PHA-Exchange> Electronic copy of People's Charter (2)

[Claudio Schuftan]

Part 2:  (continued)

Social and political challenges
Comprehensive social policies have positive effects on people's lives and
livelihoods. Economic globalisation and privatisation have profoundly
disrupted communities, families and cultures. Women are essential to
sustaining the social fabric of societies everywhere, yet their basic needs
are often ignored or denied, and their rights and persons violated.
Public institutions have been undermined and weakened. Many of their
responsibilities have been transferred to the private sector, particularly
corporations, or to other national and international institutions, which are
rarely accountable to the people. Furthermore, the power of political
parties and trade unions has been severely curtailed, while conservative and
fundamentalist forces are on the rise. Participatory democracy in political
organisations and civic structures should thrive. There is an urgent need to
foster and ensure transparency and accountability.

This Charter calls on people of the world to:
- Demand and support the development and implementation of comprehensive
social policies with full participation of people.
-  Ensure that all women and all men have equal rights to work, livelihoods,
to freedom of expression, to political participation, to exercise religious
choice, to education and to freedom from violence.
-  Pressure governments to introduce and enforce legislation to protect and
promote the physical, mental and spiritual health and human rights of
marginalised groups.
- Demand that education and health are placed at the top of the political
agenda. This calls for free and compulsory quality education for all
children and adults, particularly girl children and women, and for quality
early childhood education and care.
- Demand that the activities of public institutions, such as child care
services, food distribution systems, and housing provisions, benefit the
health of individuals and communities.

- Condemn and seek the reversal of any policies, which result in the forced
displacement of people from their lands, homes or jobs.
- Oppose fundamentalist forces that threaten the rights and liberties of
individuals, particularly the lives of women, children and minorities.
- Oppose sex tourism and the global traffic of women and children.
Environmental challenges
Water and air pollution, rapid climate change, ozone layer depletion,
nuclear energy and waste, toxic chemicals and pesticides, loss of
biodiversity, deforestation and soil erosion have far-reaching effects on
people's health. The root causes of this destruction include the
unsustainable exploitation of natural resources, the absence of a long-term
holistic vision, the spread of individualistic and profit-maximising
behaviours, and over-consumption by the rich. This destruction must be
confronted and reversed immediately and effectively.
This Charter calls on people of the world to:
- Hold transnational and national corporations, public institutions and the
military accountable for their destructive and hazardous activities that
impact on the environment and people's health.
- Demand that all development projects be evaluated against health and
environmental criteria and that caution and restraint be applied whenever
technologies or policies pose potential threats to health and the
environment (the precautionary principle).
- Demand that governments rapidly commit themselves to reductions of
greenhouse gases from their own territories far stricter than those set out
in the international climate change agreement, without resorting to
hazardous or inappropriate technologies and practices.
-  Oppose the shifting of hazardous industries and toxic and radioactive
waste to poorer countries and marginalised communities and encourage
solutions that minimise waste production.
-  Reduce over-consumption and non-sustainable lifestyles - both in the
North and the South. Pressure wealthy industrialised countries to reduce
their consumption and pollution by 90 per cent.
- Demand measures to ensure occupational health and safety, including
worker-centred monitoring of working conditions.
- Demand measures to prevent accidents and injuries in the workplace, the
community and in homes.
 - Reject patents on life and oppose bio-piracy of traditional and
indigenous knowledge and resources.
- Develop people-centred, community-based indicators of environmental and
social progress, and to press for the development and adoption of regular
audits that measure environmental degradation and the health status of the
population.

War, violence, conflict and natural disasters
War, violence, conflict and natural disasters devastate communities and
destroy human dignity. They have a severe impact on the physical and mental
health of their members, especially women and children. Increased arms
procurement and an aggressive and corrupt international arms trade undermine
social, political and economic stability and the allocation of resources to
the social sector.
This Charter calls on people of the world to:
- Support campaigns and movements for peace and disarmament.
- Support campaigns against aggression, and the research, production,
testing and use of weapons of mass destruction and other arms, including all
types of landmines.
- Support people's initiatives to achieve a just and lasting peace,
especially in countries with experiences of civil war and genocide.
- Condemn the use of child soldiers, and the abuse and rape, torture and
killing of women and children.
- Demand the end of occupation as one of the most destructive tools to human
dignity.
- Oppose the militarisation of humanitarian relief interventions.
- Demand the radical transformation of the UN Security Council so that it
functions democratically.
 - Demand that the United Nations and individual states end all kinds of
sanctions used as an instrument of aggression which can damage the health of
civilian populations.
- Encourage independent, people-based initiatives to declare neighbourhoods,
communities and cities areas of peace and zones free of weapons.
- Support actions and campaigns for the prevention and reduction of
aggressive and violent behaviour, especially in men, and the fostering of
peaceful coexistence.
- Support actions and campaigns for the prevention of natural disasters and
the reduction of subsequent human suffering.






A PEOPLE-CENTERED HEALTH SECTOR
This Charter calls for the provision of universal and comprehensive primary
health care, irrespective of people's ability to pay. Health services must
be democratic and accountable with sufficient resources to achieve this.
This Charter calls on people of the world to:
-  Oppose international and national policies that privatise health care and
turn it into a commodity.
- Demand that governments promote, finance and provide comprehensive Primary
Health Care as the most effective way of addressing health problems and
organising public health services so as to ensure free and universal access.
- Pressure governments to adopt, implement and enforce national health and
drug policies.
- Demand that governments oppose the privatisation of public health services
and ensure effective regulation of the private medical sector, including
charitable and NGO medical services.
- Demand a radical transformation of the World Health Organization (WHO) so
that it responds to health challenges in a manner which benefits the poor,
avoids vertical approaches, ensures intersectoral work, involves people's
organisations in the World Health Assembly, and ensures independence from
corporate interests.

- Promote, support and engage in actions that encourage people's power and
control in decision-making in health at all levels, including patient and
consumer rights.
- Support, recognise and promote traditional and holistic healing systems
and practitioners and their integration into Primary Health Care.
- Demand changes in the training of health personnel so that they become
more problem-oriented and practice-based, understand better the impact of
global issues in their communities, and are encouraged to work with and
respect the community and its diversities.
- Demystify medical and health technologies (including medicines) and demand
that they be subordinated to the health needs of the people.
- Demand that research in health, including genetic research and the
development of medicines and reproductive technologies, is carried out in a
participatory, needs-based manner by accountable institutions. It should be
people- and public health-oriented, respecting universal ethical principles.
- Support people's rights to reproductive and sexual self-determination and
oppose all coercive measures in population and family planning policies.
This support includes the right to the full range of safe and effective
methods of fertility regulation.

PEOPLE'S PARTICIPATION FOR A HEALTHY WORLD
Strong people's organisations and movements are fundamental to more
democratic, transparent and accountable decision-making processes. It is
essential that people's civil, political, economic, social and cultural
rights are ensured. While governments have the primary responsibility for
promoting a more equitable approach to health and human rights, a wide range
of civil society groups and movements, and the media have an important role
to play in ensuring people's power and control in policy development and in
the monitoring of its implementation.
This Charter calls on people of the world to:
- Build and strengthen people's organisations to create a basis for analysis
and action.
- Promote, support and engage in actions that encourage people's involvement
in decision-making in public services at all levels.
- Demand that people's organisations be represented in local, national and
international fora that are relevant to health.
- Support local initiatives towards participatory democracy through the
establishment of people-centred solidarity networks across the world.

The People's Health Assembly and the Charter

The idea of a People's Health Assembly (PHA) has been discussed for more
than a decade. In 1998 a number of organisations launched the PHA process
and started to plan a large international Assembly meeting, held in
Bangladesh at the end of 2000. A range of pre- and post-Assembly activities
were initiated including regional workshops, the collection of people's
health-related stories and the drafting of a People's Charter for Health.

The present Charter builds upon the views of citizens and people's
organisations from around the world, and was first approved and opened for
endorsement at the Assembly meeting in Savar, Bangladesh, in December 2000.

The Charter is an expression of our common concerns, our vision of a better
and healthier world, and of our calls for radical action. It is a tool for
advocacy and a rallying point around which a global health movement can
gather and other networks and coalitions can be formed.

Join Us - Endorse the Charter

We call upon all individuals and organisations to join this global movement
and invite you to endorse and help implement the People's Charter for
Health.

PHA Secretariat, e-mail: gksavar at citechco.net
Web site:  www.pha2000.org
Mailing address:  PHA Secretariat,  Gonoshasthaya Kendra,  Savar, Dhaka,
1344, Bangladesh.

Amendment

After the endorsement of the PCH on December 8, 2000 it was called to the
attention of the drafting group that action points number 1 and 2 under
Economic challenges could be interpreted as supporting the social clause
proposed by WTO, which actually serves to strengthen the WTO and its
neoliberal agenda.  Given that this countervails the PHA demands for change
of the WTO and the global trading system, the two paragraphs were merged and
amended.

The section on War Violence, and Conflict has been amended to include
natural disasters. A new action point, number 5 in this version, was added
to demand the end of occupation. Furthermore, action point number 7, now
number 8, was amended to read to end all kinds of sanctions.  An additional
action point number 11 was added concerning natural disasters.