Resources for Further Research on Health & Human Rights From the book:

Perspectives on Health and Human Rights.

 (Structure and text by Stephen P. Marks, web design and links by Michael A. Grodin and Clifford Lubitz.)

The selections in this volume can barely scratch the surface of the vast emerging field of health and human rights. We have structured this volume around eight themes that suggest a broad reach: conceptual underpinnings, development, biotechnology, reproductive and sexual health, violence, methods, the human right to health, and strategies for action. The fact that only three or four chapters appear in each part provides the reader with a highly selective incursion into the literature on health and human rights.

The purpose of this chapter is to indicate web-based sources for further research. It is divided into four main sections:

□       International legal instruments,                                                                

□       Political documents of international conferences and summits,

□       International and national institutions concerned with health and human rights, and

□       Bibliographical references.

We have created a web site that contains the documents and links to numerous institutions and reference materials according to these four rubrics. The site is maintained by Global Lawyers and Physicians at http://www.glphr.org/resources/appendix. The following pages reproduce the structure of the web site.

I. International Legal Instruments¹

1. International Bill of Human Rights

1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

2. International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (1966)

3. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)
    

2. Other major United Nations Conventions and Declarations

1. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)

2. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965)

3. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979)

4. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984)

5. Declaration on the Right to Development (1986)

6. Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)

7. International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (1990)

8. Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights (UNESCO, 1997)

3. Regional Human Rights Conventions and Declaration

1. American Convention on Human Rights (1969)

2. Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1988)

3. African Charter on Human and Peoples� Rights (1981)

4. European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1951)

5. Protocol 11 to the European Convention (1994)

6. European Social Charter (1961, as revised in 1996)

7. Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine (Council of Europe, 1997)

4. Major Instruments of International Humanitarian Law

1. Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field. Geneva, 12 August 1949

2. Convention (II) for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea. Geneva, 12 August 1949

3. Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949

4. Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949

5. Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977

6. Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II), 8 June 1977

5. General Comments and Recommendations of Treaty Monitoring Bodies                                                                                                           

1. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

   1. General Comment 2, International technical assistance measures (Art. 22 of the Covenant) (Fourth session, 1990)
      

   2. General Comment 3, The nature of States parties obligations (Art. 2, para. 1 of the Covenant) (Fifth session, 1990)

   3. General Comment 4, The right to adequate housing (Art. 11 (1) of the Covenant) (Sixth session, 1991)

   4. General Comment 5, Persons with disabilities (Eleventh session, 1994)

   5. General Comment 6, The economic, social and cultural rights of older persons (Thirteenth session, 1995)

   6. General Comment 7, The right to adequate housing (Art. 11 (1) of the Covenant): forced evictions (1997)

   7. General Comment 8, The relationship between economic sanctions and respect for economic, social and cultural rights (Seventeenth session, 1997)

   8. General Comment 9, The domestic application of the Covenant (Nineteenth session, 1998)

   9. General Comment 10, The role of national human rights institutions in the protection of economic, social and cultural rights (Nineteenth session, 1998)

   10. General Comment 11, Plans of action for primary education (Art.14) (Twentieth session, 1999)

   11. General Comment 12, The right to adequate food (Art.11) (Twentieth session, 1999)

   12. General Comment 13, The right to education (Art.13) (Twenty-first session, 1999)

   13. General Comment 14, The right to the highest attainable standard of health (Twenty-second session, 2000)

   14. General Comment 15, The right to water (arts. 11 and 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights),  (Twenty-ninth session, 2002)
        

2. Committee on the Rights of the Child
      1. General Comment 3 HIV/AIDS and the Rights of the Child (2003)
      2. General Comment 4, Adolescent Health and Development (2003)

3. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women

1. General Recommendation 12, Violence against women (Eighth session, 1989)

2. General Recommendation 13, Equal remuneration for work of equal value (Eighth session, 1989)

3. General Recommendation 14, Female circumcision (Ninth session, 1990)

4. General Recommendation 15, Avoidance of discrimination against women in national strategies for the prevention and control of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) (Ninth session, 1990)

5. General Recommendation 16, Unpaid women workers in rural and urban family enterprises (Tenth session, 1991)

6. General Recommendation 17, Measurement and quantification of the unremunerated domestic activities of women and their recognition in the gross national product (Tenth session, 1991)

7. General Recommendation 18, Disabled women (Tenth session, 1991)

8. General Recommendation 19, Violence against women (Eleventh session, 1992)

9. General Recommendation 21, Equality in marriage and family relations (Thirteenth session, 1992)

10. General recommendation 24, Women and Health (Twentieth session, 1999)

II. Political Documents of International Conferences and Summits^[2]

1. International conferences and summits
   

   1. Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (1975)

   2. World Summit on Children (1990)

   3. International Conference on the Environment and Development (1992)

   4. World Conference on Human Rights (1993)  
      5 year review

   5. International Conference on Population and Development (1994)  
      5 year review

   6. World Summit for Social Development (1995)  
      5 year review                 

   7. Fourth World Conference on Women (1995)
      5 year review and 10 year review 

   8. United Nations Millennium Summit (2000)

   9. World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Tolerance (2001)

   10. World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002)

    

2. Special Sessions of the UN General Assembly
   

1. United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (2001)

2. United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children (2002)

1. Academic and research institutions
2. Intergovernmental agencies
   

   1. United Nations system

   2. Regional and other

3. National institutions
   

1. National institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights

2. National bodies responsible for foreign aid

4. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
   

1. Major international human rights organizations with an interest in health

2. Selected national NGOs working on health and human rights

IV. Bibliographic References^[4]

The subjects covered in the bibliography are the following:

1. Child and Adolescent Health and Development

2. Reproductive Health    

3. Making Pregnancy Safer (Safe Motherhood)    

4. Women�s Health

5. HIV/AIDS      

6. Communicable Diseases

7. Non-Communicable Diseases

8. Sustainable Development         

9. Nutrition          

10. Health and Environment           

11. Food Safety    

12. Emergency Preparedness and Response           

13. Health Promotion         

14. Disability

15. Mental Health

16. Substance Abuse

17. Essential Medicines      

18. Immunization and Vaccine Development           

19. Clinical Technology/Clinical Trials        

20. Health Information Management and Dissemination      

21. Health Information Medical Record Confidentiality and Privacy

22. Research Policy and Cooperation        

23. Organization of Health Services

24. Health Policy

NOTES

[1] Among the other sources of international documents on health and human rights the reader may wish to consult Gudmunder Alfredsson and Katarina Toma�evski, A Thematic Guide to Documents on Health and Human Rights: Global and Regional Standards Adopted by Intergovernmental Organizations and Professional Association, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1998; Stephen P. Marks, Health and Human Rights: Basic International Documents, Cambridge, MA: Harvard School of Public Health, distributed by Harvard University Press, 2004. The University of Minnesota Human Rights Library links to the texts at http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/ainstls1.htm. For UN instruments, one should use primarily the web site of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at http://www.unhchr.ch/. The UN specialized agencies (http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/un-orgs.htm ) and the regional organizations (http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/regional.htm) have the texts of the instruments concerning them on their web sites.

[2] Numerous documents adopted by governments, often at the level of heads of state and government, constitute political commitments rather than formal standard-setting instruments. Nevertheless, they guide policy and are particularly important to issues of health and human rights. The main ones are listed in this section. The documents of the summits and conferences are also linked by the University of Minnesota Human Rights Library at http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/unorgs.htm. Another valuable source of detailed information on negotiations over a wide range of development and environmental issues of concern to health and human rights is the site of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) at http://www.iisd.ca/.

[3] The web sites of institutions provide an inexhaustible source of information relevant to research on health and human rights. In addition to the web site of resources for further research on health and human rights (http://www.glphr.org/resources/appendix), Human Rights Internet Human Rights Organizations Database holds over 10,000 records and can be searches at http://www.hri.ca/organizations/.

[4] Bibliographical references on human rights, including the topic of health and human rights, are linked at http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/bibliog/biblios.htm. The Program on International Health and Human Rights of the Fran�ois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights has prepared a bibliography on health and human rights for the World Health Organization. The bibliography follows the same classification WHO uses for health issues in general, which is used here. The WHO bibliography is also available online at http://www.who.int/hhr/databases/biblio.