PHA-Exchange> The right to health: more than rhetoric -Lancet (4)

[Claudio]

From: George Kent 

It is important to be clear on the point that the main duty bearer regarding human rights is the nation-state. It is states that are parties to the international human rights agreements, and it is states that violate them. 


NGOs are not parties to the agreements. There is a lot that NGOs can do to help induce states to honor their obligations, but the NGOs are not under any legal obligation to do that. 


One could argue that NGOs as a category have some sort of moral obligation to do that, but the reality is that any particular NGO sets its own agenda. It would be difficult to argue that any particular NGO has a moral obligation to devote itself to advocacy for health as a human right. 


A similar analysis could be made with regard to health professionals. Individually, they have a moral, and sometimes a legal responsibility to do no harm, but they are not directly obligated to do the political work of human rights advocacy.


I agree that NGOs and health professionals should be recruited to the right to health project, but they should not be approached in a way that says they have a duty to do that. They have no more of a duty to do that than all of us have.

 Feb 12, 2007
  From: "Katz, Alison" <katza at who.int>
  > I cannot agree with the statement that the two main obstacles to 
  > realization of the Right to Health are failures on the part of NGOs and 
  > health professionals. 



  > Re: The Lancet 2007; 369:438
  > Editorial
  > The right to health: more than rhetoric

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