PHM-Exch> New paper available at Health and Human Rights

[FXB HHR Journal]

Human rights from the grassroots up: Vermont's campaign for universal health care 

Mariah McGill, Ford Foundation Fellow at the Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy, Northeastern University School of Law
 
Now available as a paper in press at http://hhrjournal.org/index.php/hhr/article/view/456/722
 
Abstract
In 2008, the Vermont Workers' Center launched the "Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign," a grassroots campaign to secure the creation of a universal health care system in Vermont. Campaign organizers used a human rights framework to mobilize thousands of voters in support of universal health care. In response to this extraordinary grassroots effort, the state legislature passed health care legislation that incorporates human rights principles into Vermont law and provides a framework for universal health care. 
The United States has often lagged behind other nations in recognizing economic, social, and cultural (ESC) rights, including the right to health. Nonetheless, activists have begun to incorporate ESC rights into domestic advocacy campaigns, and state and local governments are beginning to respond where the federal government has not. Vermont serves as a powerful example of how a human rights framework can inform health care policy and inspire grassroots campaigns in the United States. 

This three-part article documents the Vermont Workers' Center campaign and discusses the impact that human rights activity at the grassroots level may have on attitudes towards ESC rights in the United States. The first part describes the Vermont health care crisis and explains why the center adopted international human rights principles for their campaign. The article then goes on to discuss the three-year campaign and analyze the health care reform bill that the Vermont legislature passed. Finally, the article discusses the campaign's local and national impact. 
 
 
 
Editorial Office
Health and Human Rights: An International Journal
François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights
Harvard School of Public Health
FXB Building, 7th Floor
651 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA  02115  USA
hhrjournal at hsph.harvard.edu
http://hhrjournal.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://phm.phmovement.org/pipermail/phm-exchange-phmovement.org/attachments/20120301/96db21aa/attachment.html>