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. healthcare delivery system is structurally flawed in ways that compromise thequality, adequacy, availability, and accessibility of people's healthin the United States. The report argues for a rights-based system ofhealthcare in the U.S.: instead of reducingmedical services to their profitability, a rights-based approachcalculates success by the care provided to patients.
GOLD MINING IN HONDURAS
In March-April 2001, CESR legalresearchers conducted a fact-finding mission to Honduras with thespecific aim of investigating the current operation of the gold miningindustry and its impact on economic, social and cultural rights. Thefull report with an oral presentation was submitted to the Committeeduring its twenty-fifth. In response, the Committee noted that thegovernment should implement policies to protect the occupational healthof workers and health of families from cyanide exposure, a chemicalused 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 organizeda team of scientists which produced the first substantive proof thatcommunities in the Ecuadorian Amazon were being systematically exposedto toxic wastes dumped by the oil companies. Based on these findings, CESR issueda report that charged the government of Ecuador and US oil companieswith violating the rights to health and a healthy environment. Thisreport strengthened local efforts to confront irresponsible oildevelopment by providing two critical elements -- an internationalhuman 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.