Health and Human Rights: An International Journal
Vol. 6, No. 1

Articles

HIV- and AIDS-Related Stigma, Discrimination, and Human Rights
Miriam Maluwa, Peter Aggleton, and Richard Parker

Abstract
Against the backdrop of the developing global epidemics of HIV and AIDS, demands have been made for a radical scaling up of the international response. Central among the steps that need to be urgently taken are efforts to combat stigma and discrimination. This article offers a conceptual overview of the relationship between the stigma associated with HIV and AIDS and discrimination and human rights, with the goal of demonstrating the interconnectedness of these concerns and describing elements of a future, and potentially more effective, programmatic response.

The Last Resort: Exploring the Use of DNA Testing for Family Reunification
J. Taitz, J.E.M. Weekers, and D.T. Mosca

Abstract
Countries are increasingly using DNA testing to make determinations in family reunification cases in which available identity documentation is considered unsatisfactory. This practice raises a number of ethical issues: Families are not biological constructs, there is no universally recognized definition of “family,” test results may be extremely disruptive to the family unit, not everyone will be able to provide DNA test results on request, requests for testing may be discriminatory, and immigration officials may start rejecting previously acceptable documentation. The authors conclude that DNA technology can be useful in making decisions about family reunification, in cases that lack documentary evidence to establish a relationship, however, its use must be closely monitored. DNA testing should be reserved as an absolute last resort to facilitate family reunification in cases where it would otherwise not be achieved.

Challenges and Possibilities for Innovative Praxis in Health and Human Rights: Reflections from Peru
Alicia Ely Yamin

Abstract
Examples drawn from Peru suggest both challenges and possibilities for linking the health and human rights fields more systematically in a campaign for health as a basic question of social justice. Criteria that distinguish a human rights framework can be derived from an understanding of health as an issue of power relations as much as from biological or behavioral factors. A human rights approach to service delivery differs from conventional public health approaches and also raises challenges, such as balancing independence with collaboration with the governments. The implementation of the right to health also raises challenges for human rights groups, requiring them to go beyond their traditional, adversarial role and to work in coalitions that include elements of the government. The framework we use also determines our response to problems or abuses in the field, as evidenced by the case of involuntary sterilizations in Peru.

Lethal Injection and the Medicalization of Capital Punishment in the United States
Jonathan Groner

Abstract
The United States continues to enthusiastically practice capital punishment. Since 1976, nearly 800 people have been executed, including 35 mentally retarded individuals and 19 juvenile offenders. As of April 2002, more than 3,700 people awaited execution and, compared to the general population, were disproportionately poor, members of minorities, and mentally disabled. As the number of executions increased over the past decade, the “machinery of death” has relied more and more on lethal injection to make executions more “clinical” and thus acceptable to the public. At the dawn of World War II, Nazi physicians developed a “euthanasia program” that “medicalized” killing—creating an illusion of healing to justify killing—to eliminate Germany’s disadvantaged citizens. In the United States, as in Nazi Germany, state-sponsored killing has become dependent on physician complicity.

Cloning, Health, and Human Rights
Assumptions of Restrictive and Permissive Approaches to Human Reproductive Cloning
Stephen P. Marks

Abstract
The current debate over cloning and germline gene therapy is usually considered in terms of bioethics. The Council of Europe and UNESCO have, however, adopted normative instruments on the human genome, and one that draws heavily on human rights is under consideration at the United Nations. This article suggests the need for more thorough analysis of the underlying assumptions of the references to human rights in these instruments and of the various possible interpretations of the human rights affected by developments in biotechnology. The restrictive approach to genetic manipulation tends to assume the value of protecting the human genome as it is and acknowledges a welfare function of the state. The permissive approach, on the other hand, relies more on a utilitarian calculus of what is good for future generations and a neoliberal political and economic perspective of what the market will bear.

Human Dignity and Human Reproductive Cloning
Steven Malby

Abstract
Two major international instruments purport to ban human reproductive cloning (HRC) on the grounds that it is an affront to human dignity. A third, binding, international convention is planned. What does the concept of human dignity actually mean in international and constitutional law? Is HRC really incompatible with dignity? This article develops a key working model of our contemporary understanding of human dignity. Three different concepts of dignity give rise to the two major perspectives of subjective dignity and objective dignity. Analysis of HRC in the context of the model reveals conflicting results. Nonetheless, when considering the point of view of objective dignity, together with the possible motivations behind HRC, a defensible, conceptual argument can be made for grounding an international convention in dignity-based language.

Human Cloning and Human Rights: A Commentary
Carmel Shalev

Expert Group on Human Rights and Biotechnology convened by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Conclusions on Human Reproductive Cloning
UNHCHR's Expert Group on Human Rights and Biotechnology

Commentary

Torture and Ill-Treatment Based on Sexual Identity: The Roles and Responsibilities of Health Professionals and their Institutions
Simon Lewin and Ilan H. Meyer

Field Reports

Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights, and the Health Sector: Lessons from Latin America
Alessandra Guedes, Sarah Bott, Ana Güezmes, and Judith F. Helzner

Police Torture in Punjab, India: An Extended Survey
Ami Laws and Vincent Iacopino

Using an Internal Reconciliation Commission to Facilitate Transformation at a Health Sciences Faculty in Post-Apartheid South Africa: The Case of Witwatersrand Health Sciences Faculty
Tanya Goodman and Max Price