Activities July-September 1999
Executive Summary
Stephen P. Marks joined the Center as Director on August 1st and has spent much of the last two months making contacts within HSPH and at other centers around Harvard University. Teaching was provided by Center staff at various universities, and program work continued and expanded in cooperation with United Nations agencies, professional associations, NGOs, and universities. Senior staff contributed to various publications and gave guest lectures. Solid linkages were also created with NGOs concerned with stigma, discrimination, and improved access to care and treatment in the context of HIV/AIDS.
Following are the activities that marked the third quarter of 1999.
Core Activities
Education and Training
Academic Courses
Center staff were invited to design a short course entitled Children's Health and Human Rights with the University of São Paulo's Faculty of Public Health. Working extensively by e-mail with the faculty member at the University of São Paulo, center staff designed a course for health professionals and policymakers that aimed to give participants both a conceptual understanding of the rights of the child in relation to health and strategies for action. Sofia Gruskin traveled to São Paulo to teach the course over a two-day period in July. The course was considered a tremendous success, and discussions are underway for future courses in coming years.
On September 23, Stephen Marks lectured at a course on "Health, Human Rights and the World Community" at Princeton University, taught by Professor Alan Keller. This undergraduate course is offered to about 30 students, many of whom aspire to careers in this field. Five articles by Professor Marks were distributed for this first substantive session of the course, during which he provided a general overview of the origin, content, and structure of international human rights.
Student Tutorials/Advising
In September, Center faculty began to meet with new, returning, and prospective students. As part of the introduction for the new students in the Department of Population and International Health, the Center set up a table and provided documentation, and Stephen Marks made a presentation explaining the mission and role of the Center in the School.
Global Initiatives
UN Developments
In this period, the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) confirmed the Center's Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations. This marked the culmination of four years of efforts towards accreditation and means that designated Center representatives will now be granted status to participate in UN meetings relevant to the Center's work.
UNAIDS
Center staff continue to work extensively with UNAIDS. Sofia Gruskin participated in meetings relating to the redesign of the UNAIDS Global AIDS Strategy, in which human rights will play a fundamental role.
In late August, Sofia Gruskin participated in a two-day meeting organized by UNAIDS in Dakar, Senegal, with representatives from NGOs active in both francophone and Anglophone Africa to discuss local-level partnerships. The meeting served as a step in the consensus-building exercise toward a global strategy process. The objectives of the meeting were to brief participants on the UNAIDS Africa Partnership, to discuss goals, strategies, and implementation needs and to identify additional NGOs to be brought into the larger process. It was an extremely exciting and productive meeting.
As a follow-up to the Dakar meeting, a roundtable was organized in collaboration with UNAIDS on September 14 at the XIth International Conference on AIDS and STDs in Africa, held in Lusaka, Zambia, entitled "Local-Level Partnerships: How Effective Are They? How Effective Can They Be?" Attended by representatives from about 20 local NGOs, as well as from regional and international NGOs, the roundtable served as a forum to discuss the components of successful partnerships across Africa, particularly at the local level. Follow-up activities generated by this meeting will continue in the coming months.
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, included creation of a pilot course that has run three times in South Africa in preparation for production of regional adaptations and a global curriculum. In this period, the course was run in China, Australia, Argentina, and Kenya. Plans are underway for a November meeting of the Global Coordinating Committee in Bellagio, Italy to plan for a Regional Evaluation Workshop (REW), which will bring together representatives from the training institutions to share their experiences of running the course and to finalize the global curriculum. The REW, to take place in February 2000, will be held in Heidelberg, Germany.
Dissemination of Information
Health and Human Rights Journal
Vol. 4, No. 1 appeared in July. This mixed issue covered topics ranging from tuberculosis in prisons to the health and human rights of a Peruvian indigenous group. The issue also included two extensive bibliographies on health and human rights.
Work continues on Vol. 4, No. 2, a special theme issue on reproductive rights. This issue has been planned to coincide with the midway point between the five-year reviews of the Cairo Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women. Contributors include such authors as Nafis Sadik, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNFPA; Rosalind Petchesky; Alice M. Miller; Carmel Shalev; Marlene Fried; Bonnie Shepard; Barbara Klugman; and Judit Sandor.
Also in this period, efforts to expand the journal's coverage in indexing and abstracting services continued. An inventory of back issues was completed, and new procedures were established to keep track of quantities of back issues sent out as well as to record information on people requesting back issues. A project was also begun with the goal of generating a list of potential institutional subscribers, such as human rights institutes and public health and law libraries in the U.S. and abroad. When this list is complete, promotional materials will be sent to these institutions encouraging them to subscribe.
Health and Human Rights: A Reader
A review of Health and Human Rights: A Reader, edited by Jonathan Mann, Sofia Gruskin, George Annas, and Michael Grodin, appeared in the July 3 issue of The Lancet. Additional reviews are scheduled to appear in several other publications, including the American Journal of Public Health. Sales of the Reader surpassed the publisher's expectations. Discussions have begun on publication of a second expanded edition.
The Future of International Human Rights
Also in this period, The Future of International Human Rights was published by Transnational Publishers. This anthology, edited by Burns H. Weston and Stephen P. Marks, is expected to be widely used in courses. It has a foreword by Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and contributions by 12 internationally renowned authors.
AIDS, Health and Human Rights: An Action Kit
This handbook, to be published jointly by the FXB Center and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, is a companion volume to AIDS, Health and Human Rights: An Explanatory Manual. In this period, revisions of the handbook were received and plans for publication continued.
CRC Theme Day Booklet
In this period, editorial work began on a booklet to be published jointly with UNAIDS for the Committee on the Rights of the Child, containing the contributions submitted to last year's Theme Day on children and HIV/AIDS.
American Journal of Public Health
Stephen Marks published an article in the October issue of the American Journal of Public Health entitled "Economic Sanctions as Human Rights Violations: Reconciling Political and Public Health Imperatives." The article examines the impact of sanctions on human rights and attempts to define a role for health and human rights professionals in the evaluation process. This article is part of the preparation for program work on sanctions within the new Program on Humanitarian Crises and Human Rights.
Research
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.
Sofia Gruskin, one of the four Harvard investigators, remains the focal point for the Brazilian team. She and other members of the Harvard ECI team met with the Brazilian team in São Paulo, Brazil in July to discuss the team structure, work plan, and research design. The team is currently refining the questionnaire to be administered to several hundred women using health services in order to evaluate the extent to which their needs are being met.
Also in this period, the Harvard ECI team met with representatives from the Senegalese and South African teams, as well as the IAC resource group, in conjunction with the XIth International Conference on AIDS and STDs in Africa. The FXBC also worked with the Harvard AIDS Institute to organize a roundtable at the conference on September 14, chaired by Sofia Gruskin, that presented the ECI's approach to identifying care needs and determining priorities in care provision. Speakers included the Minister of Health from KwaZulu Natal, South Africa and medical professionals and researchers from Senegal, Zambia, and South Africa. The roundtable, attended by over 170 people, marked the first public airing of the ECI Care Framework and was a great success. The presentations will be posted on the ECI web site to facilitate ongoing discussion and sharing of knowledge.
A dinner was also held, bringing together the ECI International AIDS Care Resource Group, the ECI teams from the various sites, Merck Foundation representatives, and the Harvard ECI team members attending the Lusaka conference. This event was very successful in providing a forum for the sharing of information and generating ideas for future work. ECI plans to organize similar events at future international meetings.
In this period, the ECI investigators also continued to meet on a number of conceptual and organizational issues relevant to the work of the country teams.
Linkages and Partnerships
Carr Center for Human Rights of the Kennedy School of Government
Stephen Marks made contact with the new Carr Center and visited Graham T. Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and Samantha Power, Executive Director of the Carr Center, on September 7. It was agreed during this meeting that the two centers would work as closely as possible and coordinate research activities and speakers series so as to avoid duplication and, where appropriate, work together. It was also suggested that Professor Marks might teach at the Kennedy School.
Human Rights Program of Harvard Law School (HRP)
Stephen Marks has maintained close relations with Henry Steiner and met with him several times to discuss ways in which the FXB Center and HRP can expand the solid cooperation that already exists between the two entities. This spirit was reflected in Professor Marks's participation in the roundtable on "The Role of the University in the Human Rights Movement" on September 16-17 convened by HRP. He joined a select group of leading human rights scholars and activists at this event, which was followed by a conference commemorating the 15th anniversary of HRP on September 18-19. During the main evening event of this conference, Professor Steiner singled out Professor Marks and the FXB Center, the only other entity publicly acknowledged in that way. He also invited Professor Marks to become a member of the University Committee on Human Rights Studies, which he chairs.
Harvard Divinity School
Stephen Marks renewed contact with Professor David Little, newly appointed professor of human rights at the Divinity School, where there is a keen interest in close cooperation with the FXBC.
Consortium for Health and Human Rights
The Consortium continues to meet regularly. In the 1999-2000 academic year, activities are focused on informing student groups in U.S. medical schools and schools of public health about linkages between health and human rights and ways to be involved in health and human rights work. In August, an informational mailing about the activities and publications of the four member groups was sent to medical schools and schools of public health around the country. The FXB Center included materials about its activities and order forms for the Health and Human Rights journal and Health and Human Rights: A Reader. Future activities will include participation in the second annual Physicians for Human Rights East Coast student conference on health and human rights, to be held at Harvard Medical School.
American Public Health Association (APHA)
In this period, discussions began with the International Human Rights Committee of the APHA on future directions for the work of the group. Center staff have agreed to make a presentation at the annual meeting of the APHA, in Chicago on November 10.
Fourth International Conference on Home and Community Care for Persons Living with HIV/AIDS
Sofia Gruskin continues to serve on the ethics and human rights subcommittee of the program planning committee for the Fourth International Conference on Home and Community Care for Persons Living with HIV/AIDS (Paris HIV 99), to be held in Paris on December 5-8, 1999. Preliminary work has begun on the conference, which is designed to bring together people living with HIV and AIDS, front-line caregivers, and delegates from international and nongovernmental organizations.
Amnesty International
The FXB Center continues to engage in a number of activities with Amnesty International. Sofia Gruskin continues her involvement as a member of the Board of Directors and ombudsperson for the organization. In this period, Sofia Gruskin also met with staff at the Amnesty International Secretariat in London.
Protecting People in the Midst of War
Sofia Gruskin served on the scientific committee of the high-level international conference entitled Protecting People in the Midst of War: From Humanitarian Action toward Humanizing Government Action, sponsored by Médecins du Monde, held in Paris on July 2, 1999. She traveled to Paris to chair a plenary panel on "How to Consider Humanitarian Situations Objectively." Panelists included Nicolas Morris, Inspector-General of the UN High Commission for Refugees; Denis Caillaux of UNICEF; Sylvie Brunel of Action Contre la Faim; Louise Beaudoin, Minister of International Relations of the Government of Quebec, Canada; and Jean-Christophe Rufin of the Institute of International and Strategic Research. The panel sought to define objective criteria, replicable across organizations with different resource and personnel constraints, for evaluating the situation of civilian populations during armed conflicts.
Working Group on Sexuality, Health and Human Rights
Sofia Gruskin traveled to New York on August 6 to participate in a meeting organized by Alice Miller of Columbia University, which brought together leading activists and academics in an attempt to define the elements of a human rights framework relevant for addressing questions of sexuality. This meeting was considered an initial but important step toward production of a scholarly book on this issue over the next few years.
International Peace Academy (IPA)
Stephen Marks participated in a roundtable sponsored by the International Peace Academy on the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is part of an ongoing relation with IPA, which is expected to lead to a partnership for some of the program work of the Center under the new Humanitarian Crises and Human Rights Program.
Human Rights Day Symposium
In collaboration with Amnesty International and a number of Boston-area NGOs, the Center is helping to plan this year's annual Boston human rights day symposium. The 1999 symposium, to be held on December 4, will focus on the rights of the child and will address such issues as juvenile justice in the U.S., child labor and slavery, and the use of children as soldiers.
At HSPH
The HSPH Working Group on Women, Gender and Health (WGH) continues to meet monthly. Current attention is focused on linking with other initiatives to bring attention to women's health and to gender in the school and the larger Harvard community. Dean Barry Bloom met with the Working Group in July and expressed his support for the group's goals. In September, the group held an introductory meeting for new HSPH students.
A group of 90 high-school students, participating in a summer program on careers in medicine and public health, visited the FXB Center on July 22 as part of a tour of HSPH. Center staff gave an overview of the Center's activities and the concept of health and human rights to three separate groups of young people and distributed copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as Center materials. The students were a lively group and appreciated the exposure to the Center's work.
AFXB
Relations with the AFXB continue to develop. Countess Albina du Boisrouvray visited the Center in August and discussed a variety of topics and initiatives.
Multimedia
Web Page
The Center continues to maintain and update its web page at the Human Rights Internet site. A significant content update was completed in this period. In addition, much work was devoted to submitting the site to various search engines and online resource databases. Reciprocal links were added between the Center's page and the HSPH home page to make it easier to navigate back and forth.
FXB Center Seminar Series
On September 28, the Seminar Series presented Stephen Marks as the first speaker of the 1999-2000 academic year. This talk on "New Challenges for Health and Human Rights," which served to introduce Stephen Marks to the HSPH community, was well received by a large and enthusiastic audience.
The Library of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center
Students were familiarized with the library during this period, and organizational work continued.
Staff and Administration
Stephen Marks Appointed New Director
In this period, Stephen P. Marks was appointed François-Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health and Director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights. Until July 1999, he was Director of the United Nations Studies Program and Co-Director of the Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Concentration at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) of Columbia University, where he taught courses on international law, the United Nations, preventive diplomacy, human rights, and economic development. His principal fields are international law, international politics, international organizations, human rights, economic development, peace, and conflict studies. In this period much of his time was devoted to meeting members of the Harvard community and to initial strategic planning.
Karen Plafker
In this period, Karen Plafker, a professional in both human rights and public health and a former HSPH student, joined the Center's Human Rights Program full-time in order to work concretely on projects falling under the UNAIDS umbrella contract.
Jennifer Leaning to Join FXBC
In this period it was agreed that Dr. Jennifer Leaning would join the Center on October 1 as Director of the Humanitarian Crises and Human Rights Program. The Swiss scholar and former UN official Claude Brüderlein will work with her at the Center. Dr. Leaning's work at the Center will focus initially on sanctions and the role of health and human rights professionals in complex humanitarian emergencies.
Arjun Sengupta to Be Visiting Scholar
Also in this period it was decided that Arjun Sengupta, the UN Independent Expert on the right to Development, formerly Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund, would join the Center for four weeks in December and January as a Visiting Scholar. His work during this period will focus on a plan to create financial incentives for governments to adopt human rights-based approaches to health, education, and food. He will also be preparing a proposal for an in-house research team to continue work on human rights and development at the Center.
Database Management
Work continued on a major revamping of the journal subscriber database and general mailing database. Although it will take a substantial amount of work in the coming months, the integrated database will be significantly easier to maintain and use once completed.