Chair of Health Law in a Global Context in the Department of Transboundary Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.
Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Human Rights and Global Health Equity at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Canada.
Health Hum Rights. 2020 Dec;22(2):99-111.
COVID-19 has highlighted the responsibilities of states under the International Health Regulations (IHR), as well as state accountability in case of a breach. These approaches and dimensions are valuable, as many COVID responses have breached human rights. We should also look beyond this crisis and address country preparedness for effective and equitable responses to future infectious disease outbreaks. This paper assesses countries' international legal obligations to be prepared to respond to this and future public health emergencies. It does so from the perspective of the right to health, in interaction with the IHR. We analyze the functional relationship between the right to health and the IHR, focusing in particular on "core obligations" under the right to health and "core capacities" under the IHR. We find considerable parallels between the two regimes and argue in favor of more cross-fertilization between them. This regime interaction may enrich both frameworks from a normative perspective while also enhancing accountability and public health and human rights outcomes.
COVID-19 凸显了各国在《国际卫生条例》（IHR）下的责任，以及在违反条例时的国家问责制。这些方法和维度是有价值的，因为许多 COVID 应对措施侵犯了人权。我们还应该超越这场危机，为国家应对未来传染病爆发做好有效和公平应对的准备。本文评估了各国在应对这一和未来公共卫生紧急情况方面的国际法律义务。它从健康权的角度，并与《国际卫生条例》相互作用来进行评估。我们分析了健康权和《国际卫生条例》之间的功能关系，特别关注健康权下的“核心义务”和《国际卫生条例》下的“核心能力”。我们发现这两个制度之间存在相当多的相似之处，并主张两者之间进行更多的相互交流。这种制度互动可以从规范的角度丰富这两个框架，同时也增强问责制以及改善公共卫生和人权成果。
