Assignment 8: On Human Rights

Human Rights are defined as the undeniable fundamental rights to which a person is entitled simply because of being human. For this reason, Human Rights are universal, applicable everywhere and to everyone. They are conceived in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which every nation has signed in order to make sure that local and international laws, as well as public policy, agree with these principles.

As dignified human beings, one of these fundamental rights is the right to an appropriate standard of living and health. This right not only assures the wellbeing of the people, in terms of guaranteeing conditions that can satisfy the most basic needs, like food, clothing, housing, and social services; but it also assures the wellbeing of the society in a macro-level, as these conditions allow the individuals to carry on better lives that allow them to be more productive in the society.

In this sense, the right to health is considered a fundamental right entitled under Article 25 of this declaration. It is a fundamental and universal right because health is a critical determinant for the kind of life we can carry on, and ultimately, the access to healthcare defines if we whether live or die. This article has a second clause that entitles pregnant women and children, of all social, economical and cultural backgrounds, require special care and assistance because they are vulnerable individuals that require specialized care and attention. Pregnant women have limited physical capacities and need to care for themselves and the child in their womb, and children aren't just capable of taking care of themselves, which is why they have the right to get this special care that sets hem aside from men.

In the Editorial that we read on maternal mortality and human rights we can see how progress in reducing maternal mortality has been slow across the nations in the last ten years, especially in developing and unstable countries were the material and human resources are limited and the State lacks an appropriate health infrastructure that can attend everyone equally, promptly and effectively.

In a case in Brazil, a woman died because her local health agency mis-diagnosed the symptoms and failed to deliver adequate obstetric care; and the case was brought up to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, alleging that the State had failed in providing this woman with appropriate care. As a result, the Committee established that governments have a human rights obligation to guarantee women of all racial and economic backgrounds timely and non-discriminatory access to appropriate maternal health services. In the case of countries outsourcing services to private health-care institutions, these states remain directly responsible for these institutions, so that they must regulate and monitor them in order to make sure that they are fairly providing the services that all sectors of the society deserve as a right.