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Non-State Actors and Public Health Emergencies

Bill of Health

By Rossella De Falco Strong, well-coordinated and resilient public health care services play a vital role in preventing and responding to public health crises. What are, however, the specific legal and ethical implications of involving private actors in health care vis-à-vis public health emergencies?

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Introduction to the Symposium: From Principles to Practice: Human Rights and Public Health Emergencies

Bill of Health

By Roojin Habibi, Timothy Fish Hodgson, and Alicia Ely Yamin Today, as the world transitions from living in the grips of a novel coronavirus to living with an entrenched, widespread infectious disease known as COVID-19, global appreciation for the human rights implications of public health crises are once again rapidly fading from view.

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Human Rights Principles in Public Health Emergencies: From the Siracusa Principles to COVID-19 and Beyond

Bill of Health

Extensive abuses of human rights during the pandemic led international experts to draft the Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Public Health Emergencies (HR Principles). The inadequacy of Siracusa in the the context of public health emergencies Then came COVID-19.

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Conclusion to the Symposium: From Principles to Practice: Human Rights and Public Health Emergencies

Bill of Health

While receiving significant global traction and acceptance since their publication in 1985, the Siracusa Principles, the authors argue, proved to be simply “unequal to the task” of guiding States’ conduct in the context of COVID-19 because they are “unable to speak in any significant detail to the particular concerns of public health crises.”

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Securing a Place for Children’s Rights in Public Health Emergencies

Bill of Health

By Sheila Varadan, Ton Liefaard, and Jaap Doek The Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Public Health Emergencies (Principles) make a significant contribution towards clarifying the scope of States’ legal obligations under international human rights law during public health emergencies. Similarly, Principle 6.1

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Old Dogs and New Tricks: A Case for the Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights & Public Health Emergencies

Bill of Health

Though the government has learnt lessons in the past, and though it has codified some aspects of these lessons into our laws and policies relating to public health, it has always used a disease lens in the application of the lessons learned as opposed to a human rights lens.

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The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: Responding to Public Health Emergencies by Upholding Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law

Bill of Health

It has been an important forum for enabling States to address the fault lines in national public health systems, bridge gaps in global health security and policy, and strengthen collective efforts to build back better. Supply chains must be strengthened, diversified, and kept open during public health emergencies.