averi Chakrabarti Health and Human Rights 18/1 Published June 2016 Abstract The Kingdom of Bhutan is seeking to progressively realize the human right to health without addressing the cross-cutting human rights principles essential to a rights-based approach to health. Through a landscape analysis of the Bhutanese health system, documentary review of Bhutanese reporting to the UN human rights system, and semi-structured interviews with health policymakers in the…

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Sustaining Underdevelopment: Human Rights Accountability and the Business of Food

Nicholas Caivano Global markets channel food—with ruthless efficiency—to the highest bidder, rather than to those who are most in need.1 While multinationals exercise unprecedented influence over the world’s food systems, there are few effective mechanisms to hold businesses to account for their impact on human rights. While the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that came into effect on January 1 are not legally binding, the targets surrounding access to food (Goal…

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Biosocial Approaches to the 2013-2016 Ebola Pandemic

Eugene T. Richardson, Mohamed Bailor Barrie, J. Daniel Kelly, Yusupha Dibba, Songor Koedoyoma, and Paul E. Farmer Abstract Despite more than 25 documented outbreaks of Ebola since 1976, our understanding of the disease is limited, in particular the social, political, ecological, and economic forces that promote (or limit) its spread. In the following study, we seek to provide new ways of understanding the 2013-2016 Ebola pandemic. We use the term,…

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A Review of the Impact of the Human Rights in Healthcare Programme in England and Wales

Lindsey Dyer Health and Human Rights 17/2 Published December 10, 2015 Abstract  This article provides the background to an analysis of the Human Rights in Healthcare Programme in England and Wales. Using evidence from source materials, summary publications, and official reports, it charts a small but important change in the relationship between health and human rights and shows how a small number of National Health Service organizations used a human…

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Rights-Based Citizen Monitoring in Peru: Evidence of Impact from the Field

Jeannie Samuel and Ariel Frisancho Health and Human Rights 17/2 Published December 10, 2015 Abstract  This paper discusses a human rights-based initiative developed in Puno, Peru, in which indigenous women seek to address problems with access and quality of care by monitoring their government-run health facilities. The evidence of impact presented here is based on a qualitative study of the rights-based monitoring initiative (53 key informant interviews in 2010–2011), corroborated by…

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The Universal Periodic Review: A Platform for Dialogue, Accountability, and Change on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

Kate Gilmore, Luis Mora, Alfonso Barragues, and Ida Krogh Mikkelsen Health and Human Rights 17/2 Published December 10, 2015 Abstract This paper argues that the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Nations Human Rights Council can be a critical avenue for promoting a human rights-based approach to sexual and reproductive health and well-being due to its reliance on the principles of participation and accountability. Drawing on evidence from the…

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What Constitutes Evidence in Human Rights-Based Approaches to Health? Learning from Lived Experiences of Maternal and Sexual Reproductive Health

Maya Unnithan Health and Human Rights 17/2 Published December 10, 2015 Abstract The impact of human rights interventions on health outcomes is complex, multiple, and difficult to ascertain in the conventional sense of cause and effect. Existing approaches based on probable (experimental and statistical) conclusions from evidence are limited in their ability to capture the impact of rights-based transformations in health. This paper argues that a focus on plausible conclusions…

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Assessing the Impact of a Human Rights-Based Approach across a Spectrum of Change for Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescents’ Health

Rebekah Thomas, Shyama Kuruvilla, Rachael Hinton, Steven L. B. Jensen, Veronica Magar, and Flavia Bustreo Health and Human Rights 17/2 Published December 10, 2015 Abstract Global momentum around women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health, coupled with the ambitious and equalizing agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has exposed a tension between the need for comprehensive, multi-actor, rights-based approaches that seek to “close the gaps” and a growing economic and political…

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COP21 SERIES: Free trade undermines our right to health and the fight against climate change

Alexia Fourage Climate change threatens the right to health. According to the World Health Organization, climate change is already responsible for approximately 150,000 deaths every year.1 It also worsens environmental conditions, contributing to poorer health, nutrition, and water quality. Although natural disasters can strike anywhere, 95% of the deaths caused by them occur in the global South.2 For example, on November 8, 2013, typhoon Haiyan wreaked havoc in the Philippines archipelago, killing thousands of people…

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COP21 SERIES: Will developed countries recognize their right-to-health obligations in Paris?

Alison Blaiklock   After five days of slow, intense and often rocky negotiations in Bonn, a draft text was finally agreed. This text will form the basis of the Conference of Parties (COP21) negotiations at the UN Climate Conference in Paris from November 30 to 11 December. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) requires all decisions to be made unanimously or by the consensus of its 196…

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