The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Standard is in its fifth version since the first principles were agreed in 2003. The principles on which the EITI is based state that the wealth from a country’s natural resources should benefit all its citizens and that this requires high standards of transparency and accountability. Revenue transparency remains a fundamental aspect of the EITI. The requirements follow the extractive value chain order and cover: first oversight by the multi-stakeholder group, then legal and institutional frameworks, exploration and production, revenue collection, revenue allocation, and finally social and economic spending and outcomes. It encourages countries to make use of existing reporting systems for EITI data collection and make the results transparent at source, with recommendations on the actions to take and the plans for taking them. It raises that the identity of the real owners – the ‘beneficial owners’ – of the companies that have obtained rights to extract oil, gas and minerals will have to be disclosed from 2020. It introduces a new validation system which aims to better recognise efforts to exceed the EITI requirements and sets out fairer consequences for countries that have not yet achieved compliance.
Values, Policies and Rights
This report provides an analysis of research on cases of sterilisation of HIV positive women in Namibia. A series of focus groups and interviews produced evidence that the authors report suggesting that a number of HIV positive women were being forced into sterilisation by hospital staff. The research was conducted between 21 January 2008 and 22 of April 2008 with a total of 230 HIV positive women. Women participated in focus groups and interviews about their experiences. The analysis takes a rights-based approach and presents a detailed account of Namibia’s obligations under international and regional human rights law. The evidence from the focus groups is argued to indicate that these rights have been violated. The report uncovered many types of discrimination against HIV-positive mothers, such as being coerced into using injectable contraceptives, failure to obtain consent for sterilisation and obtaining consent under duress. The authors call on all relevant parties, especially the Ministries of Health and Justice, address this violation of human rights immediately.
This paper aims to contribute to the existing knowledge around a Framework Convention on Global Health (FCGH) from the perspective that any international legal framework conceptualisation on the right to health must involve those whose health is at stake, namely civil society. The two case studies, Senegal and South Africa, were used to look at the international right to health framework within in the context of civil society’s role in combating the HIV and AIDS epidemic. The findings illustrate that these two African states face different challenges regarding the realisation of the right to health in the context of HIV and AIDS, yet civil society has played an important role in both countries in realising the right to health. The authors show the diverse roles that an FCGH could play in empowering civil society, through the formulation of a global standard and framework on the right to health, in the form of an FCGH, particularly if it is as a result of a movement of rights education and advocacy from below.
The author presents the argument that Zimbabwe is at a critical juncture for health reform and argues that this reform should focus on repairing relationships with the international community by focusing on human rights and eliminating corruption; strengthening the health workforce through retention strategies, training, and non-specialist providers and strengthening community engagement to grow local leadership and ensure that interventions are socially and culturally sensitive.
The authors of this article warn that new vaccines are likely to be more complex and expensive than those that have been used so effectively in the past, and they could have a multifaceted effect on the disease that they are designed to prevent, as has already been seen with pneumococcal conjugate vaccines. Deciding which new vaccines a country should invest in therefore requires not only sound advice from international organisations such as the world Health Organisation (WHO) but also a well-informed national immunisation advisory committee with access to appropriate data for local disease burden. The authors discuss how the introduction of vaccines might need modification of immunisation schedules and delivery procedures and they outline progressive methods to finance new vaccines in low-income countries.
Global crises not only impact the economy and people's livelihoods, they also unsettle basic ideas and assumptions about the meaning and drivers of development. This collection of theoretical and empirical studies contributes to the global debate about the substance and politics of policy change three years into the 2007-2008 crisis. The authors examine the challenges and dynamics involved from the perspective of development and developing countries, engaging with some of the most pressing and contested issues. To what extent does the crisis provide an opportunity for moving away from the doctrines and policies that reinforced inequality and vulnerability? What new directions in policy, especially social policy, are required, and are developing countries moving in such directions? Are social forces and political coalitions supportive of transformative change able to mobilise? While the political underpinnings of policy change conducive to social reform - contestation, social mobilisation and coalition politics - are energised in the context of crises, the book shows that the nature of demands and the responsiveness of elites can vary considerably.
UNESCO’s Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (2005) was drawn up by an independent panel of experts (the International Bioethics Committee) and negotiated by member states. UNESCO aimed for a participatory and transparent drafting process, holding national and regional consultations and seeking the views of various interest groups, including religious and spiritual ones. Furthermore, reflecting UNESCO’s broad interpretation of bioethics, the IBC included medics, scientists, lawyers and philosophers among its membership. Nevertheless, several potential stakeholders - academic scientists and ethicists, government policy-makers and NGO representatives - felt they had not been sufficiently consulted or even represented during the Declaration’s development.
The Health Rights of Women Assessment Instrument (HeRWAI) is a strategic tool to enhance lobbying activities for better implementation of women's health rights. It can be used as a tool to analyse a wide range of policies, including those impacting but not directly addressing health issues. A HeRWAI analysis links what actually happens with what should happen according to the human rights obligations of a country. It examines local, national and international influences. The HeRWAI analysis consists of six steps, which analyse a policy that influences women's health rights. Each step consists of information and questions to guide the analysis.
Health systems have a crucial role in a multisector response to violence against women. Some countries have guidelines or protocols articulating this role and health-care workers are trained in some settings, but generally system development and implementation have been slow to progress. Substantial system and behavioural barriers exist, especially in low-income and middle-income countries. Violence against women was identified as a health priority in 2013 guidelines published by WHO and the 67th World Health Assembly resolution on strengthening the role of the health system in addressing violence, particularly against women and girls. In this Series paper, we review the evidence for clinical interventions and discuss components of a comprehensive health-system approach that helps health-care providers to identify and support women subjected to intimate partner or sexual violence. Five country case studies show the diversity of contexts and pathways for development of a health system response to violence against women. Although additional research is needed, strengthening of health systems can enable providers to address violence against women, including protocols, capacity building, effective coordination between agencies, and referral networks.
Established under Section 25 of the HIV Prevention and Control Act of 2006, the HIV and AIDS Tribunal of Kenya is the only HIV-specific statutory body in the world with the mandate to adjudicate cases relating to violations of HIV-related human rights. Yet, very limited research has been done on this tribunal. Based on findings from a desk research and semi-structured interviews of key informants conducted in Kenya, this article analyses the composition, mandate, procedures, practice, and cases of the tribunal with the aim to appreciate its contribution to the advancement of human rights in the context of HIV. It concludes that, after a sluggish start, the HIV and AIDS Tribunal of Kenya is now keeping its promise to advance the human rights of people living with and affected by HIV in Kenya, notably through addressing barriers to access to justice, swift ruling, and purposeful application of the law. The article, however, highlights various challenges still affecting the tribunal and its effectiveness, and cautions about the replication of this model in other jurisdictions without a full appraisal.