Abstract
Human rights discourse has greatly influenced advocacy for justice in public health. Yet, beyond rhetorical claims, how can we employ human rights to achieve the aspiration of health with justice? Without human rights education to support public health practice, human rights have become a shibboleth of public health—raised frequently to signal devotion to justice, but employed rarely in policy, programming, or practice. As advocates respond to the public health injustices of populist nationalism during an unprecedented pandemic, human rights education must be an essential foundation to hold governments accountable for implementing rights to safeguard public health.
Highlights
Human rights discourse has greatly influenced advocacy for justice in public health
By establishing international standards for health justice, human rights have been transformed from the rhetorical to the actionable, as legal obligations have been developed to realise the highest attainable standard of health.[1]. Governments have established these universal rights under inter national law through the UN, beginning in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and elaborated through an evolving range of health-related rights.[2]
By providing an external check on government efforts, these accountability mechanisms require government officials to show how they have either realised, or taken progressive steps to realise, their human rights obligations.[4]. This process identifies which aspects of health policy are insufficient or harmful, and provides opportunities for redress of health grievances, with human rights advocacy holding governments to account for imple menting international human rights law.[5]
Summary
Human rights discourse has greatly influenced advocacy for justice in public health. Yet, beyond rhetorical claims, how can we employ human rights to achieve the aspiration of health with justice? Without human rights education to support public health practice, human rights have become a shibboleth of public health—raised frequently to signal devotion to justice, but employed rarely in policy, programming, or practice. By establishing international standards for health justice, human rights have been transformed from the rhetorical to the actionable, as legal obligations have been developed to realise the highest attainable standard of health.[1] Governments have established these universal rights under inter national law through the UN, beginning in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and elaborated through an evolving range of health-related rights.[2] By structuring government responsibility for the promotion of health, international human rights law can translate calls for justice into public health action.
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