Activities July–September 2000

Executive Summary
The period under review covers the summer months, during which the Center continued to consolidate the three programs and explore new avenues for expanding research, education, and advocacy on health and human rights. We expanded our staff by adding a new receptionist/staff assistant to Stephen Marks, as well as two visiting fellows who will be carrying out exciting projects: one a quantitative study on people in war, and the other on sexual and reproductive health and women's rights in Latin America.
      Within the Harvard community, the new course on Human Rights and Development was launched and was available to students not only from HSPH but also from the Kennedy School of Government and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts).
      Center faculty were on the road during much of this period and made presentations at the XIIIth International AIDS Conference in Durban; a Swiss conference on statistics, development, and human rights; the National Academy of Sciences Roundtable on Demographics of Forced Migration; a UNDP headquarters staff training; the NGO Coalition on Human Rights, Trade and Investment; and other events.
      Articles for the journal Health and Human Rights Vol. 5, No. 1, were written on such issues as women’s mental health and human rights, sex workers in India, HIV/AIDS issues in South Africa, informed consent, and NGO action on the right to health in Latin America.
      As usual, this report will first cover the core activities in education, training, linkages, and information before outlining salient events under each of the three programs during the third quarter of 2000.

Core Activities
Education and Training
At Harvard
In this period, fall courses began. Stephen Marks is teaching a new course called Development and Human Rights, with approximately 25 students enrolled from HSPH, the Kennedy School, and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
      Jennifer Leaning has worked with two colleagues to develop a course on responses to epidemic disease and bioterrorism. The draft proposal, with syllabus, has been submitted to the HSPH/PIH curriculum committee.

Intensive Course on Health and Human Rights
Stephen Marks, Jennifer Leaning, and Sofia Gruskin met with our partners at BU on August 2 and September 18 to review the June 2000 course and begin planning for a similar course next June.

Presentations/Guest Lectures
In September, Jennifer Leaning gave a seminar on conflict resolution and war at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.

Beyond Harvard
USAID Course
During this period, the Center was asked by USAID to consider teaching a series of courses on health and human rights, geared toward a mix of field and Washington-based USAID personnel. Both Stephen Marks and Sofia Gruskin agreed to be a part of the course faculty and course development. They also recommended other faculty for the course.

Presentations/Guest Lectures
Sofia Gruskin made a number of presentations at the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa. On July 7, she served as discussant and rapporteur on women’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS at a July 7 satellite meeting titled “Putting Third First: Critical Legal Issues and HIV/AIDS” (see below). On July 10, she prepared a joint address with Daniel Tarantola titled “The Emphasis on Human Rights Facilitates Effective HIV Strategies and Social Responses” at a panel on prevention and human rights. On July 12, she co-chaired a panel with Purnima Mane titled “Public Health and Human Rights,” which drew on country experiences in the field of HIV/AIDS and human rights.
      On September 1, Sofia Gruskin gave an academic seminar at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, titled “Concepts and Implementation of Health and Human Rights: A Global Perspective” as part of the Leadership Course in Gender and Reproductive Health (see below).
      On September 4–8, Sofia Gruskin attended the International Association for Official Statistics (IAOS) 2000 Conference on Statistics, Development, and Human Rights in Montreux, Switzerland, where she served as a discussant on a WHO panel chaired by Daniel Tarantola and titled “Statistics through a Health and Human Rights Lens.”
      On September 28–29, Sofia Gruskin traveled to Geneva to serve as one of two outside presenters for a WHO seminar titled “Transforming Health Systems: Gender and Rights in Reproductive Health: A Curriculum for Health Managers.” The seminar introduced WHO staffers to the themes of the full three-week Leadership Course in Gender and Reproductive Health (previously known as Operationalizing Cairo and Beijing: A Training Initiative in Gender and Reproductive Health). Sofia Gruskin presented some of the general foundational concepts of the course and provided training on human rights and reproductive rights to WHO staff.
      In September, Jennifer Leaning traveled to Washington, DC to give a presentation on population protection in flight from war at the National Academy of Sciences Roundtable on Demography of Forced Migration.

FXB Center Linkages and Partnerships
With NGOs and Other Institutions

American Public Health Association
During this period, planning continued for the annual APHA meeting, to be held in Boston in November 2000. On November 12, FXBC faculty will teach a Continuing Education Institute titled “Human Rights for Public Health Professionals,” which will offer a one-day intensive overview of health and human rights during the annual APHA meeting.
      Planning also continued for the panel Stephen Marks is chairing on Wednesday, November 15. The panel will deal with the relevance of international human rights to domestic issues of health disparities.
      Finally, Stephen Marks, Sofia Gruskin, and Jennifer Leaning will serve as panelists in a two-part panel on health and human rights, to be chaired by George Annas of the BU School of Public Health.

Consortium for Health and Human Rights
The Consortium continues to meet regularly. In this period, members prepared for the APHA annual meeting in November. The two-part health and human rights panel (see above) will consist largely of Consortium members. Stephen Marks was in regular contact with the chair of the International Human Rights Committee of APHA to ensure that the Statement of Principles presented at the annual meeting responded to the concerns of the Consortium.
      On behalf of the Consortium, FXBC is continuing its project of compiling an updated list of health and human rights courses and syllabi around the world, for web and possible print publication. While the project was on hold during the summer, it will resume now that HSPH students have returned and work-study students are available to carry out the research.

Global Health Assembly, April 2001
During this period, planning continued for the global health assembly to be held April 12–15, 2001, titled “Advancing the Right to Health,” which FXBC is cosponsoring along with the University of Iowa’s Center for Human Rights, led by Burns Weston, and a number of other local groups in the health and medical communities.

International NGO Coalition on Human Rights, Trade and Investment (INCHRITI)
On August 19, Stephen Marks spoke at an INCHRITI workshop on the relationship of economic, social, and cultural rights to international trade, finance, and investment. This event was held at the Palais Wilson (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) with the cosponsorship of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

At HSPH and Harvard
Africa Now!
The Harvard AIDS Institute, in collaboration with the FXB Center and other partners, will convene a summit on U.S.-based responses to AIDS in Africa, bringing together political, academic, and NGO-based leaders from Africa and the U.S. in November 2000. The purpose of this meeting will be to develop effective strategies for international collaboration on prevention and care for those affected by the epidemic, as well as the creation of protocols for future action.
      Stephen Marks and Sofia Gruskin are both on the steering committee for the summit. In this period, and in conjunction with the Durban conference, a number of preparatory meetings were held at Harvard and elsewhere. Sofia Gruskin had meetings at UNAIDS with a number of people to ensure their support and to explore how the summit could best support the International Partnership against AIDS in Africa.

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
On July 25 and September 12, Jennifer Leaning and Stephen Marks met with Professor Herb Kelman, Director of the Program on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution (PICAR), and Donna Hicks, Deputy Director of PICAR, to discuss a possible joint project under the Weatherhead Initiative. This initiative supports interfaculty projects for one year.

HSPH Working Group on Women, Gender and Health
The HSPH Working Group on Women, Gender and Health (WGH) continues to meet monthly to discuss ways to foster the advancement of these issues in at the School. 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. The revised informational brochure has been completed, and plans are underway for several fall activities to ensure visibility for the working group’s efforts in the fall.

Dissemination of Information
Health and Human Rights Journal
During this period, work progressed on Vol. 5, No. 1, which will cover topics including women’s mental health and human rights, sex workers in India, HIV/AIDS and other health issues in South Africa, informed consent issues in a study involving survivors of Srebrenica, and NGO efforts to protect and promote the right to health in Latin America.
      A call for papers was issued for Vol. 5, No. 2, a special issue on children’s health and human rights to appear in 2001, which will present a wide variety of conceptual work and practical applications. We have received a number of submissions already.
      Vol. 4, No. 2: Reproductive and Sexual Rights also continues to generate positive feedback and many special orders from colleagues. Fundraising for the journal remained a priority, and Center staff continued to work to raise additional funds for future operations.
      Also in this period, the journal Medicine, Conflict & Survival published a highly favorable review of Vol. 3, No. 2: 50th Anniversary of the UDHR, praising the issue as “a clear, vivid and scholarly picture of the . . . state of the world today.” The review singled out for particular notice the contributions from Mary Robinson and Gro Harlem Brundtland, as well as the case studies on refugees in Germany (Christian Pross), women in Afghanistan (Vincent Iacopino and Zohra Rasekh), and medical ethics in South Africa (Leonard Rubenstein and Leslie London).

Health and Human Rights in Times of Peace and Conflict
The FXB Center is preparing to publish the proceedings of this symposium, held on April 12, 2000, in New York. In this period, the transcripts were edited and sent to panelists for review.

Working Papers Series
In this period, the FXB Center initiated a revival of its working papers series. We expect to publish at least four working papers before the end of the fall semester.

Health and Human Rights: A Reader
The next issue of the Harvard Public Health Review, to appear in December, will feature the reader in its Bookshelf column.

FXB Center Seminar Series
In this period, the 2000–01 Seminar Series presented its first speaker of the academic year: Stephen Marks spoke on “Health and Human Rights: Priorities for a Global Agenda” on September 26.The talk was warmly received by a large audience of students, faculty, and members of the public.

Staff and Administration 
Gilbert Holleufer
Gilbert Holleufer, of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), joined the Center as a visiting fellow in the Program on Humanitarian Crises and Human Rights. He will be working with Jennifer Leaning on preparing an in-depth analysis of the results the ICRC has obtained from its project on People in War.

Bonnie Shepard
Bonnie Shepard, a freelance consultant, writer, and researcher (see her contribution to Health and Human Rights Vol. 4, No. 2), also joined the FXB Center as a visiting fellow in the Program on International Health and Human Rights. Her work focuses on topics related to sexual and reproductive health and rights and women’s rights, particularly in Latin America. Currently, she is team leader of an assessment of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's adolescent reproductive health program. This year she is also working under contract to Praeger, an imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, to finish her book of case studies of innovative sexual and reproductive health programs in Latin America.

Karen Plafker
Research Specialist Karen Plafker left the Center to become a program officer with the Soros Foundation in New York. We wish her well in this new position.

Catlin Rockman
Also in this period, Catlin Rockman left her staff position as editorial assistant for Health and Human Rights to pursue a full-time painting career. She will continue to work as a design and layout freelancer for the journal, Center brochures, and other projects. Her circulation duties will be assumed by a work-study student.

Mindy Roseman
Mindy Roseman, formerly with the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, has joined the Program on International Health and Human Rights as a research specialist. Her background is in international reproductive and sexual rights and health, as well as women’s rights. She will be working with Sofia Gruskin on many of the ongoing projects with UNAIDS and WHO, as well as developing new ones.

Judianne Urmaza and Cevero Gonzalez
In this period, staff assistant Judianne Urmaza left the FXB Center to train for a nursing career. Cevero Gonzalez joined the Center as her replacement; he will assist Stephen Marks, Jennifer Leaning, and the Center at large with administration.

Program Activities
Program on International Health and Human Rights

Linkages and Partnerships: HSPH and Harvard
Enhancing 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 and practical framework on how to assess, plan for, and evaluate care for people living with HIV/AIDS, which includes human rights and gender-sensitive approaches. Sofia Gruskin, one of the four Harvard investigators, supports management of the Initiative, works with each of the teams to ensure consistency in research and integrating human rights with their research agendas.
      Much preparatory work and many meetings were held in conjunction with the XIII International AIDS Conference, held in Durban, South Africa on July 9–14, 2000. At the conference, meetings were held collectively and with individual teams on July 8 to review the current status of each team’s research, review monitoring and evaluation efforts with respect to each team’s research, and discuss lessons learned thus far, as well as future directions and next steps.
      ECI also convened members of the International HIV/AIDS Care Resource Group and members of the Enhancing Care Initiative AIDS Care Teams for a joint meeting. AIDS Care Team members and representatives provided an overview on the progress of their team’s research activities and current needs. The discussions centered on utilizing the collective capabilities of those present through direct communications between the AIDS Care Teams and the Resource Group regarding research methodologies, resources, and other ways the resource group could best interact with the teams.
      Members of the South African AIDS Care Team and the Harvard ECI Team convened prior to the conference and then again on July 14–15 to discuss the team’s research efforts to date, review research protocols and objectives, and establish timelines related to objectives. Team leadership and expansion were discussed, as well as a needs assessment to determine the team’s technology requirements.
      In addition, several poster presentations were made as part of the official conference to inform participants of the research findings of the Brazil team.

Linkages and Partnerships: National and International Institutions
UNAIDS
Sofia Gruskin continues to work extensively with UNAIDS, including leading the UNAIDS Human Rights Strategy and fully participating in discussions and efforts toward enunciation of the Global AIDS Strategy, which is to be completed by November. She spent most of September in Geneva on this work. She was tasked with setting up the mechanisms and to coordinate the input from NGO partners, UN partners, country and regional experts, and thematic experts to ensure the broadest possible input into the strategy, and then to harmonize the responses received with the existing draft. Over 60 comments worldwide were received on the draft strategy, in what was a simultaneously exhilarating and frustrating experience. The document will be finalized in the coming months and brought to the Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) at the December meeting for approval.
      Also in this period, a preliminary draft of the Reference Handbook on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and HIV/AIDS was completed and is being revised. 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. The draft will be reviewed by UNAIDS and, once changes have been made, presented to the committee at one of their next meetings.

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. Sofia Gruskin has been slated to serve as an External Advisor on Health and Human Rights for the organization, which entails offering substance and technical assistance when requested.
      In this period, the following current and projected areas of collaboration were determined:

• Production of an annotated bibliography on health and human rights, with updates to be done each year for two years. The objective of the bibliography is to provide concrete evidence of research on the links between health and human rights, as well as to identify the gaps where additional research needs to be done.
• Identification of health and human rights actors and institutions doing work at the community, country, and global level. The surveys will be sent out in mid-October 2000. This information will be stored in an online database.
• Support for WHO’s strategy for interaction with the Human Rights Treaty Bodies, which will seek to bring more consistency to the organization’s approach to working with the various bodies on reporting, questioning, and establishing indicators. In this period, Sofia Gruskin met with a number of people at WHO on interacting with the Treaty Bodies. A full day of meetings were held on August 9 with key individuals at WHO headquarters to discuss using the treaty bodies in the work of WHO.
• Guidance on the integration of human rights in the WHO initiative “Making Pregnancy Safer” (formerly the “Safe Motherhood Initiative”) in Mozambique. This is the first time that human rights will form an integral part of a WHO in-country project from analysis and design to implementation and monitoring of proposed interventions.
• Joint production of a paper on poverty, equity, health, and human rights with a noted economist recruited by WHO for this purpose.

Centers for Disease Control
Sofia Gruskin continues to serve as a technical advisor to three CDC-funded projects taking place within the U.S. 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 four times in South Africa, as well as in China, Australia, Argentina, and Kenya, in preparation for production of a global curriculum in 2001.
      The final version of the written curriculum, titled “Gender and Rights: Transforming Health Systems,” was field-tested in South Africa on August 28–September 15, with uninitiated trainers using the curriculum to teach the course. Sofia Gruskin traveled to South Africa to help preside at the opening of the course and to facilitate the necessary changes toward production of the curriculum.

Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network/AIDS Law Project
In relation to the Durban AIDS Conference, Sofia Gruskin served as an advisor to a July 7 satellite meeting of the XIII International AIDS Conference titled “Putting Third First: Critical Legal Issues and HIV/AIDS.” The meeting was organized by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and the AIDS Law Project, South Africa and co-hosted by UNAIDS. It brought together over 125 lawyers from around the world to discuss current legal issues in HIV/AIDS. Sofia Gruskin served as an external reviewer for the background paper on women’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and worked to support integration of these issues into the conference. She also served as rapporteur for the working group addressing these issues and presented the working group’s conclusions to the meeting participants. The proceedings and documents from this meeting will be published by UNAIDS in the coming months.

Amnesty International
The FXB Center continues to engage in a number of activities with Amnesty International, both nationally and internationally. Sofia Gruskin has served as a member of the U.S. Board of Directors for six years. Her term is now complete. She remains a member of the AIUSA Mandate Committee and has agreed to be responsible for coordinating the AIUSA section’s approach to economic, social, and cultural rights.

Contributions to Publications
The Lancet
In this period, Sofia Gruskin coauthored a piece in The Lancet with Bebe Loff concerning the recent adoption by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of General Comment 14 on the Right to Health. The piece, titled “Getting Serious about the Right to Health,” draws attention to the innovative nature of the General Comment and the utility of its provisions for improving state accountability for both the underlying conditions necessary for health and the delivery of health services.

WHO Paper
In this period, Sofia Gruskin, Karen, and doctoral student Allison Smith neared completion on their paper “A Human Rights Framework for Preventing Psychoactive Substance Use by Youth, in the Context of Urbanization,” which had been presented at a February WHO meeting in Kobe, Japan. This paper is being revised to provide a historical and legal background and offer strategic directions for policy and program managers involved in this area. The paper will be submitted for publication sometime in the next several months.

Program on Humanitarian Crises and Human Rights

Linkages and Partnerships: HSPH and Harvard
Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research
Jennifer Leaning chairs the Advisory Committee for this program, based at the Harvard School of Public Health, which was launched this fall. The program was highlighted in a fundraising event in New York City on September 28, organized by Claude Brüderlein, the Swiss Representative to the UN, for Harvard Law School as a demonstration of Switzerland’s ongoing interest in shaping an international consciousness at 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 continues to meet, and a report on feasibility for UNICEF is in preparation.

Emergency Medicine Program on International and Disaster Medicine
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. The first postgraduate fellow completed an independent study in Kosovo in September, supervised by Jennifer Leaning, and has been accepted for a practical intensive course in complex emergencies conducted in South Africa. She will then spend about four months working with an international relief organization in an apprenticeship mode. Jennifer Leaning is working with the director of this HMS/Brigham program to plan the expansion of this program to include several fellows for next year.

Linkages and Partnerships: National and International Institutions
Partition of India Project
Also in this period, Jennifer Leaning began a study on the feasibility of undertaking a large project on the effects of the partition of India. The project would be done in collaboration with the MIT-Mellon Program on Forced Migration.

Linkages and Partnerships: NGOs
Médecins sans Frontières
In this period, Jennifer Leaning worked on revising a proposal on collaboration between MSF and FXBC.

MSF-Holland
Also in this period, Jennifer Leaning completed a consultation involving review of the MSF-Holland manual on Rapid Field Assessment from a human rights perspective.

Mellon Foundation
Jennifer Leaning is preparing a grant application to the Mellon Foundation for the development of a curriculum at HSPH on humanitarian crises, beginning with the MPH program and then expanding to the two-year programs.

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.

Publications
The Environmental Consequences of War
In this period, Jennifer Leaning’s chapter “Public Health and Environmental Consequences of War” appeared in The Environmental Consequences of War: Legal, Economic and Scientific Perspectives, edited by Carl Bruch and Jay Austin and published by Cambridge University Press.

USAID
In this period, Jennifer Leaning completed a working paper for USAID on human security and submitted it to the Crisis and Transition Unit of USAID’s African Bureau.

Physicians for Human Rights
Jennifer Leaning has contributed to a report by Physicians for Human Rights on medical human rights violations in Kosovo, due out early in 2001.

Crimes of War project
Jennifer Leaning has contributed an analysis of human rights issues to the Crimes of War project, which is posted at http://www.crimesofwar.org/essays.html.

Program on Human Rights in Human Development

Right to Development Project
The Right to Development Project (RTDP) will be the cornerstone of the Center’s Program on Human Rights in Development for the coming two years. It is a cooperative effort between the Center and the UN Independent Expert on the Right to Development, Dr. Arjun Sengupta. Stephen Marks continued to work out the conceptualization of the project with Dr. Sengupta and to discuss support from the Government of the Netherlands. It is anticipated that six country studies will be conducted and research carried out in New Delhi, Geneva, and Boston.

Linkages and Partnerships: National and International Institutions
United Nations Development Programme
During this period, discussions continued regarding the grant proposal submitted to the HURIST program of UNDP. The project proposes to establish an operational dimension to the RTDP through small-scale projects applying a human rights–based approach to development in Cambodia and Ghana, as the first of several country-specific projects on sustainable human development.

Conferences and Meetings
United Nations Development Programme
Stephen Marks was invited to speak at a training program for staff at the United Nations Development Programme headquarters in New York City on July 8. His presentation was titled “The Human Rights Framework: Its Relevance for Development.” The session was web-cast to UNDP staff worldwide and is accessible on UNDP’s web site at www.undp.org/bom/hrworkshop/ hrarchive.html. He used this opportunity for collaboration with UNDP to advance discussions regarding his rights-based development project.

International Project on the Right to Food in Development
On August 21–22, Stephen Marks participated in the International Encounter on the Right to Food and Nutrition, held in Geneva and sponsored by the Norwegian Institute of Human Rights. He chaired a session at which intergovernmental organizations explored ways of coordinating their work on food and nutrition with the Right to Adequate Food in Development Project. He also used this occasion to discuss future collaboration with the Norwegian Institute in the context of the Human Rights in Development program.

Contributions to Publications
Princeton Project on Universal Jurisdiction
During this period, Stephen Marks continued research for his contribution to the Princeton Project on Universal Jurisdiction. His paper is about the case of Hissène Habré and efforts to hold him accountable for the torture and arbitrary killing of approximately 40,000 people during his mandate as president of Chad. The project will include two meetings. The first, to include approximately two dozen scholars, will be held in November 2000; the second, to include a gathering of international jurists, will be held in January 2001. The purpose of the project is to examine the principled terms under which universal jurisdiction should be accepted by the international community.