Activities
January–March 2000
Executive
Summary
For the
FXB Center, the first quarter of the year 2000 was the initial phase
of implementing the Strategic Plan that had been elaborated collectively
over the previous months. Accordingly, there was a conscious effort
to build new bridges with other schools and programs in the university,
to expand courses offered at Harvard and to outsiders, to sustain the
excellent contacts and collaboration with institutions like WHO, UNAIDS,
and the Nordic School of Public Health and build new ones with PAHO,
the International Peace Academy, and UNDP. It was especially a time
for launching the three program areas of international health (Sofia
Gruskin), humanitarian crises (Jennifer Leaning), and human development
(Stephen Marks). The
report will cover first the core activities in the areas of education
and training, linkages and partnerships, dissemination of information,
and staff matters, and then activities in each of the three substantive
programs.
Core
Activities
Education and Training
Academic Courses At Harvard
Center staff taught several courses in this period. Stephen
Marks created and taught his first HSPH course, a new course entitled
Health, Human Rights, and the International System, in C period. He
applied an innovative methodology, engaging the students in simulations
based on actual cases involving health and human rights in the international
context. Stephen Marks plans to offer the same course in the D period
next year. Sofia Gruskin taught both of her courses, Health and Human
Rights and Women, Gender and Health (with Nancy Krieger), in C period.
Jennifer Leaning taught her course Disaster Management (CD periods).
Other Presentations/Guest
Lectures
On January
12, Stephen Marks gave a talk on "Health and Human Rights as a
New Paradigm" at the invitation of James Ware, who is master of
Harvard’s Cabot House, at Cabot House.
On February
17, Jennifer Leaning gave a tutorial on Quality Improvement in Emergency
Medicine at Harvard. She gave a talk in the Weatherhead Center for International
Affairs Seminar Series titled "Human Rights and Ethnic Conflict:
The Case of Kosovo" on February 24. On March 23, she gave a presentation
with Claude Brüderlein titled "The Role of Non-State Actors
in Humanitarian Crises" at the Center for Population and Development
Studies.
University Committee
on Human Rights Studies
Stephen
Marks continues to serve on the multi-disciplinary University Committee
on Human Rights Studies. The members represent a wide range of human
rights-related work being done throughout the university. The committee
gained momentum and enthusiasm as a number of possible collaborative
projects continue to be discussed.
Beyond Harvard
Intensive
Course on Health and Human Rights
During
this period, Stephen Marks and Sofia Gruskin continued to plan the Intensive
Course on Health and Human Rights, along with co-faculty George Annas
and Michael Grodin from the Boston University School of Public Health’s
Health Law Department. The course is scheduled to take place June 26-28,
2000 at the Harvard School of Public Health. Progress was made on the
final program for the course (available at www.hsph.harvard.edu/ccpe/programs/ICHH.shtml).
PHR Student Conference
On March
4, 2000, Stephen Marks gave one of three keynote presentations titled
"Framing International Health and Human Rights Work" at "Making
the Links, Breaking the Chains: Health, Human Rights and a Role for
Students" (see below), a conference held at Harvard Medical School,
sponsored by Physicians for Human Rights and supported by the FXB Center.
Jennifer Leaning spoke on a panel at the conference addressing "The
Impact of War on Health and Human Rights: The Case of Kosovo."
Other Presentations/Guest
Lectures
On March
17, Sofia Gruskin taught a session on reproductive rights in a course
at Boston College on human rights and international systems.
On March 30,
2000, Stephen Marks gave a guest lecture at the United Nations in New
York City as a part of a course on Preventive Diplomacy and Conflict
Resolution in the United Nations entitled "Economic Sanctions as
Human Rights Violations: Reconciling Political and Humanitarian Imperatives,"
which he had originated the course before coming to Harvard.
FXB Center Linkages
and Partnerships
With
National and International Organizations
United
Nations
Now that
the Center’s Special Consultative Status has been confirmed, the Center
is able to participate in meetings of the various UN bodies whose work
is relevant to our programs.
On March 31,
Stephen Marks met with Shashi Tharoor, special advisor on human rights
to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and updated him on the Center’s
work, stressing the perspective of health and human rights as relevant
to the Secretary-General’s agenda.
American Public
Health Association
During
this period, planning continued for the annual APHA meeting, to be held
in Boston in November 2000. The Center has successfully negotiated two
exciting projects in association with the November meeting. First, FXB
Center faculty plan to offer a Continuing Education Institute for public
health professionals who attend the annual meeting. Proposed for Sunday,
November 12th, the CEI will offer a one-day intensive overview to health
and human rights. The official application for the CEI was in the APHA
review process during this period. Planning for the second project,
a panel in the plenary that Stephen Marks has agreed to chair, also
continued during this period. Stephen Marks, Sofia Gruskin, and Jennifer
Leaning assisted the APHA planners by providing a written conceptual
framework for the panel, as well as a list of potential panelists.
With NGOs
and Other Institutions
Consortium
for Health and Human Rights
The Consortium
continues to meet regularly, with Stephen Marks, Sofia Gruskin, and
Laura Horton in attendance at each meeting. Consortium members participated
in " Making the Links, Breaking the Chains: Health, Human Rights,
and a Role for Students," the second annual student conference
on health and human rights, held on March 4 at Harvard Medical School.
The conference was enthusiastically received by over 300 medical students
from across the country.
The Center
has also begun work on compiling an updated list of health and human
rights courses and syllabi around the world, for web and possible print
publication.
Physicians for
Human Rights
On March
14, Stephen Marks spoke to the entire staff of PHR as part of the Center’s
policy of consolidating relations with PHR.
Nordic School
of Public Health
On March
27, Stephen Marks and Jenna LeMieux met with Gudjon Magnusson, Dean
of the Nordic School of Public Health. A number of possible areas for
future collaboration were discussed, and both Professor Marks and Professor
Magnusson expressed a desire to continue the strong, positive relationship
between NSPH and FXBC.
International
Service for Human Rights
Stephen
Marks continues to coordinate the New York operation of this Geneva-based
NGO. Anne Lally handles the daily operations from the School of International
and Public Affairs of Columbia University in New York, including designating
students to cover UN events of interest to the FXB Center.
At HSPH and
Harvard
Africa
Now!
The Harvard
AIDS Institute, in collaboration with the FXB Center and other institutions,
will convene a summit on US-based responses to AIDS in Africa, bringing
together political, academic, and NGO-based leaders from Africa and
the US. The purpose of this meeting will be to develop effective strategies
for international collaboration to care for those affected by the epidemic,
as well as the creation of protocols for future action. Specifically,
American leaders from various walks of life will come to learn from
African leaders how the US could best respond to the African AIDS epidemic.
Stephen Marks
and Sofia Gruskin are both on the steering committee for the summit
and attended its meetings on January 28, February 8, and March 1.
Health
and Human Rights in Times of Peace and Times of Conflict
During
this period, intensive planning was done in preparation for the FXBC
event, "Health and Human Rights in Times of Peace and Conflict,"
to be held in New York City on April 12, 2000. The event, which will
bring together health and human rights professionals and business and
civic leaders who share an interest in securing health and human rights
for all people, will seek to raise awareness of timely health and human
rights issues and to generate a dialogue on practical steps to be taken.
The event will be hosted by HSPH and Albina du Boisrouvray.
Health Equity/Social
Justice/Human Rights
On February
11, Sofia Gruskin participated in a workshop at the Center for Population
and Development on the commonalities and differences between health
equity, social justice, and human rights. The workshop sought to bring
together various conceptual perspectives existing at and beyond Harvard,
with participants from HSPH, Harvard Law School, Johns Hopkins University,
and the Rockefeller Foundation.
Dissemination
of Information
Health
and Human Rights Journal
Work
continued on Vol. 4, No. 2, the special theme issue on reproductive
and sexual rights. This issue has been planned to coincide with the
culmination of the five-year review of the Beijing Fourth World Conference
on Women. Contributors include Nafis Sadik, UN Under-Secretary-General
and Executive Director of UNFPA; Rosalind Petchesky; Tomris Türmen,
Alice M. Miller; Carmel Shalev; Marlene Fried; Bonnie Shepard; Barbara
Klugman; and Judit Sándor. In this period, final editing and
production was completed, and the issue was sent to the printer.
Fundraising
for the journal remained a priority. We were delighted to receive a
grant of $25,000 from the MacArthur Foundation toward production and
distribution of this special theme issue in this period. Center staff
also continued to approach other foundations, corporate donors, and
development agencies in an attempt to raise additional funds for future
operations.
FXB Center
Seminar Series
In
this period, the Seminar Series presented several speakers:
- Rakesh Rajani
(Fellow, Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies and
Human Rights Program, Harvard Law School; Former Executive Director,
Kuleana Center for Child Rights, Mwanza, Tanzania), "Child Rights
in Tanzania: A Political Perspective" (March 17, 2000)
- Sanjani Varkey
and Mbangi Dzhivani (Women's Health Project, University of the Witwatersrand,
South Africa), "The Women's Health Project: Lessons from the South"
(March 16, 2000)
- Changiz Geula
and John Woodall (Harvard Medical School), "Health Care and Human
Rights: The Case of the Baha'is in Iran" (February 24, 2000)
- Jennifer Leaning
(Professor of International Health, HSPH), "Ethical and Human Rights
Dilemmas in Humanitarian Aid" (February 10, 2000)
Staff and Administration
Jenna
LeMieux
Jenna
LeMieux joined the FXB Center as Assistant to the Director. She will
be assisting Stephen Marks in all aspects of the work of the Director’s
Office and in developing the Program on Human Development, as well as
certain Center-wide projects.
Program
Activities
Program
on International Health and Human Rights
Linkages
and Partnerships: HSPH and Harvard
HSPH
Working Group on Women, Gender and Health
The HSPH
Working Group on Women, Gender and Health (WGH) continues to meet monthly.
The Working Group has continued to follow up on its report on teaching
and research on gender and health at HSPH and other public health schools,
prepared for the HSPH administration this past fall. In addition, the
Working Group provided some support for the development of a new women,
gender and health tutorial, WGH 201d: Women, Gender and Power: Reproductive
and Mental Health Across the Lifecycle, to be offered during the D period.
Finally, a mechanism for responding to inquiries about women, gender
and health studies at the school was agreed upon.
Enhancing HIV/AIDS
Care Initiative (ECI)
This project
is jointly carried out by the Harvard AIDS Institute, the FXB Center,
other entities within Harvard, and counterpart institutions in Brazil,
Senegal, Thailand, and South Africa. ECI has been developing a conceptual
framework on how to assess, plan for, and evaluate care for people living
with HIV/AIDS, which includes human rights and gender-sensitive approaches.
In this period,
attention was focused on a meeting to be held in Brazil at the end of
March, bringing together the four teams to determine common monitoring
and evaluation criteria, as well as to begin preparations for the XIII
International Conference on AIDS, to be held in Durban, South Africa
on July 9–14, 2000. Finally, specific work has begun with each team
to ensure solid integration of human rights concepts with respect to
analysis of assessment information collected and the determination of
the proper intervention.
Also in this
period, much attention was paid to hiring of new staff and restructuring
of ECI work within Harvard and in relation to the sites.
Linkages and
Partnerships: National and International Institutions
UNAIDS
Sofia
Gruskin continues to work extensively with UNAIDS, including leading
efforts around the UNAIDS Human Rights Strategy and participating in
discussions and efforts toward enunciation of the Global AIDS Strategy.
Karen Plafker
continues to work on drafting the Vulnerability Modules and other materials
relevant to work on children in the context of HIV/AIDS. She also began
research on the human rights strategies of the UNAIDS cosponsors to
help provide sufficient background information for focus groups and
other concrete work on the strategy.
Also in this
period, an interim progress report was sent to UNAIDS.
UN Committee
on the Rights of the Child
Karen
Plafker and Sofia Gruskin traveled to Geneva to meet with UNAIDS and
the Committee on the Rights of the Child in a closed session to present
the final draft of the booklet Human Rights and the Prevention and
Care of HIV/AIDS in Children and Young People and an outline for
the next project to be done for them in conjunction with UNAIDS: the
Reference Handbook on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and
HIV/AIDS. This handbook is intended to serve as a basic reference
source for the CRC in its discussions with States parties on the rights
of the child in the context of HIV/AIDS. It will also contain information
on best practices. A draft will be presented to the committee at their
fall meeting.
WHO
The program
continues its collaboration with various departments of WHO, including
Reproductive Health, Women’s Health, Substance Use, HIV/AIDS, Children’s
Health, and the newly created health and human rights unit.
In this period,
the document "A Human Rights Framework for Preventing Psychoactive
Substance Use by Youth, in the Context of Urbanization," prepared
by Sofia Gruskin, Karen Plafker, and doctoral student Allison Smith,
was presented at a February meeting in Kobe, Japan concerning future
research directions for the WHO Substance Use Division. It reportedly
served as the framework for much of the work of the meeting. Discussion
began in this period on the possibility of WHO’s using the paper as
the framework for a large multi-country study to assess the vulnerability
of youth in the context of substance use.
Centers for Disease
Control
Sofia
Gruskin continues to serve as a technical advisor to the three CDC-funded
projects on structural interventions to reduce HIV incidence.
Linkages and
Partnerships: NGOs
Operationalizing
Cairo and Beijing: A Training Initiative in Gender and Reproductive
Health
This leadership
training initiative, conducted in partnership with the World Health
Organization and the Women’s Health Project, University of the Witwatersrand,
South Africa, has created a pilot course that has run three times in
South Africa, as well as in China, Australia, Argentina, and Kenya,
in preparation for production of a global curriculum next year.
The Regional
Evaluation Workshop (REW) took place in March in Heidelberg, Germany.
In addition to the Coordinating Committee, two representatives from
each of the training institutions came together to plan the contents,
structure, and work plan for production of the global curriculum. The
sense of community was excellent, and much was accomplished on revising
input into the curriculum. Work continues in this period on preparation
of the reproductive rights module. The Coordinating Committee will meet
in Bellagio, Italy in May to compare and edit drafts of the different
sections of the curriculum and the final version, which will be field-tested
in South Africa.
Women’s Health
Project
In this
period, two members of the Women’s Health Project traveled to Boston.
Several events were held in their honor and to raise money for their
efforts. Invited by South Africa Partners, Sofia Gruskin served as a
member of the Host Committee for a range of activities, including a
March 9 forum on health care for women of diverse backgrounds titled
"Sisters Crossing Bridges," presenting the WHP members along
with Sheila Sisulu, South African Ambassador to the United States.
Amnesty International
The FXB
Center continues to engage in a number of activities with Amnesty International,
both nationally and internationally. Sofia Gruskin continues her involvement
as a member of the U.S. Board of Directors and ombudsperson for the
organization. In March, she participated in the AIUSA Annual Meeting,
which focused on women’s human rights, as well as a board meeting.
FXBC Publications
Health
and Human Rights: A Reader
Health
and Human Rights: A Reader was chosen by The Humanitarian Times
as the number 2 book in its Top Ten Humanitarian Books of the Last Year,
1999. The next issue of the Harvard Public Health Review will
feature the reader in its Bookshelf column. Discussions have begun on
publication of a second expanded edition.
Contributions
to Other Publications
AIDS
Orphans Chapter
Sofia
Gruskin and Daniel Tarantola have agreed to write a chapter on human
rights in relation to children orphaned by AIDS for The Orphaned
Generation, edited by Carole Levine and Geoff Foster, to be published
by Cambridge University Press.
The Jurisprudence
of Human Rights Law
"The
Right To Privacy: Some Implications for Confidentiality in the Context
of HIV/AIDS," a chapter completed by Sofia Gruskin and Aart Hendriks
over a year ago, was finally published in the book The Jurisprudence
of Human Rights Law: A Comparative Interpretive Approach, edited
by Theodore S. Orlin, Allan Rosas, and Martin Scheinin and published
by Syracuse University Press. The book also contains pieces on the death
penalty, indigenous land rights, euthanasia and assisted suicide, nondiscrimination
in the field of social security, and Holocaust denial and freedom of
expression.
Family Health
International
In this
period, Sofia Gruskin and Daniel Tarantola completed a chapter for Family
Health International titled "HIV/AIDS, Health and Human Rights,"
for publication in HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Programs in Resource-Constrained
Settings: A Handbook for the Design and Management of Programs,
edited by Peter Lamptey of FHI, Helene Gayle of CDC, and Purnima Mane
of UNAIDS.
Oxford Textbook
of Public Health
In this
period, Sofia Gruskin and Daniel Tarantola devoted much writing time
to drafting and completing the chapter "Health and Human Rights"
for the Oxford Textbook of Public Health. This chapter brings
together current thinking, concepts, approaches, and methods in the
field.
Program
on Humanitarian Crises and Human Rights
Linkages and
Partnerships: HSPH and Harvard
Expert
Assessment Team on Sanctions
Jennifer
Leaning has been working to develop an expert assessment team to evaluate
the humanitarian impact of sanctions. The core team has met several
times.
Emergency Medicine
Fellowships on Disasters and War
Jennifer
Leaning is working with partners at Harvard Medical School and the Brigham
and Women’s Hospital to develop a year-long fellowship in the Department
of Emergency Medicine at BWH.
Linkages and
Partnerships: National and International Institutions
UNICEF
In this
period, UNICEF approved Jennifer Leaning’s proposal for a project on
sanctions in Zanzibar, focusing on civilian impacts in the areas of
health, education, and women’s lives. The project is now underway.
Linkages and
Partnerships: NGOs
Médecins
Sans Frontières
In March,
Jennifer Leaning traveled to Brussels to lead a week-long training of
MSF leadership in humanitarian emergencies and human rights dilemmas.
International
Peace Academy
On February
28, Jennifer Leaning and Stephen Marks met with John Hirsh, Vice-President
of the IPA, to review possible modes of collaboration on a planned FXBC
project relating to the implementation of sanctions. This meeting built
upon contacts that Jennifer Leaning and Stephen Marks have had with
the president of IPA and other staff on this project.
Advisory Group
on Research Priorities in Emergencies
Jennifer
Leaning continues to participate in the ethics subgroup of this advisory
group, which has been discussing informed consent issues.
Conferences
and Meetings
Johns
Hopkins Center for Civilian Bioterrorism Defense
On March
16, Jennifer Leaning co-chaired a joint meeting between HSPH and the
Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Bioterrorism Defense on issues of
bioterrorism with relevance to schools of public health.
Harvard Law School
All-University Symposium
Jennifer
Leaning organized and chaired a panel on public health and the environment
in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe for the Harvard Law School
All-University Symposium "Ten Years after the Fall," held
on February 11–12.
International
Health Systems Group
Jennifer
Leaning continues to work with the International Health Systems Group
(IHSG) at HSPH on a training program in Kosovo to take place in spring
2000.
Contributions
to Publications
Medicine
and Global Survival
In January,
Jennifer Leaning traveled to the UK for an editorial board meeting of
Medicine and Global Survival.
Physicians for
Human Rights
Jennifer
Leaning has contributed to a report by Physicians for Human Rights on
medical human rights violations in Kosovo.
Crimes of War
project
Jennifer
Leaning has contributed an analysis of human rights issues to the Crimes
of War project, which has been accepted for posting at http://www.crimesofwar.
org/.
Program
on Human Rights and Sustainable Human Development
Linkages and
Partnerships: HSPH and Harvard
Institute
for Health and Social Justice
Stephen
Marks attended the conference organized by the Institute for Health
and Social Justice and Partners in Health on "Dying for Growth,"
which also launched a book of the same title.
Linkages and
Partnerships: National and International Institutions
United
Nations Development Programme
During
this period, Stephen Marks completed a grant proposal for submission
to the HURIST program of the UNDP. The project proposes to establish
a small-scale project applying a human rights approach to development
in Cambodia, and is meant to be the first of several country-specific
projects on sustainable human development.
A similar
proposal is to be submitted with regard to Ghana, on which Stephen Marks
held several consultations with HSPH faculty and outside experts.
Conferences
and Meetings
Pan
American Health Organization
On February
18–20, Stephen Marks participated in a consultative group meeting in
Puerto Rico organized by the Family Health and Population Program, the
Aging and Health Unit, and the Bioethics Program of PAHO on "Ethical
Issues for Population Aging in the Americas."
Contributions
to Publications
Human
Development Report 2000
On February
21, Stephen Marks participated in the second meeting of the panel of
advisors to the HDR 2000, which will be devoted to human rights.