Papers on health rights litigation in the Health and Human Rights Journal

The Health and Human Rights Journal has made available online several papers on the topic of health rights litigation that will be published in December 2014. Guest editor of this Special Issue is Alicia Ely Yamin, Lecturer on Global Health at Harvard University and Policy Director of the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights.

In her editorial, Alicia Yamin writes:

 

“One of the most significant transformations to occur in the landscape of struggles for health justice since this journal was originally launched relates to the increasing judicialization of health-related rights, and economic, social, and cultural rights (ESC rights) more broadly. Indeed, the articles in this issue go far toward debunking outdated conceptions about health rights as merely “programmatic rights,” which are not justiciable. Over the last 20 years, and increasingly in the last decade, we have seen that health and related rights are in fact being enforced by courts around the world, from South America to South Asia, Eastern Europe to East Africa. And increasingly, even in low-income countries, important demands for health-related entitlements are being framed in terms of legally enforceable claims.”

Promoting Equity in Health: What Role for Courts?

Editorial by Guest Editor Alicia Ely Yamin

Sanitation Rights, Public Law Litigation, and Inequality: A Case Study from Brazil
Ana Paula de Barcellos

Health Rights in the Balance: The Case Against Perinatal Shackling of Women Behind Bars
Brett Dignam  and Eli Y. Adashi

Litigating the Right to Health: What Can We Learn from a Comparative Law and Health Care Systems Approach
Colleen M. Flood and Aeyal Gross