[afro-nets] Food for a quarantined thought

[Claudio Schuftan <claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn>]

Food for a quarantined thought
------------------------------

Human Rights Reader 155

PUBLIC HEALTH BRINGS A COUNTERBALANCE TO THE INDIVIDUAL-CENTERED
VIEW OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

[The issue has come up in South Africa whether to quarantine
drug-resistant TB patients. This again brings up the issue of
individual versus collective rights].

1. In the above case, it has been said that individual human
rights (HR) may be in conflict with social benefits. But the
fact is that one can respect individual HR and advance public
health. Moreover, advancing public health is justified in terms
of collective HR.

2. The qualifier, though, for the two statements above is the
following:
One can limit individual rights in the interest of public health
if and when:
* the policy is legitimate and follows due legal process,
* the policy is effective in realizing an important public
health goal,
* the policy is strictly necessary and is democratically
applied,
* there are no less-intrusive means available to achieve the
same objective (i.e., intrusive on the individual rights of a
person), and
* the policy's application is not arbitrary, discriminatory or
unreasonable.

3. Such a stance can be justified even in international HR law,
specifically in the case of risk of the spread of an infectious
disease. But the conditions of when and how such a public health
action should be taken have to be compatible with respecting
collective rights.

4. In this example of the 'terrible (drug-resistant) TB', the
issue of a quarantine is more one of a trade-off between
individual and collective rights than it is one about individual
rights and public health. Here, public health needs can overrule
the narrow individualistic view of rights.

5. Conversely, issues of access to health care are both relevant
to fulfilling individual and collective rights (.as well as to
fulfilling social justice and equity goals). In this context, HR
are not different from social justice* and equity. This, since
the more unequal a society, the more it violates HR.

6. It is even more: Human Rights have been described as today's
principal vehicle for addressing inequities and social justice
in national and international contexts and as the most globally
accepted political value of our times. (R. Labonte)

*: Note that social justice is different from social benefits.

Claudio Schuftan
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
mailto:claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn

--
Adapted from L. London in Equinet Newsletter 68 October 2006:
'Human rights and public health: more than just about civil
liberties', and from comments received on it by Dr B.
Starsfield.