On August 26, GSL Research Fellow Roojin Habibi in collaboration with Benjamin Mason Meier and Hanna E. Huffstetler published a commentary in the Health and Human Rights Journal advocating for the explicit integration of human rights language whenever the International Health Regulations (IHR) are reexamined.
In the piece, the authors allege that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed continuing weaknesses in the IHR, contributing to widespread rights violations and igniting calls for further reforms. While seeking to reconcile public health and human rights obligations under global health law, the IHR do not currently detail human rights responsibilities during public health emergencies:
“The COVID-19 pandemic serves as a stark reminder that health and human rights are inextricably bound together, and member states must “build back better” by engaging in a critical reflection on the imperative to respond to global public health threats through the lens of a comprehensive human rights framework.”
Read the full article here.
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