Rehabilitation and the Right to Health in Times of Transition

Abstract

The harm to health of victims of civil and political rights abuses has been a focus of some reparations programmes. Rehabilitation has been the primary form of reparation for harm to health. Is this current approach an appropriate response by reparations programmes to violations of the right to health during conflict or repression? Given the nature of right to health violations in conflict or repression, we suggest that reparations programmes should broaden their focus to also address not only the health consequences of civil and political rights violations, but also the destruction or neglect of the health system, and policies which harm health. We consider whether rehabilitation is the only suitable form of reparation for such abuses. We also consider the relationship between the fields of transitional justice and public health in periods of transition, including whether some conflict-related right to health violations should be addressed in the health sector rather than reparations programmes and, if so, how this can be done successfully.