Browsing by Subject "Human rights"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Challenges to the right to health in sub-Saharan Africa: reflections on inequities in access to dialysis for patients with end-stage kidney failure
    (BioMed Central, 2022-09-05) Ashu, James T.; Mwangi, Jackline; Subramani, Supriya; Kaseje, Daniel; Ashuntantang, Gloria; Luyckx, Valerie A.
    Abstract Realization of the individual’s right to health in settings such as sub-Saharan Africa, where health care adequate resources are lacking, is challenging. This paper demonstrates this challenge by illustrating the example of dialysis, which is an expensive but life-saving treatment for people with kidney failure. Dialysis resources, if available in sub-Saharan Africa, are generally limited but in high demand, and clinicians at the bedside are faced with deciding who lives and who dies. When resource limitations exist, transparent and objective priority setting regarding access to such expensive care is required to improve equity across all health needs in a population. This process however, which weighs individual and population health needs, denies some the right to health by limiting access to health care. This paper unpacks what it means to recognize the right to health in sub-Saharan Africa, acknowledging the current resource availability and scarcity, and the larger socio-economic context. We argue, the first order of the right to health, which should always be realized, includes protection of health, i.e. prevention of disease through public health and health-in-all policy approaches. The second order right to health care would include provision of universal health coverage to all, such that risk factors and diseases can be effectively and equitably detected and treated early, to prevent disease progression or development of complications, and ultimately reduce the demand for expensive care. The third order right to health care would include equitable access to expensive care. In this paper, we argue that recognition of the inequities in realization of the right to health between individuals with “expensive” needs versus those with more affordable needs, countries must determine if, how, and when they will begin to provide such expensive care, so as to minimize these inequities as rapidly as possible. Such a process requires good governance, multi-stakeholder engagement, transparency, communication and a commitment to progress. We conclude the paper by emphasizing that striving towards the progressive realization of the right to health for all people living in SSA is key to achieving equity in access to quality health care and equitable opportunities for each individual to maximize their own state of health.
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    Drafting sex workers' human rights: using decriminalisation to combat gender-based violence faced by sex workers
    (2025) Singh, Kiasha; Lutchman, Salona
    Rates of gender-based violence (“GBV”) are rapidly growing in South Africa, which has come to be known as the “rape capital” of the world. 1 This violence is indiscriminately perpetrated against women across the country, including sex workers who are often victim of heinous acts of GBV due to their limited protection under the law and stigmatised role in society. The legal responses to sex work, namely legalisation, criminalisation, or decriminalisation, have become an increasingly discussed topic across the world due to a heightened understanding of the complex challenges sex workers face. While it is currently illegal to buy or sell sex in South Africa, if the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill 2022 (“the Bill”) is passed, South Africa will become only the third country in the world to fully decriminalise sex work. The draft Bill proposes the removal of the criminalisation of buying and selling of sex and the clearing of criminal records of those who have been prosecuted for buying or selling sex. This dissertation is therefore, aimed at critically analysing how decriminalising sex work in South Africa by way of enacting the draft Bill can aid in reducing sex workers' vulnerability to experiencing GBV, specifically by affording greater protection to sex workers and eradicating the dangerous stigma around sex work. This dissertation therefore undertakes to investigate how the criminalisation of sex work disproportionately affects sex workers by exposing them to rampant levels of abuse, sexual violence and police brutality, under the umbrella of GBV. Therefore, it further aims to establish how the criminalisation of sex work correlates directly with the violation of numerous sex workers' human rights. In considering how effective South Africa's current legal response to sex work is, it is pertinent to analyse our international and domestic obligations to protect women against violence and violations of their human rights, specifically identifying the position of sex workers amongst these protective forces. In bolstering attempts to protect the rights of sex workers and give effect to the intentions of the Bill of Rights and South Africa's international obligations, the findings of this dissertation ultimately reveal why it is of the utmost importance that government decriminalise sex work and enact the Bill without undue delay. Further recommendations will be provided to work in conjunction with the draft Bill to assist the safety of sex workers in South Africa.
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    Explaining and responding to the Ebola epidemic
    (2015-03-04) Benatar, Solomon
    Abstract The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is not merely a biomedical problem that can be seen in isolation and dealt with only through emergency medical rescue processes. The ethical dilemmas surfaced by this epidemic are also not confined to the usual micro-ethical problems associated with medical care and medical research. The pandemic, as one of many manifestations of failed human and social development that has brought the world to dangerous ‘tipping points’, requires deep introspection and action to address upstream causal processes.
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    Human Rights and Workman's Compensation: The experiences of two injured workers.
    (2010) Landman, Susan; Buchanan, Helen
    This article will highlight examples where human rights were abused and promoted through the description of the experiences of injured workers of the Compensation Process in South Africa. A collective case study design was used and data was collected through semistructured interviews. The article reports on the findings of a with-in case analysis of two participants. Three themes associated with human rights emerged. These relate to dealing with the consequences of losing a job and not being able to care for self and family, feeling isolated in the compensation process and not being acknowledged. Recommendations are made in relation to practice and education.
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    Legal representation and a Bill of Rights
    (1993) Lawrenson, Natalie Carina; Steytler, N C; Leeman, I
    The right to legal representation has been acknowledged as a fundamental right of an accused in a criminal trial. 1 Traditionally, however, this, right has been viewed as a right to retain counsel, rather than a positive right to be provided with legal representation in the case of indigent accused. The importance of legal assistance for accused persons being tried in an adversarial justice system has been recognised in the Anglo-American legal systems. In an adversarial system the duty of a presiding officer is to act as an independent and objective adjudicator of the facts and evidence presented to him or her by the two parties to the trial. The onus is on the litigants to advance their own case. It naturally follows that the strength of a party's case depends on the skill of the litigator.
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    Occupational health: a world of false promises
    (BioMed Central, 2018-11-21) LaDou, Joseph; London, Leslie; Watterson, Andrew
    The response of the World Health Organization (WHO) to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2015 demonstrated that the global health system is unprepared to address what should be its primary mission, control of disease epidemics while protecting health workers. Critics blamed WHO politics and its rigid culture for the poor response to the epidemic. We find that United Nations agencies, WHO and the International Labor Organization (ILO), are faced with the global problem of inadequate worker protections and a growing crisis in occupational health. The WHO and ILO are given monumental tasks but only trivial budgets, and funding trends show UN agency dependence on private donations which are far larger than funds contributed by member states. The WHO and ILO have limited capacity to make the necessary changes occupational health and safety demand. The UN could strengthen the national and global civil society voice in WHO and ILO structures, and by keeping conflict of interest out of policy decisions, ensure greater freedom to operate without interference.
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    Science is a human right
    (UCT Libraries, 2024) Persic, Ana
    The presentation is focusing on science as a human right while linking science as being central to UN sustainable development goals.
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    TEDI 2 Week 1 - A Holistic Approach to Teaching Deaf Children
    (2019-06-01) Swift, Odette
    In this video, Odette swift discusses what is meant by holistic education in the context of a social and human rights approach to the education of deaf children. She highlights the rights of deaf people to full participation in society including education. Using the social model of disability, Odette argues that disability is an issue of social justice and not of how people’s bodies function. Referring to Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, she intimates that through reasonable accommodations, differentiation and Individual Education Plans, deaf children can meaningfully participate in education holistically. This is video lecture 2/7 in week 1 of the course: Educating Deaf Children: Becoming an Empowered Teacher.
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    The state of our prisons and what this reveals about our society
    (2014) Benatar, Solomon
    In the third decade of a new South Africa (SA), major challenges are being faced in almost every aspect of life, ranging from meeting minimum daily subsistence requirements, through providing education and primary healthcare, to the functioning of our legal system and governance at local and national levels. While in this context levels of crime and corruption are reaching new heights, we should not lose sight of the need for humane and accountable approaches to crime and imprisonment. The 37th anniversary on 12 September of Steve Biko’s death under inhumane conditions and without adequate medical care in prison provides an opportunity to remember past failings and to reconsider the lessons these hold for our society.