This report by the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier de Schutter, examines the contribution of development cooperation and food aid to the realisation of the right to food. Interventions include both long-term support for food security and short-term answers to emergency situations. This report makes a number of suggestions on how to reorient both types interventions by better integrating a perspective grounded in the human right to adequate food at three levels: in the definition of the obligations of donor states; in the identification of the tools on which these policies rely; and in the evaluation of such policies, with a view to their continuous improvement. At its core, a human rights approach turns what has been a bilateral relationship between donor and partner, into a triangular relationship, in which the ultimate beneficiaries of these policies play an active role. Seeing the provision of foreign aid as a means to fulfil the human right to adequate food has concrete implications, which assume that donor and partner governments are duty-bearers, and beneficiaries are rights-holders.
Values, Policies and Rights
This report considers implementing and monitoring human rights with specific reference to economic, social and cultural rights. It addresses the specific challenges posed by the complex array of obligations that stem from economic, social and cultural rights, including progressive realisation and non-discrimination, outlines various ways of monitoring legislation and other normative measures, such as regulations, policies, plans and programs, and elaborates on monitoring the realisation of rights, paying particular attention to human rights impact assessments. Monitoring the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights can be achieved through assessing progress, stagnation or retrogression in the full enjoyment of those rights over time. The report also provides useful indicators and benchmarks for budget analysis and addresses the issue of monitoring violations of economic, social and cultural rights. Monitoring violations of these rights can be achieved through recording complaints filed before judicial and quasi-judicial mechanisms.
The Universal Periodic Review mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council, which came into effect in 2008, has established itself as a mechanism with huge potential and which promotes dialogue and a level playing field for all countries undergoing the review of their human rights record. Building on the Commonwealth Secretariat’s observations and analysis of the process, and the seminars it has conducted with member states, Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights consolidates the lessons learned so far, speaking equally to the three major stakeholders in the process – to states, to national human rights institutions, and to civil society organisations. An effective UPR mechanism will enhance the promotion of human rights across the world. It is therefore essential for the key players to understand and advance the UPR process including at the implementation phase. This publication describes UPR, shares experiences and provides analysis of the Commonwealth countries that reported in the first year of the UPR process.
The Amnesty International Report 2009 is a record of the state of human rights during 2008 in 157 countries and territories around the world. It depicts the systemic discrimination and insecurity that hinders the application of the law, where states pick and choose the rights they are willing to uphold, and those they would rather suppress. The report presents five regional overviews highlighting the key events and trends that dominated the human rights agenda in each region in 2008. It further takes a country-by-country survey of human rights, summarising the human rights situation in each country. The regional overviews reveal that, in Africa, there is still an enormous gap between the rhetoric of African governments and the daily reality where human rights violations remain the norm: violent protests and poverty continued in many African countries, exacerbated by repressive attitudes of governments towards dissent and protest. Governments have failed to provide basic social services, like health services, address corruption and be accountable to their people.
The aim of this report is to see how gender and AIDS concerns could be better mainstreamed in Zambia’s Norwegian Embassy portfolio. It indicates that gender inequalities exist at all levels in Zambia, and challenges remain critical and fundamental to the country’s achievement of its vision and goal on gender. Four programmes were reviewed, and the researchers noted that good opportunities existed for better synergies and learning. They give four key recommendations. First, internal organisation is required at the Embassy – responsibility should be placed at management level, and gender and AIDS competence should be secured. Second, at programme level, selection and focus should be on only one or two gender and AIDS mainstreaming topics. Third, at programme level, the main focus should be on only one programme or sector (in addition to improved quality work on the others). And fourth, at policy level, further work is needed to integrate the gender and AIDS aspects in the political dialogue with the government of Zambia and key development partners.
Three HIV/AIDS patients in Kenya announced Tuesday they will petition the country’s Constitutional Court to declare a new anti-counterfeiting act illegal because it could deny them access to generic medicines. The move, which has the support of public health groups across the country, seeks to have the 2008 Anti-Counterfeiting Act made unconstitutional on the grounds that it could rob them of their right to life. The anti-counterfeiting law’s definition of counterfeits is so vague that it could include generic drugs and allow a pharmaceutical company to charge patent infringement in Kenya even if its patent is not registered there. International donors who fund much of the drug distribution, including the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, rely almost exclusively on generics manufacturers for their supply. The Kenyan act has gained widespread attention abroad because it is being used as a partial template for similar anti-counterfeiting bills in Uganda, Tanzania and other African nations.
This study looks at how sub-Saharan Africa’s three main HIV and AIDS donors have incorporated gender issues into their policies, and to what extent they have been put into practice and monitored. Although PEPFAR, the Global Fund and MAP have all made high-level commitments to address gender issues in their programming, these commitments have ‘not yet produced concrete and systematic action on the ground’. The study found 61% of people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are women, up from about 33% in the 1980s, and argues that gender inequality seriously undermines efforts to curb the epidemic and has actually fuelled the spread of HIV in the region, making women vulnerable to sexual violence, hindering their ability to have safe sex, and limiting their access to health, education and employment. It urges the three donors to collaborate on gender issues to make the most of their individual strengths and avoid duplication by helping countries establish gender-related goals in their HIV and AIDS responses, and sharing research and knowledge.
Two HIV-positive Namibian women who allege they were sterilised against their will in public hospitals are seeking redress through the courts, the first of more than 20 known cases, according to the International Community for Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW). The ICW raised the alarm over what it terms forced or coerced sterilisations among HIV-positive women more than a year ago, after hearing accounts of it through its regular forums for HIV-positive young women. Another six cases could potentially go to trial this year, and a further 20 are being looked into by the ICW. However, legal action has been hampered by difficulties in collecting evidence and statements from women involved, who are often reluctant to come forward due to fears that both their HIV status and their inability to bear children will be made public. The ICW believes informed consent was not sought, as the majority of these women are rural or illiterate.
This paper assesses whether ratification of human-rights treaties is associated with improved health and social indicators. Data for health (including HIV prevalence, and maternal, infant, and child [<5 years] mortalities) and social indicators (child labour, human development index, sex gap, and corruption index), gathered from 170 countries, showed no consistent associations between ratification of human-rights treaties and health or social outcomes. Established market economy states had consistently improved health compared with less-wealthy settings, but this was not associated with treaty ratification. The paper suggests more stringent requirements for ratification of treaties, improved accountability mechanisms to monitor compliance of states and financial assistance to support the realisation of the right to health.
The People’s Health Movement (PHM) has initiated a Global Right to Health Care (RTHC) Campaign to be developed in collaboration with various networks, coalitions and organisations sharing a similar perspective. This campaign will document violations of health rights, present country level assessments of the right to health care and advocate for fulfillment of commitments to the right to health care at the national, regional and global levels. The campaign has three phases of action: Phase 1 is concerned with the production of diagnostic assessment reports on the RTHC in more than 20 countries; Phase 2 is concerned with the development and interactions of regional assemblies to share results and enable a dialogue between PHM and partners; and Phase 3 looks to the issue of global expansion by implementing Phase 2 conclusions and recommendations and drafting and submitting time-bound resolutions on health rights. To get involved, contact Claudio Schuftan at the email address provided.