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Begin New Search Topic Health Content Type Special Report Publishing Institution Open Society Foundations

1. Do We Need an EU Ethical Food Label?

Author:
Giorgia Ceccarelli and Daniele Fattibene
Publication Date:
09-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Eradicating the exploitation of agri-food workers, promoting fairer food supply chains, and offering consumers effective tools to make truly informed food choices remain huge challenges in Europe. This report highlights the limitations of relying solely on food labelling schemes to meet these goals, and finds that voluntary certification schemes do not adequately enforce regulations or protect human rights. The report also argues, however, that the EU can use a number of tools to foster more just food supply chains, with ethical labels playing a role in that process as part of a “smart mix” of measures. The case studies in this report show that it is possible to have increased transparency in food labelling and supply chains, as well as better protections of workers in Europe and throughout the world. Additionally, the report explains how the EU can play an important role in providing food businesses with clear regulatory frameworks to ensure their operations do not harm workers or the environment.
Topic:
Environment, Health, Human Rights, Labor Issues, Food, Regulation, and Business
Political Geography:
Europe

2. Transforming Health: International Rights-Based Advocacy for Trans Health

Publication Date:
02-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Trans people across the world face substantial barriers to adequate health and health care. They are targets of discrimination and violence, are at greater risk of contracting HIV, and experience a higher incidence of mental health problems like depression. They face discrimination from health care providers, a lack of doctors trained to address their needs, and the refusal of many national health systems and insurance providers to cover their care. Yet trans communities are building alliances to promote trans health and to fight for policies that respect gender diversity and human rights. This report profiles projects from 16 organizations in twelve countries that address these barriers. These projects offered general health services as well as those related to gender transition, trained health care providers to respond to the needs and concerns of trans patients, conducted public education campaigns about discrimination against trans people, advocated for legal and medical policy changes, and organized trans communities to empower themselves. Collecting insights from these projects, Transforming Health makes recommendations to governments, rights advocates, health professionals and public health organizations, and health and rights donors.
Topic:
HIV/AIDS, Gender Issues, Health, Discrimination, LGBT+, Public Health, Sexual Health, and Transgender
Political Geography:
Global Focus

3. Twenty Mechanisms for Addressing Torture in Health Care

Author:
Jonathan Cohen and Tamar Ezer
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Health care settings should be places where human rights are realized. Yet, across the world, health systems often serve as venues of punishment, coercion, and violations of basic human rights, sometimes amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. This abuse is especially prevalent in the care of socially marginalized groups—people living with HIV, ethnic minorities, sexual and gender minorities, people who use drugs, and people with intellectual disabilities or mental health problems. There are many national, regional, and international mechanisms designed to promote government accountability and prevent torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, yet these mechanisms are rarely applied to health facilities. This manual describes 20 anti-torture mechanisms from the United Nations and African, European, and Inter-American human rights systems and provides illustrative examples on how to use these mechanisms to fight torture in health settings. For each mechanism, the manual explores mandate, procedure, possibilities for engagement, and prior work on torture in health care. The manual also includes a glossary of basic human rights terms. This manual is designed as a resource for organizations that advocate against abuse in health care—including international, regional, and national human rights organizations; groups focused on particular health care abuses; anti-torture groups; and the treaty bodies themselves.
Topic:
HIV/AIDS, Health, Torture, United Nations, Minorities, and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, and Global Focus

4. Treated with Cruelty: Abuses in the Name of Rehabilitation

Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The Campaign to Stop Torture in Health Care, a coalition led by the Open Society Foundations, has published a new report documenting the personal testimonies of men and women who have been detained in drug rehabilitation centers in Cambodia, China, Mexico, and Russia. Each year, thousands of people are locked away in these centers without any real access to medical care or legal recourse. Drug users rarely enter such detention centers voluntarily, and even if they do, they nearly never are allowed to leave at their will. Detention centers often rely on physical abuse, shackles, solitary confinement, and other indignities to "treat" drug addiction and extract labor from the detainees. Moreover, they are often overseen by government authorities, and private companies are allowed to exploit the forced labor inside. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of people quickly return to drug use once they are released from these centers. The report, Treated with Cruelty: Abuses in the Name of Rehabilitation, presents the harrowing personal stories alongside commentary about the human rights that are being denied to the individuals who are locked away. Manfred Nowak, former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, also adds his voice in an introduction calling for the closure of drug detention facilities.
Topic:
Health, War on Drugs, Law, Drugs, Public Health, and Rehabilitation
Political Geography:
Russia, China, Cambodia, and Mexico

5. Treatment or Torture? Applying International Human Rights Standards to Drug Detention Centers

Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
People identified as drug users in many countries are confined to abusive locked detention centers for months or even years. Such detention centers are supposedly mandated to treat and "rehabilitate" drug users, but the "treatment" they receive in some cases amounts to torture or other cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment. In Treatment or Torture? Applying International Human Rights Standards to Drug Detention Centers, legal experts review common forms of abuse in drug detention centers and show how these practices in many cases are in violation of basic human rights treaties widely ratified by most nations worldwide. International health and drug-control agencies—including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, UNAIDS, and the World Health Organization—all endorse comprehensive, evidence-based drug dependence treatment services. Yet drug detention centers rarely provide treatment that meets these standards. Depending on the country, so-called rehabilitation consists of a regime of military drills, forced labor, psychological and moral re-education, and shackling, caning, and beating. Treatment or Torture? comes in advance of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking and the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture—both on June 26, 2011. The report was published by the Campaign to Stop Torture in Health Care, a coalition led by the Open Society Foundations, and featured legal analysis by Human Rights Watch, Harm Reduction International, and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.
Topic:
Health, Human Rights, International Law, War on Drugs, Health Care Policy, Criminal Justice, Drugs, and Public Health
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6. The Role of Human Rights in Ensuring Universal Access to HIV Testing and Counselling

Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Recent years have seen a significant expansion of HIV testing and counselling, a necessary pre-condition for achieving the goal of universal access to comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care, and support. However, HIV testing and counselling is not implemented fully and correctly unless human rights approaches are integrated into all aspects of its delivery. This includes not only respect for the "three C's" of pre-test information or counselling and post-test counselling, informed and voluntary consent to testing, and confidentiality of test results, but also ensuring an enabling environment that protects people from discrimination, violence, abandonment, ostracism, and other potential negative consequences of a positive test result. On October 12-13, the Open Society Public Health Program, the Secretariat of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS Secretariat), and the World Health Organization cosponsored the meeting, “The Role of Human Rights in Ensuring Universal Access to HIV Testing and Counselling." The purpose of the meeting was to bridge the gap between international guidance on HIV testing and counselling and the implementation of this guidance. The meeting participants represented a wide variety of constituencies, including people living with and affected by HIV, implementers of HIV testing programs, donors and representatives of multilateral agencies, researchers, and human rights advocates. They sought to reach a consensus on concrete strategies and specific activities to overcome two types of barriers to ensuring human rights in the practice of HIV testing and counselling: political/systemic barriers and technical barriers.
Topic:
HIV/AIDS, Health, Human Rights, Health Care Policy, Multilateralism, Advocacy, and Public Health
Political Geography:
Global Focus

7. At What Cost? HIV and Human Rights Consequences of the Global "War on Drugs"

Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
A decade after governments worldwide pledged to achieve a "drug-free world," there is little evidence that the supply or demand of illicit drugs has been reduced. Instead, aggressive drug control policies have led to increased incarceration for minor offenses, human rights violations, and disease. This book examines the descent of the global war on drugs into a war on people who use drugs. From Puerto Rico to Phnom Penh, Manipur to Moscow, the scars of this war are carried on the bodies and minds of drug users, their families, and the health and service providers who work with them.
Topic:
Health, War on Drugs, and Drugs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

8. HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, and Legal Services in Uganda

Publication Date:
05-2008
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Widespread human rights abuses and lack of legal services is fueling Uganda's HIV epidemic, according to a report from the Open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA) and OSI's Law and Health Initiative (LAHI). HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, and Legal Services in Uganda documents common abuses faced by people living with AIDS or at high risk of HIV, including: barriers to employment or education; discrimination in gaining access to medical care; violations of the right to medical privacy; forced HIV testing; and eviction from housing. According to the report, while the government of Uganda has addressed the medical effects of the HIV epidemic, it has paid little attention to the epidemic’s legal and human rights implications. This is especially true for marginalized populations who are most vulnerable to HIV-related human rights abuses: women (especially young women, widows, and women living in fishing communities); sex workers; orphans and vulnerable children; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals; and internally displaced persons. The report recommends stronger enforcement of policies and legislation that offer clear protection against HIV-related stigma and discrimination. It calls for greater support to community-based groups that have sought to integrate legal support into HIV prevention and care programs. It also recommends strengthening legal mechanisms to help people living with HIV access justice. Local Council Courts appear to be the most utilized dispute resolution mechanism by communities, but these courts are not being used to address HIV-related infringement of rights.
Topic:
HIV/AIDS, Health, Human Rights, Health Care Policy, Discrimination, Legal Sector, and Epidemic
Political Geography:
Uganda and East Africa

9. Education for Migrant, Minority and Marginalised Children in Europe

Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
In 2007, the Open Society Institute Education Support Program launched the Education for Migrants, Minorities and Marginalized children in Europe (EMMME) project to investigate the impact of education on social inclusion and issues of injustice in education for migrant children in Europe. EMMME research and mapping suggests considerable and growing disparities in access to quality education and increasing segregation in European schools. During the course of the EMMME project, two separate but interlinked documents were produced: Education for Migrant, Minority and Marginalized Children in Europe and Making the Mark? An Overview of Current Challenges in the Education for Migrant, Minority, and Marginalized Children in Europe. Education for Migrant, Minority and Marginalized Children in Europe collates up-to-date evidence on the educational realities that confront migrants, minorities, and marginalized groups in the European Union. The report identifies policy responses, legislative frameworks and local initiatives that seek to improve the educational position of children from migrant and minority groups. The reviewed literature emanates primarily from four countries in which groups with a migrant background make up a significant proportion of the national and school-going populations: France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
Topic:
Education, Health, Minorities, Children, Marginalization, and Migrant Workers
Political Geography:
United Kingdom

10. Closed to Reason: The International Narcotics Board and HIV/AIDS

Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
In this report on the International Narcotics Control Board—a secretive UN-funded body responsible for monitoring compliance with the UN drug conventions—Daniel Wolfe, OSI International Harm Reduction Development Deputy Director, and Joanne Csete, Executive Director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, detail the ways in which the Board rejects scientific evidence and expert legal analyses, praises governments that violate human rights, and stresses drug control at the expense of public health, blocking evidence-based efforts to address the epidemic of HIV among injecting drug users. Closed to Reason offers recommendations to increase the Board's accountability and transparency and to make it an effective part of the international response to HIV/AIDS.
Topic:
HIV/AIDS, Health, United Nations, Narcotics Trafficking, and Legal Sector
Political Geography:
Global Focus