Human Rights Issues and Health Practices

Abstract

On the occasion of the 50^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the context of current adverse economic circumstance in the Asia-Pacific region, it is apparent that we still have a long way to go before we can claim adequate promotion and protection of fundamental freedoms, human rights and health rights. New approaches to public health and a social, or population definition of health requires an active engagement with human rights and a recognition of the ethical domain. Such an engagement is assisted by the articulation of some of the fundamental principles underlying various Conventions, Charters and Declarations and the contribution of liberal moral and political theory to such documents. Such liberal traditions have been challenged for their ethnocentrism and western cultural bias. However it is argued that they form a basis for important universal standards which can assist public health practitioners as they navigate through the turbulent waters of human rights issues and health practices.