Global health law: defining the field

Abstract

This Introductory chapter attempts define the scope and normative foundations of global health law as an emerging field in international law. The author perceives global health law as a field consisting of a limited set of binding and non-binding instruments adopted in the framework of the World Health Organization (WHO), in an interaction with both hard and soft law standards recognized in other branches of international law, including human rights law, international humanitarian law, international environmental law, international trade, property and investment law. As such, global health law reflects an intricate patchwork of hard and soft law standards. The author asserts that human rights, given their normative value, have the potential to play an important role in giving expression to the normative foundations of global health law. Furthermore, the author tentatively discusses the emergence of a number of general principles in global health law, including health capability, equity, and solidarity.