Introduction

Using Human Rights Mechanisms

Key Terms

A. International Instruments

Binding

• International Labour Organization, Convention Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, Convention No. 169 (June 27, 1989). http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C169
• UN General Assembly, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Resolution 39/46, A/RES/39/46 (December 10, 1984). http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CAT.aspx.
• UN General Assembly, Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Resolution 34/180, A/RES/34/180 (December 18, 1979). http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CEDAW.aspx.
• UN General Assembly, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Resolution 44/25, A/RES/44/25
  (November 20, 1989). http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx.
• UN General Assembly, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Resolution 61/106, A/RES/61/106 (December 13, 2006). http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml.
• UN General Assembly, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, A/RES/21/2200 (December 16, 1966). http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CCPR.aspx.
• UN General Assembly, International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, A/RES/21/2200 (December 16, 1966).  http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx.
• UN General Assembly, International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, Resolution 2106 (XX), A/RES/20/2106 (December 21, 1965). http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CERD.aspx.

Nonbinding

• UN Economic and Social Council, The Siracusa Principles on the Limitation and Derogation Provisions in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, E/CN.4/1985/4 (September 28, 1984).
  http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/siracusaprinciples.html.
• Van Boven TC, Flinterman C, and Westendorp I, eds., The Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, E/C.12/2000/13 (January 22-26, 1997). http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/0/6b748989d76d2bb8c125699700500e17/$FILE/G0044704.pdf.
• World Health Organization, Declaration of Alma-Ata (September 6-12, 1978). www.who.int/publications/almaata_declaration_en.pdf.

B. Regional Instruments

Binding

• African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (July 1, 1990). http://www.achpr.org/instruments/child/.
• African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights: Establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (June 10, 1998). http://www.achpr.org/instruments/court-establishment/.
• Africa Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights: Rights of Women in Africa (November 7, 2003). http://www.achpr.org/instruments/women-protocol/.
• Council of Europe, Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. http://www.conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/005.htm.
• Council of Europe, European Social Charter (1996 revised edition). http://www.conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/035.htm.
• Council of Europe, Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (1995).
  http://www.conventions.coe.int/treaty/en/Treaties/Html/157.htm.
• Organization of American States: Department of International Law, Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights: ‘Protocol San Salvador’ (November 17, 1998). http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/treaties/a-52.html.
• Organization of American States: Department of International Law, American Convention on Human Rights: ‘Pact of San Jose, Costa Rica.’ http://www.oas.org/dil/treaties_B-32_American_Convention_on_Human_Rights.htm.
• Organization of American States: Department of International Law, Charter of the Organization of American States (1948). http://www.oas.org/dil/treaties_A-41_Charter_of_the_Organization_of_American_States.htm.

C. UN Documents

a. General Comments and Recommendations

• Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, General Comments. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/comments.htm.
  • General Comment 14: The right to the highest attainable standard of health, E/C.12/2000/4 (August 11, 2000).
• Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendations.
  http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/comments.htm.
  • General Recommendation 14: Female Circumcision (ninth session, 1990).
  • General Recommendation 15: Women and AIDS (ninth session, 1990).
  • General Recommendation 18: Disabled Women (tenth session, 1991).
  • General Recommendation 24: Women and Health (twentieth session, 1999).
• Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comments.  http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/comments.htm.
  • General Comment 3: HIV/AIDS and the Rights of the Child, CRC/GC/2003/3 (2003).
  • General Comment No. 4: Adolescent health and development in the context of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, CRC/GC/2003/4 (2004).
  • General Comment No. 5: General Measures of Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, CRC/GC/2003/5 (2003).
  • General Comment No. 7: Implementing Child Rights in Early Childhood, CRC/C/GC/7/Rev.1 (2006).
  • General Comment No. 8: The right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment, CRC/C/GC/8 (2006).
  • General Comment 9: The Rights of Child with Disabilities, CRC/C/GC/9 (2006).
  • General Comment 11: Indigenous children and their rights under the Convention, CRC/C/GC/11 (2009).
  • General Comment No. 12: The right of the child to be heard, CRC/C/GC/12 (2009).
  • General Comment No. 13: The right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence,
    CRC/C/GC/13 (2011).
• Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, General Recommendations.
  http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/comments.htm.
• Committee against Torture, General Comments.  http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/comments.htm.

b. Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council1

• Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Annual Reports. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Health/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx.
  • Report to the General Assembly (main focus: right to health indicators), A/58/427 (2003).
  • Report to the Commission on Human Rights (main focus: definition of the human right to health), E/CN.4/2003/58 (2003).
  • Report to the Commission on Human Rights (main focus: sexual and reproductive health), E/CN.4/2004/49 (2004).
  • Report to the General Assembly (main focus: health professionals and human rights education), A/60/348 (2005).
  • Report to the Commission on Human Rights (main focus: mental disability), E/CN.4/2005/51 (2005).
  • Report to the General Assembly (main focus: the reduction of maternal mortality), A/61/338 (2006).
  • Report to the Commission on Human Rights (main focus: a human rights-based approach to health indicators), E/CN.4/2006/48 (2006).
  • Report to the General Assembly (main focus: water and sanitation), A/62/214 (2007).
  • Report to the Human Rights Council (main focus: the health and human rights movement),
    A/HRC/4/28 (2007).
  • Report the Human Rights Council (main focus: health systems), A/HRC/7/11 (2008).
  • Report the Human Rights Council (main focus: access to medicines and intellectual property rights), A/HRC/11/12 (2009).
  • Report to the General Assembly (main focus:  informed consent), A/64/272 (2009).
  • Report the Human Rights Council (main focus: criminalization of same-sex conduct and sexual orientation, sex-work and HIV transmission), A/HRC/14/20 (2010).
  • Report to the General Assembly (main focus: harm reduction), A/65/255 (2010).
  • Report to the General Assembly (main focus: criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health), A/66/254 (2011).
  • Report to the Human Rights Council (main focus: older persons), A/HRC/18/37 (2011).
  • Report to the Human Rights Council (main focus: report on expert consultation on access to medicines), A/HRC/17/43 (2011).
  • Report to the Human Rights Council (main focus: development), A/HRC/17/25 (2011).
• Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,
  Annual Reports. http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?m=103.
  • Report to the Human Rights Council, H/HRC/22/53 (2013).
  • Report to the General Assembly, A/63/175 (2008).
• Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Annual Reports. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Migration/SRMigrants/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx.
  • Report to the Human Rights Council (main focus: recapitulation of the main thematic issues, including the right to health of migrants), A/HRC/17/33 (March 21, 2011).
  • Report to the Human Rights Council (main focus: enjoyment of the rights to health and adequate housing by migrants), A/HRC/14/30 (April 16, 2010).
• Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Annual Reports.  http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Education/SREducation/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx
  • Report to the UN General Assembly (main focus: sexual education), A/65/162 (July 23, 2010).
• Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Annual Reports.
  http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/SRWomen/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx
  • Report to the UN General Assembly (main focus: violence against women with disabilities), A/67/227 (August 3, 2012).

D. Health and Human Rights

• Farmer P. Pathologies of Power. Health, Human Rights, and the War on the Poor (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005).
• Farmer P. Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues (Feb 23, 2001).
• Gruskin S, Grodin M, Annas G, and Marks S, eds., Perspectives on Health and Human Rights (Routledge, 2005).
• Gruskin S, Mills EJ, and Tarantola D, “History, Principles, and Practice of Health and Human Rights,” The Lancet 370 (August 4, 2007).
• Grodin M, Tarantola D, Gruskin S, and Annas G, Health and Human Rights in a Changing World, forthcoming 2013
• London L, “What is a human rights-based approach to health and does it matter?” Health and Human Rights 10, no. 1 (2008). http://www.hhrjournal.org/index.php/hhr/article/view/25/84.
• Mann J, Gruskin S, Grodin M, and Annas G, eds., Health and Human Rights: A Reader (Routledge, 1999).
• OHCHR and WHO, A Human Rights-Based Approach to Health. http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/ESCR/Health/HRBA_HealthInformationSheet.pdf.
• World Health Organization, 25 Questions and Answers on Health and Human Rights, Health and Human Rights Publication Series, Issue no. 1 (July 2002). http://www.who.int/hhr/information/25_questions_hhr.pdf.
• Yamin A, “Beyond compassion: The central role of accountability in applying a human rights framework to health,” Health and Human Rights 10, no. 2 (2008). http://www.hhrjournal.org/index.php/hhr/article/view/78/163.
• Yamin A, “Shades of dignity: Exploring the demands of equality in applying human rights frameworks to health,” Health and Human Rights 11, no. 2 (2009). http://www.hhrjournal.org/index.php/hhr/article/view/169/263.
• Yamin A, “Suffering and powerlessness: The significance of promoting participation in rights-based approaches to health,” Health and Human Rights 11, no. 1 (2009). www.hhrjournal.org/index.php/hhr/article/view/127/200.
• Yamin A, “Will we take suffering seriously? Reflections on what applying a human rights framework to health means and why we should care,” Health and Human Rights 10, no. 1 (2008). http://hhrjournal.org/index.php/hhr/article/view/27/89

E. The Right to Health

• Amnesty International (Netherlands), Haki Zetu ESC Rights in Practice: The Right to Health (Amnesty International, 2012). https://www.amnesty.nl/sites/default/files/public/the_right_to_adequate_health_english_light.pdf.
• BMA and the Commonwealth Medical Trust, The Right to Health: A toolkit for health professionals (June 2007). http://www.ifhhro.org/our-work/our-publications/353-the-right-to-health-a-toolkit-for-health-professionals-2007.
• Clapham A and Robinson M, eds., Swiss Human Rights Book Vol. 3: Realizing the Right to Health (Zurich, Rüffer & Rub, 2009). http://www.swisshumanrightsbook.com/SHRB/shrb_03.html. (Open access). 39 chapters available for download including:
  • Clapham A and Robinson M, “Introduction.”
  • Riedel E, “The Human Right to Health: Conceptual Foundations.”
  • Hunt P and Backman G, “Health Systems and the Right to the Highest Standard of Health.”
  • Marks S, “Access to Essential Medicines as a Component of the Right to Health.”
  • Oldring L and Jerbi S, “Advancing a Human Rights Approach on the Global Health Agenda.”
• Human Rights Centre and International Federation of Health and Human Rights Organisations, Our right to the highest attainable standard of health http://www.essex.ac.uk/hrc/research/projects/rth/docs/REVISED_MAY07_RtH_8pager_v2.pdf.
• NESRI, Human Right to Health Info Sheet no.1 (January 2008). http://www.nesri.org/sites/default/files/Right_to_Health.pdf.
• OHCHR and WHO, Fact Sheet: The right to health. http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/ESCR/Health/RightToHealthWHOFS2.pdf.
• OHCHR and WHO, The Right to Health, Fact Sheet no. 31 (June 2008). http://www.who.int/hhr/activities/Right_to_Health_factsheet31.pdf.
• Potts H, Accountability and the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health, Human Rights Centre (March 2008). http://www.essex.ac.uk/hrc/research/projects/rth/docs/HRC_Accountability_Mar08.pdf.
• Wolff J, The Human Right to Health (Amnesty International Global Ethics Series, 2012).
• Zuniga JM, Marks SP, Gostin LO, eds., Advancing the Human Right to Health
  (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).

F. Litigating the Right to Health

• Gloppen S, “Litigation as a strategy to hold governments accountable for implementing the right to health,” Health and Human Rights 10, no. 2 (2008). http://www.hhrjournal.org/index.php/hhr/article/view/79/164.
• INTERIGHTS, Publications on litigating economic, social and cultural rights. http://www.interights.org/publications/index.html.
  • Non-Discrimination in International Law: A Handbook for Practitioners (2011). www.interights.org/handbook/index.html.
• Yamin A and Gloppen S, Litigating Health Rights: Can Courts Bring More Justice to Health? (Harvard University Press, 2011).

G. Social Determinants of Health

• Chapman A, “The social determinants of health, health equity, and human rights,” Health and Human Rights 12, no. 2 (2010). http://www.hhrjournal.org/index.php/hhr/article/view/366/560.
• Rasanathan K, Norenhag J, and Valentine N, “Realizing human rights-based approaches for action on the social determinants of health,” Health and Human Rights 12, no. 2 (2010). http://www.hhrjournal.org/index.php/hhr/article/view/368/565.
• WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, Closing the Gap: Health Equity in a Generation (Geneva: WHO, 2008). http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2008/9789241563703_eng.pdf.

H. Health Systems

• Hunt P and Backman G, “Health Systems and the right to the highest attainable standard of health,” Health and Human Rights 10, no. 1 (2008). http://www.hhrjournal.org/index.php/hhr/article/view/22/69.
• Hunt P and Backman G, Health Systems and the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health, Human Rights Centre. http://www.essex.ac.uk/hrc/research/projects/rth/docs/Health_systems.pdf.
• OHCHR, WHO, and Sida, Human rights and gender equality in health sector strategies: how to assess policy coherence (WHO, 2011). http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/HRandGenderEqualityinHealthSectorStrategies.pdf.
• Physicians for Human Rights, The Right to Health and Health Workforce Planning: A Guide for Government Officials, NGOs, Health Workers and Development Partners (August 2008). https://s3.amazonaws.com/PHR_other/health-workforce-planning-guide-2.pdf.

I. Social and Economic Rights Generally

• Chapman A and Russell S, eds., Core Obligations: Building a framework for economic, social, and cultural rights (New York: Intersentia Press, 2002).
• Minkler L, ed., The State of Economic and Social Human Rights: A Global Overview (March, 2013).
• OHCHR, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Handbook for National Human Rights Institutions (2005). http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/training12en.pdf.
• OHCHR, Frequently Asked Questions on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Fact Sheet No. 33. http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/ESCR/FAQ%20on%20ESCR-en.pdf.

J. Health and Development

• Langford M, Sumner A, and Yamin A, Millennium Development Goals and Human Rights: Past, Present, and Future (London: Cambridge University Press, 2013).
• WHO and UNICEF. The World We Want: Health in the Post-2015 Development Agenda. UN Thematic Global Consultation. http://www.worldwewant2015.org/health.

K. Human Rights Research Resources

• Bayefsky.com: “The United Nations Human Rights Treaties.” http://www.bayefsky.com.
• Hurisearch. http://www.hurisearch.org/.
• UN Universal Human Rights Index. http://uhri.ohchr.org/en.
• University of Minnesota: Human Rights Library. http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/.
• Study Guide: The Right to Means for Adequate Health. http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/
  edumat/studyguides/righttohealth.html

L. Human Rights Case Law Research Resources

• African Human Rights Case Law Analyser. http://caselaw.ihrda.org.
• ESCR-NET: Case Law Database. http://www.escr-net.org/caselaw.
• Global Health and Human Rights Database. http://www.globalhealthrights.org/.
• Inter-American Court of Human Rights Jurisprudence Search. http://www.corteidh.or.cr/buscadores.cfm.
• European Court of Human Rights. http://www.echr.coe.int/echr/homepage_EN.
• INTERIGHTS: Commonwealth and International Human Rights Case Law Database.
  http://www.interights.org/commonwealth-and-international-law-database/index.html.

M. Periodicals

• BMC International Health and Human Rights Journal. http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcinthealthhumrights. (Open access).
• Health and Human Rights Journal. http://www.hhrjournal.org/index.php/hhr. (open access).

N. Websites

• Amnesty International. http://www.amnesty.org/.
• ASCR-NET. http://www.escr-net.org/.
• François-Xavier Bagnoud Center For Health and Human Rights. http://harvardfxbcenter.org.
• Global Lawyers and Physicians: Working Together for Human Rights. http://www.globallawyersandphysicians.org/.
• Health Rights: Human Rights in Patient Care. http://health-rights.org/.
• Human Rights Watch: Health. http://www.hrw.org/topic/health.
• INTERIGHTS. http://www.interights.org/home/index.html.
• International Federation of Health and Human Rights Organisations. http://www.ifhhro.org/.
• Open Society Foundations: Health. http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/issues/health.
• Physicians for Human Rights. http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/.
• United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. www.ohchr.org.
• World Health Organization: Human Rights. http://www.who.int/topics/human_rights/en/.
• World Medical Association: Health and Human Rights. http://www.wma.net/en/20activities/20humanrights/.