PHA-Exch> Human Rights & Health

Fri Feb 6 06:52:36 PST 2009

From: Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC) <ruglucia at paho.org>
crossposted from: EQUIDAD at listserv.paho.org

 Human Rights and Health
*Modules *

*Pan American Health Organization PAHO/WHO 2009*

*
*Website:
http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=549&Itemid=643

PAHO/WHO's strategies on health and human rights have as an objective the
dissemination and promotion of the international human rights norms and
standards among community leaders, health service users, advocacy group
members, ombudspersons, medical professionals, and government workers and
decision-makers, among others

*Persons with Disabilities*

English: PDF [12p.] at:
http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=667&Itemid=

Spanish PDF [12p] at:
http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=669&Itemid

"……There are some 60 million children, women, and men who live with some
type of physical, mental, intellectual or sensorial disability in the
Americas. At least 50 million of them live in Latin America and the
Caribbean alone. According to these numbers, 1 in 10 persons in the Region
of the Americas are persons with disabilities.

More importantly, it means that everyone knows a person with a disability—a
family member, a colleague, an acquaintance. And yet, sheer numbers don't
begin to tell the story of what persons with disabilities must endure. At
best, society pities or ignores its brothers and sisters with disabilities,
undermining their sense of self-worth and status of "persons" before the
law; rendering them invisible. Worse yet, society often neglects or
stigmatizes them, forcing them to live in deplorable conditions with unmet
basic human rights and freedoms…"

*Persons living with HIV AIDS*

English PDF [12p] at:
http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=671&Itemid=

Spanish PDF [12p] at:
http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=678&Itemid
=

"…….In the wake of the HIV/AIDS tragedy, a deadly second epidemic has
emerged—human rights abuses of those who are living with (or who are
suspected of living with) the HIV virus. Discrimination and intolerance have
caused thousands of people to lose their jobs, homes, and social standing;
to be rejected by family and friends; denied vital medical care and support;
unjustly imprisoned without due process and judicial guarantees; and even
killed.

Because of its association with behaviors that may be considered socially
unacceptable and in some cases even illegal, HIV infection is widely
stigmatized. This stigma stems from generalized fear and associations of
AIDS with sex, disease, and death, and with behaviors deemed illegal,
forbidden, or taboo, such as pre- and extramarital sex, sex work, sex
between men, and injecting drug use. Therefore, the social groups most
vulnerable to human rights abuses are commercial sex workers, men who have
sex with other men, injecting drug users, undocumented migrant workers and
refugees, and internally displaced persons…."

*Indigenous Peoples*

English PDF [8p.] at:
http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=672&Itemid=

Spanish PDF [8p.] at

http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=676&Itemid=

"……There are an estimated 45 million indigenous peoples in the Americas,
encompassing more than 400 different ethnic groups with different languages,
social organization, worldview, and cultural expressions. Every country,
save for Uruguay, has indigenous peoples among its citizens.

But most—33 to 40 million by latest estimates— live in Latin America and the
Caribbean. Moreover, the indigenous population of the Americas is highly
concentrated. Almost 90% live in Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, and
Peru. In Bolivia, the indigenous population represents more than half the
total population; Guatemala's is slightly less that half.

In the Americas there are marked inequalities between indigenous peoples and
their non-indigenous counterparts for almost every socioeconomic and health

indicator, with indigenous people faring clearly worse.

Indigenous peoples tend to live shorter lives and their health status is
worse than other population groups. By the same token, indigenous
populations are more likely to suffer from substance abuse, depression, and
other mental disorders that are obstacles to the enjoyment of the right to
the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health ("the right to
health") and to other related human rights and fundamental freedoms.
HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are spreading rapidly in
indigenous communities. At the same time, indigenous communities must face
such issues as the economic exploitation of indigenous women and the lack of
information about physical and mental health, which has implications with
regard to the enjoyment of the right to receive information of all kinds
(freedom of expression)….."

*Older persons*

English PDF [12p.] at:
http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=675&Itemid=

Spanish PDF [12p.] at:
http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=673&Itemid=

"…..Throughout the Region, stigmas and mistreatment of older persons may
violate basic human rights such as the right to life, to personal integrity,
to dignity, to privacy, and to the enjoyment of the highest attainable
standard of health. Even though legal, social, and economic conditions vary
from country to country in the Americas, often governments do not provide
pensions or adequate health and social services to respond to an older
person's real necessities. In addition, many nursing homes in the Region do
not provide adequate health care. Because of a lack of medical personnel in
these institutions, older persons are often abandoned, ignored, and
abused….."

*Persons with Mental Disabilities*

English PDF [12p] at:
http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=674&Itemid=

Spanish PDF [12p] at:
http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=668&Itemid=

The men, women, and children with mental disabilities may well be the most
vulnerable persons in society. Deeply misunderstood and stigmatized, feared
even, by many of their fellow citizens, they easily fall prey to physical,
psychological, and sexual abuse and to gross and systematic violations of
their basic human rights.

Throughout the Americas, persons with mental disabilities are regularly
denied employment, education, and housing. Worse yet, they are often
confined against their will and without due process, and may be left to
languish for years, at times for their entire lives, in deplorable
conditions. Some are forcibly institutionalized for years on end, with
little hope of having their case reviewed. Some are held in isolation in
remote mental health hospitals, far removed from any government scrutiny or
regulation enforcement.

*Exposure to Secondhand Smoke in the Americas*

*A Human Rights Perspective*

English PDF [48p.] at:
http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=691&Itemid=

Spanish PDF [54p.] at:

http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=692&Itemid=

"…….This paper examines the high human and public health cost of exposure to
tobacco smoke in the Americas and how international human rights law is an
underutilized but powerful mechanism that can help diminish these costs. We
hope that it will lead to improved strategies and greater success in
eliminating this entirely preventable cause of death and disease in the
Americas…." [ *Mirta Roses Periago Director, Pan American Health
Organization*]

*Persons exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke*

English PDF [8p.] at:
http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=677&Itemid=

Spanish PDF [8p.] at:

http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=670&Itemid=

"……..Throughout the Americas, millions of people are denied access to safe
and healthy work and living environments by involuntary exposure to
second-hand smoke. As a result, many people suffer disease and death
resulting from circumstances beyond their control….

….Both the United Nations (UN) and the inter-American human rights systems
have a significant body of legal instruments that can be used to protect the
rights and liberties of vulnerable groups such as those exposed to second
hand tobacco smoke. International human rights instruments established by
international law protect all persons without distinction of any kind such
as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion,
national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Some of these tools have emerged from conventions or treaties, and they are
legally binding for States that have ratified them. Others —international
human rights declarations or "standards"— although not legally binding, are
considered to be authoritative interpretations of international convention
requirements. …"

*Human Rights & Health: Article 25*

English PDF [2p.] at:

http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=703&Itemid=

Spanish PDF [2p.] at:
http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=704&Itemid

* *

*Why is ARTICLE 25 important?*

• Article 25 guarantees that everyone has the right to medical care and
necessary social services

• Article 25 is a consensus of all countries for the right to medical care

• Article 25 is the basis for health laws, policies and plans
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