Databses on Health and Human Rights Issues

I would like to draw your attention to two new databases on the internet. The first one, the Global Health and Human Rights Database, containes information related to the helath and human rights law of the countries of the world. In this you can search for different health and human rights topics, for regional or international bodies, for national, regional or international juggments related to helath and human rights, and - of course - for national constitutions and other legal instruments as well. The databses can be found here.

The second database issued by the University of Southern California contains the syllabi related to the health and human rights issues. This database can be found here.

Human Rights and Reproductive Self-Determination

source: www.hhrjournal.org

The article "Human rights versus legal control over women's reproductive self-determination" by Diya Uberoi and Maria de Bruyn will be published in the next issue of Health and Human Rights.

Here is the abstract:

States have a duty under international human rights law to protect people’s health. Nonetheless, while some health-related policies and laws protect basic human rights, others violate fundamental rights when they criminalize, prohibit, and restrict access to necessary health services. For example, laws and regulations related to protection of life from conception, contraception, actions of pregnant women, and abortion can harm women and place women and health care providers in jeopardy of legal penalization. Given the adverse consequences of punitive and restrictive laws related to pregnancy, advocates, civil society groups, human rights groups, and government institutions must work together to promote, protect, and fulfill women’s fundamental reproductive rights.

Articles concerning the Case-Law of the ECtHR

Recently some very interesting articles have been published regarding the practice of the ECtHR.

The latest European Journal of Health Law contains the article "A New Approach to Sex-Based Classifications in the Context of Procreative Rights: S.H. and Others v. Austria" by Mike Sanderson. The abstract is as follows:

A critical discussion of the recent First Section and Grand Chamber judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of S.H. and Others v. Austria, which upheld an Austrian ban on in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) using donor gametes (ova and sperm). The author argues that the regulatory regime adopted by Austria is overbroad insofar as the regime it adopts fails to accurately reflect the legitimate interests of the state. This is not a conventional “controversial morals” case where, in the absence of a clear moral and/or policy consensus among the Council of Europe member states, states are properly accorded a wide margin of appreciation. The regime adopted by Austria embodies a clear sex bias (with their respective gametes standing as near perfect proxies for the sex of the applicants) with exceptions being made to address male infertility while leaving women without medical remedy. As such, the margin of appreciation should be significantly restricted and the classifications embodied by the regime subject to the highest possible scrutiny.

In the Quaderni di Diritto Mercato Tecnologia you can find a paper from Gregor Puppinck titled "The Case of Costa and Pavan v. Italy and the Convergence between Human Rights and Biotechnologies. Commentary on the ECHR ruling on Costa and Pavan v. Italy, No. 54270/10, 28th August 2012". Here is the abstract:

This article serves as an introduction to this special edition of the Irish Journal of Legal Studies on the recent developments on abortion law in Ireland. It briefly explains what were the two main drivers behind the introduction of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013, namely the European Court of Human Right’s judgment against Ireland in the case of A., B. & C. v. Ireland, no. 25579/05 [2010] E.C.H.R. 2032 (16 December 2010) and the untimely death of Savita Halappanavar. It then reviews a series of public hearings, heard by the Joint Committee on Health and Children in January and May 2013, on how to best meet Ireland’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and under the Constitution. Finally it details the genesis of this special edition and introduces the work of the contributors.

Finally, the Irish Journal of Legal Studies published the article "Article 40.3.3 and the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: The Impetus for, and Process of, Legislative Change" from Catherine O'Sullivan, Jennifer Schweppe and Eimear A. Spain. This is the abstract:

This article serves as an introduction to this special edition of the Irish Journal of Legal Studies on the recent developments on abortion law in Ireland. It briefly explains what were the two main drivers behind the introduction of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013, namely the European Court of Human Right’s judgment against Ireland in the case of A., B. & C. v. Ireland, no. 25579/05 [2010] E.C.H.R. 2032 (16 December 2010) and the untimely death of Savita Halappanavar. It then reviews a series of public hearings, heard by the Joint Committee on Health and Children in January and May 2013, on how to best meet Ireland’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and under the Constitution. Finally it details the genesis of this special edition and introduces the work of the contributors.