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This book uses a human rights perspective - developed philosophically, politically and legally - to change the way in which we think about drug control issues. The prohibitionist approach towards tackling the 'drugs problem' is not working. The laws and mentality that see drugs as the problem and tries to fight them makes the 'drugs problem' worse. While the law is the best-placed mechanism to regulate our actions in relation to particular drugs, this book argues against the stranglehold of the criminal law, and instead presents a human rights perspective to change the way we think about drug control issues. Part I develops a conceptual framework for human rights in the context of drug control - philosophically, politically and legally - and applies this to the domestic (UK) and international drug control system. Part II focuses on case law to illustrate both the potential and the limitations of successfully applying this unique perspective in practice. The conclusion points towards a bottom-up process for drug policy which is capable of reconfiguring the mentality of prohibition. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of human rights, criminal law, criminology, politics and socio-legal studies.

The purpose of this paper was to analyse the contours of civil unrests in Central African Republic (CAR) as reflected by a complex enmity over access to financial networks, trade control and access to natural resources. Much of the academic studies earlier conducted on this subject did not place much emphasis on tackling civil unrests using a human rights perspective. This paper employed a qualitative approach, using document review and thematic content analysis. The human rights perspective was employed to detail how the ensuing violent conditions in CAR implicate some of the fundamental human rights. It was discovered that human rights violations in the CAR have manifested in various forms and that much attention was not being paid to the observance of human rights such as rights to life, freedom and security, political rights, nationality, equality and freedom of movement in CAR. The paper recommended the promotion of demobilisation and disarmament of rebel groups in CAR for political and economic stability.

The myriad studies of migrant care workers adopt a rights perspective to address their liminal status and experience of exploitation. However, this perspective may fail to recognise the complexities of care and caring. Through describing the lived experiences of migrant live-in care workers and care recipients, this study illustrates the dynamics of care work and care relationships. It presents the complex dimensions of care work embedded in the intersections of labour, love, empathy, reciprocity, power and interdependency. A feminist ethics of care can be an alternative perspective in order to improve the well-being and interests of migrant care workers and care recipients.

Las familias de madres lesbianas, bisexuales y queer desafían el modelo heteroparental y las nociones tradicionales de parentesco. En Chile están en proceso incipiente de visibilización, no cuentan con legitimidad social, leyes ni políticas públicas que las respalden, y existe escasa investigación al respecto. Este trabajo presenta los resultados de un estudio cualitativo interpretativo con mujeres con hijos/as nacidos/as en una relación heterosexual previa. El enfoque metodológico utilizado fue la Teoría Fundamentada. Se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas a seis mujeres con hijos/as entre 4 y 15 años. Los resultados muestran que las trayectorias vitales de las mujeres (progresiva, ambivalente y queer) inciden directamente en cómo abordan con sus hijos/as el tema de su orientación sexual. Los niveles personal-afectivo y sociocultural se articulan y tensionan en torno al conflicto entre ventajas y riesgos de la visibilización ante la sociedad. Se discuten los desafíos y costos para estas mujeres y sus familias desde una perspectiva de derechos y políticas públicas.

This publication addresses research questions related to an increase in the levels of access and utilization for four key interventions that have the potential to significantly reduce HIV infections among People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) and their sexual and injecting partners, and hence morbidity and mortality in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). These interventions are drawn from nine consensus interventions that comprise a 'comprehensive package' for PWID. The four interventions are: Needle and Syringe Programs (NSP), Medically Assisted Therapy (MAT), HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT), and Antiretroviral Therapy (ART). The book summarizes the results from several recent reviews of studies related to the effectiveness of the four key interventions in reducing risky behaviors in the context of transmitting or acquiring HIV infection. Overall, the four key interventions have strong effects on the risk of HIV infection among PWID via different pathways, and this determination is included in the documents proposing the comprehensive package of interventions. In order to attain the greatest effect from these interventions, structural issues must be addressed, especially the removal of punitive policies targeting PWID in many countries. The scientific evidence presented here, the public health rationale, and the human rights imperatives are all in accord: we can and must do better for PWID. The available tools are evidence-based, right affirming, and cost effective. What are required now are political will and a global consensus that this critical component of global HIV can no longer be ignored and under-resourced.

\"This book examines the validity of a social guarantees approach as a framework for evaluating, monitoring, and improving the design of social policy. Social guarantees are defined as sets of policy mechanisms that determine citizens' entitlements related to basic services and ensure their fulfillment on the part of the state. The social guarantee concept gives operational expression to fundamental human rights principles by providing mechanisms for awareness, participation, equity, and redress in the delivery of social policy.\" Forschungsmethode: deskriptive Studie; Fallstudie; empirisch. (Text excerpt, IAB-Doku). Contents: Andrew Norton, Estanislao Gacitua-Mario, Sophia V. Georgieva: Introduction - social policy, citizenship (1-18); and the Realization of Rights Part I - Perspectives on rights-based social policy Estanislao Gacitua-Mario, Andrew Norton: Increasing social inclusion through social guarantees (21-32); Estanislao Gacitua-Mario, Sophia V. Georgieva, Leonardo Moreno: Democratic governance and institution building for inclusive social policy - the Latin American experience (33-44); Steen Lau Jorgensen, Rodrigo Serrano-Berthet: Comprehensive social policy for inclusive and sustainable globalization (45-68); Part II - Implementing social policies with a rights-based focus: examples from the Caribbean, Latin America, and South Africa Leonardo Moreno, Mauricio Rosenblüth: Implementing Social Guarantees: The Regime of Explicit Guarantees in Health in Chile (71-109); Sibonile Khoza: The Role of the Courts in Realizing Rights to Housing and Health - The Case of South Africa (111-141); Sophia V. Georgieva, Enrique Vasquez, Gover Barja, Fernando Garda Serrano, and Ramiro Larrea Flores: Establishing Social Equity - Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru (143-174); Rachel Hannah Nadelman, Lauern Louard-Greaves, and Carol Watson Williams: Achieving Equitable and Inclusive Citizenship through Social Policy: The Cases of Jamaica and St. Kitts and Nevis (175-210); Fernando Filgueira, Sophia V. Georgieva, Sergio Lijtenstein: Moving toward Comprehensive Social Policy - The Case of Uruguay (211-229); Flavia Carbonari and Jorge E. Vargas. A Bridge to Peace through Citizenship Building: Guaranteeing Health and Education Rights in Colombia (231-257).

An overview of the devastating April 2014 wildfire that destroyed a large number of homes and killed 15 people in the communities surrounding Valparaiso, Chile, is provided. Utilizing a human rights-based framework, a qualitative study was conducted 6 months after the disaster to examine the community’s response. Interviews were held with formal and informal community leaders, as well as community organizers and members of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaiso (PUCV). These interviews depicted a number of interrelated variables and, most notably, a strong sense of community emerged, which was consistent with the informal system in place among the residents of the Upper Hills. This informal support system emerged over the years due to a lack of capacity in place by the local government. The findings of this study could be held as an example for other communities who find little support or resources from their local governments. Findings from the research provide direction and steps to enhance preparedness and build capacity for communities, especially in times of both man-made and natural disasters.

The study includes a conceptual overview of the link between climate impacts and human rights, focused on the relevant legal obligations underpinning the international law frameworks governing both human rights and climate change. As such it makes a significant contribution to the global debate on climate change and human rights by offering a comprehensive analysis of the international legal dimensions of this intersection. The study helps advance an understanding of what is meant, in legal and policy terms, by the human rights impacts of climate change through examples of specific substantive rights. It gives a legal and theoretic perspective on the connection between human rights and climate change along three dimensions: first, human rights may affect the enjoyment of human rights. Second, measures to address human rights may impact the realization of rights and third, that human rights have potential relevance to policy and operational responses to climate change, and may promote resilience to climate change, including in developing countries in a way that may help sustainable development. This study effectively consolidates knowledge from the fields of international human rights law, international law governing climate change and international environmental law, building on the existing work of the United Nation (UN) office of the high commissioner on human rights, the UN human rights council and the international council on human rights policy. Although it maintains a legal focus, the study has benefited from the input of a host of international experts from other disciplines as well.

Background Human rights are best protected, promoted and guaranteed when they can compel binding and enforceability duty. One prominent criticism of category of human rights which includes the human right to health is that it is difficult, to assign the duties that correspond to these rights, because of stark disparity in how the main duty bearers approach their duties. Methods This paper adopts a doctrinal approach to examine and evaluate the duties to the right to health. The method in this study entails a detailed literature search to systematically evaluate the legal implications, regulations, arguments and policy regarding the nature of the obligation to the right to health. This study also engages with normative and philosophical aspects of human rights. Results This paper posits that human rights protect against common, serious, and remediable threats and risks, and ensure that there are remedies from governments and third parties. However, it is difficult to compel duties especially in regard to the right to health. First it is not easy to achieve a uniform standard for duty bearers implied by the words ‘highest attainable physical and mental health.’ Theorists discussed in the paper outline views of what this could mean, from serious to common health concerns. Second, the right to health is not a legally established right in many jurisdictions, making it difficult to enforce. This paper outlines different layers of state and non-state legal duty bearers to enforce the right to health. Conclusion The duty to respect, protect, fulfil and even remedy the right to health, will often be meaningless in practice without a clear identification of the necessary duty bearers to enforce them. The law is the starting point for this to not only enshrine this right as a legally enforceable one but also to clearly identify duty bearers. Without this, the human right to health as outlined under international and regional human rights law generates an implausible, or even impossible, profusion of duties. There remains much work still to be done especially on the moral and legal fronts in order to fully guarantee this right. Trial Registration Not applicable Our work does not report results of a health care intervention on human participants. Registration is therefore not applicable.

Realization of the individual’s right to health in settings such as sub-Saharan Africa, where health care adequate resources are lacking, is challenging. This paper demonstrates this challenge by illustrating the example of dialysis, which is an expensive but life-saving treatment for people with kidney failure. Dialysis resources, if available in sub-Saharan Africa, are generally limited but in high demand, and clinicians at the bedside are faced with deciding who lives and who dies. When resource limitations exist, transparent and objective priority setting regarding access to such expensive care is required to improve equity across all health needs in a population. This process however, which weighs individual and population health needs, denies some the right to health by limiting access to health care. This paper unpacks what it means to recognize the right to health in sub-Saharan Africa, acknowledging the current resource availability and scarcity, and the larger socio-economic context. We argue, the first order of the right to health, which should always be realized, includes protection of health, i.e. prevention of disease through public health and health-in-all policy approaches. The second order right to health care would include provision of universal health coverage to all, such that risk factors and diseases can be effectively and equitably detected and treated early, to prevent disease progression or development of complications, and ultimately reduce the demand for expensive care. The third order right to health care would include equitable access to expensive care. In this paper, we argue that recognition of the inequities in realization of the right to health between individuals with “expensive” needs versus those with more affordable needs, countries must determine if, how, and when they will begin to provide such expensive care, so as to minimize these inequities as rapidly as possible. Such a process requires good governance, multi-stakeholder engagement, transparency, communication and a commitment to progress. We conclude the paper by emphasizing that striving towards the progressive realization of the right to health for all people living in SSA is key to achieving equity in access to quality health care and equitable opportunities for each individual to maximize their own state of health.