Abstract
Rights-based approaches (RBAs) to health encompass an exciting range of ways that the United Nations, governments, and nongovernmental organizations incorporate human rights into public health efforts. By reviewing the academic literature and discrepant articulations of human rights and RBAs by key institutions, the authors identify common rights principles relevant to health and discuss a framework to improve implementation and guide assessment of the contributions of RBAs to health.
The article is not specific to drugs (or any specific health issue), but the lessons learned are important for a clearer understanding of what a rights based response to drug use and dependence might look like, and how these might be assessed. The human rights based approach has been applied to a range of fields, from health to access to justice, but the application of this approach to drug policies has not yet been considered.
Citation: Sofia Gruskin, Dina Bogecho, and Laura Ferguson. 'Rights-Based Approaches’ to Health Policies and Programs: Articulations, Ambiguities, and Assessment' (31 Journal of Public Health Policy, 129.) 2010
For more information on human rights based approaches see http://hrbaportal.org