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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Human Rights Reader
155<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
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style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p><FONT
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">PUBLIC HEALTH BRINGS A COUNTERBALANCE TO
THE INDIVIDUAL-CENTERED VIEW OF HUMAN RIGHTS.
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></B></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>[The issue has come up in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">South
Africa</st1:country-region></st1:place> whether to quarantine drug-resistant TB
patients. This again brings up the issue of individual versus collective
rights].</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">1. In the above case, it
has been said that individual human rights (HR) may be in conflict with social
benefits. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But the fact is that one
<U>can</U> respect individual HR and advance public health. Moreover, advancing
public health <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>is justified in terms
of collective HR.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">2. The qualifier, though,
for the two statements above is the following: <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">One <U>can</U> limit
individual rights in the interest of public health if and when:
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><SPAN
style="mso-list: Ignore">·<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">the policy is legitimate and follows due
legal process, <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><SPAN
style="mso-list: Ignore">·<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">the policy is effective in realizing an important
public health goal, <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><SPAN
style="mso-list: Ignore">·<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">the policy is strictly necessary and is
democratically applied, <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><SPAN
style="mso-list: Ignore">·<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">there are no less-intrusive means available to achieve
the same objective (i.e., intrusive on the individual rights of a person), and
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><SPAN
style="mso-list: Ignore">·<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">the policy's application is not arbitrary, discriminatory
or unreasonable.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">3. Such a stance can be
justified even in international HR law, specifically in the case of risk of the
spread of an infectious disease. But the conditions of when and how such a
public health action should be taken have to be compatible with respecting
collective rights.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">4. In this example of the
‘terrible (drug–resistant) TB’, the issue of a quarantine is more one of a
trade-off between individual and collective rights than it is one about
individual rights and public health. Here, public health needs can overrule the
narrow individualistic view of rights.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">5. Conversely, issues of
<U>access</U> to health care are both relevant to fulfilling individual
<U>and</U> collective rights (…as well as to fulfilling social justice and
equity goals). In this context, HR are not different from social justice* and
equity. This, since the more unequal a society, the more it violates HR.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">6. It is even more:
<U>Human Rights</U> have been described as today’s principal vehicle for
addressing inequities and social justice in national and international contexts
and as </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><U>the most globally
accepted political value of our times</U>. (R.
Labonte) <U> <o:p></o:p></U></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">*:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Note that social justice is different
from social benefits.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Claudio Schuftan,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Ho Chi Minh
City</st1:City></st1:place><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><A
href="mailto:claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">__________________________<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Adapted from L. London in
Equinet Newsletter 68 October 2006: ‘Human rights and public health: more than
just about civil liberties’, and from comments received on it by Dr B.
Starsfield.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>