International requests for the World Bank to change its perspective on health programmes

FUNDEPS signs up to the petition of 110 non-governmental organisations calling for the World Bank to change the criteria relating to projects in the area of health and to actively promote universal health coverage.

At the end of the World Bank’s annual meeting which took place in Tokyo, Japan, numerous non-governmental organizations presented a letter requesting that the World Bank modify the criteria relating to projects in the area of health and that it actively promotes universal health coverage.

As part of their work on health rights, FUNDEPS signed up to the initiative which makes specific recommendations to the World Bank to change practices in the area of ​​health. The thrust of this request is to understand health as a right which cannot be subject to market rules but rather by the logic of the need to protect the most vulnerable; those who in practice are denied the right to health. The recommendations include:

  • Making active efforts to promote universal access to health coverage.
  • Promoting the elimination of tariff systems for access to health services.
  • Supporting public investment in health without favouring private-sector oriented solutions.
  • Ensuring that the projects of the World Bank have positive impacts on the poorest two-fifths of the population in which development projects are based.
  • Endorsing the participation of civil society in the definition of public health policies.

These organizations will monitor the responses to these requests and the impact of World Bank programs in the effective enjoyment of the right to health.

For more information:

– Note calling for a change of perspective of the World Bank programs in the field of ​​health

Translated by Stephen Routledge

World Access to Public Information Day

On the occasion of commemorating the World Access to Public Information Day, César Murúa, coordinator of the FUNDEPS Area of Democratic Governance and co-administrator of the Transparent Cordoba Program, has published an article along with Mariano Mosquera, with their reflections regarding this right and the institutional implications it entails.

In the article published today in the La Voz del Interior newspaper, some assessments stand out:

Despite the existence of norms, as apparent in the provincial as in the municipal order, the access to public information is not a practice propagated to citizens, nor have governmental bodies been capable of adapting their complex political and bureaucratic systems to principles of publicity and transparency of their actions. (…)

The issue of lack of access to public information in the power of the State is not only related to the normative flaws or to the lack of spreading this right, but also to the culture of secrecy. The reluctance of institutions and their political and administrative servants to deliver information can undermine even the most progressive norms and the most active citizens.

Although the policies to promote governmental transparency have begun to gain a place within political discourse, this unfortunately does not correspond to policies which are truly effective. The lack of launching institutions, specialized in coordinating the compliance of terms and the forms for providing public information, erodes any proclamation of transparency.

On behalf of FUNDEPS, we follow these reflections in the commemoration of this day, while we continue to work towards institutions, which are more open, transparent and which actively seek to provide information.

For more information:

Article, published in La Voz del Interior, “A Right, Which Must Be Respected”

Contact:

César Murúa

cmurua@fundeps.org

Translated by Alexandra Botti

Towards a Framework Convention on World Health

FUNDEPS supports global efforts to achieve a framework convention on World Health that assures equal standards in the exercise of the human right to health.

According to World Health Organization statistics, the enormous health inequalities between rich and poor countries (and inequalities within these same countries) have resulted in nearly 20 million avoidable deaths every year for the last two decades. This represents one out of every three deaths worldwide. Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights establishes the right of all people to enjoy the highest possible level of physical and mental health. The concrete meaning of that right is not clear, however, and has been interpreted in a variety of ways in different contexts.

Bearing in mind the inequalities in health, both between different countries and between different sectors within each country, FUNDEPS supports a worldwide campaign based on the human right to health. This campaign seeks to ensure that governments guarantee conditions that allow all people to be healthy. It also recognizes the importance of existing international laws, at the same time noting how difficult it is for those in need to assert their rights with these laws. The Framework Convention on World Health being convened will reinforce international laws and extend their reach to our communities, to create the conditions for the health and wellbeing of all people.

The first manifesto of the campaign reads: “We affirm the right of all people to enjoy the highest possible level of physical and mental health. Making this human right a reality will require committed governments, a strong civil society, universal social protections, global solidarity, and other existing resources currently denied to the poor.”

Although this movement is still in the initial phase of investigation and dissemination it already has the support of academics, civil society, and international institutions.

FUNDEPS will be joining the campaign from Argentina, collaborating in investigative efforts needed to establish legal standards for the protection of health and also spreading the word about the initiative. Check this link for an invitation to sign the manifesto.

More information:

Initiative for a Framework Convention on Global Health

Health for all. Justice for all. Campaign for a Framework Convention on Global Health

Contact:

Juan Carballo, juanmcarballo@fundeps.org

Traducido por James Cochran

Más información:

Iniciativa por una Convención Marco sobre Salud Global

Salud para todos y todas. Justicia para todos y todas. Campaña por una Convención Marco de Salud Global

Contacto:

Juan Carballo

juanmcarballo@fundeps.org

The CESCR recommendations for Argentina

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights published their findings and recommendations for Argentina.

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), a monitoring body of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights published its findings and recommendations for Argentina in a process that contained a preliminary report carried out by the Argentine State and various shadow reports from civil society organisations, which can be seen in the list of documents attached to this Committee meeting.

Las recomendaciones del Comité de DESC para ArgentinaFUNDEPS, in collaboration with the Argentine Inter-American Heart Foundation and the O’Neill Institute for International and Global Health Law will present a shadow report focusing on the need to strengthen tobacco regulation in order to act against the serious consequences that smoking creates in Argentina. The report titled: “Tobacco Control in Argentina: progress and further challenges’’ is available on the Committee’s official website:

It should be noted that, taking this report into account, the Committee carried out specific recommendations for tobacco control in the following way: “The Committee recommends the State party to ratify the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control and develop fiscal policies, pricing and raising people’s awareness in order to effectively reduce smoking, in particular among women and young people.”

As well as this, we highlight other recommendations related to the right to access adequate housing:

– The Committee urges the State party to ratify housing policies in order to guarantee everyone has access to adequate and affordable housing, with legal security of tenure.
– Furthermore, the State party is encouraged to fight effectively against speculation in the housing market, in land use and construction, taking into account its General Comment No.4 (1991), related to the right to access adequate housing.
-The Committee also urges the State party to adopt specific measures, legislative or other, so that people who have been victims of forced eviction can get alternative housing or fair and just compensation in accordance with the provisions in the General Comment No. 7 (1997), relating to forced evictions.

More information:

Observaciones finales del Comité de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales para Argentina
(Concluding observations from the The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for Argentina)

Contact:

info@fundeps.org

Translated by: Rachel Henderson