THE U.S. HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
In October 2004, CESR published The Right to Health in the United States of America: What Does it Mean?, a report on how the U.S. health care system falls short of international standards for the right to health. The report demonstrates that the U.S. health care delivery system is structurally flawed in ways that compromise the quality, adequacy, availability, and accessibility of people's health in the United States. The report argues for a rights-based system of healthcare in the U.S.: instead of reducing medical services to their profitability, a rights-based approach calculates success by the care provided to patients.
GOLD MINING IN HONDURAS
In March-April 2001, CESR legal researchers conducted a fact-finding mission to Honduras with the specific aim of investigating the current operation of the gold mining industry and its impact on economic, social and cultural rights. The full report with an oral presentation was submitted to the Committee during its twenty-fifth. In response, the Committee noted that the government should implement policies to protect the occupational health of workers and health of families from cyanide exposure, a chemical used extensively in gold mining.
Documents
- CESR Report: The Price of Gold: Gold Mining & Human Rights in Honduras [pdf]
- CESR Statement to the Committee on the Honduras Report
- CESR Article 12 Fact Sheet: Violations of the Right to Health and a Healthy Environment [pdf]
- Concluding Observations of the Committee on Honduras CESCR, 25th Session, 11 May 2001 [pdf]
- U.N. Press Release: Committee Starts Consideration of Initial Report, 25 April 2001, Afternoon [pdf]
- U.N. Press Release: Committee Concludes Consideration of Report, 26 April 2001, Afternoon [pdf]
- U.N. Press Release: Committee's Concluding Remarks, 11 May 2001 [pdf]
OIL IN THE AMAZON
In 1993, CESR organized a team of scientists which produced the first substantive proof that communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon were being systematically exposed to toxic wastes dumped by the oil companies. Based on these findings, CESR issued a report that charged the government of Ecuador and US oil companies with violating the rights to health and a healthy environment. This report strengthened local efforts to confront irresponsible oil development by providing two critical elements -- an international human rights framework and credible scientific evidence of violations.
To download the report, click here. [pdf] To learn more about CESR's activities in Ecuador, click here.