Human rights and environmental wrongs : achieving environmental justice through human rights law

The numerous interconnections between the environment and human rights are well established internationally. It is understood that environmental issues such as pollution, deforestation or the misuse of resources can impact on individuals’ and communities’enjoyment of fundamental rights, including the right to health, the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to self‐determination and the right to life itself. These are rights which are guaranteed under international human rights law and in relation to which governments bear certain responsibilities. Further, environmental issues can also impact on governments’ capacity to protect and fulfil the rights of their citizens. In this way human rights and environmental protection can be constructed as being mutually supportive. In addition to these links between the environment and human rights, human rights principles arguably offer a framework for identifying and addressing environmental injustice. The justice implications of environmental problems are well documented and there are many examples where pollution, deforestation or other degradation disproportionately impact upon poorer neighbourhoods or areas populated by minority groups. On the international level, environmental injustice exists between developed and developing States, as well as between present and future generations who will inherit the environmental problems we are creating today. This paper investigates the role of human rights principles, laws and mechanisms in addressing these instances of environmental injustice and argues that the framework of human rights norms provides an approach to environmental governance which can help to minimise injustice and promote the interests of those groups which are most adversely affected. Further, it suggests that the human rights enforcement mechanisms which exist at international law could be utilised to lend weight to claims for more equitable environmental policies.

Human rights, the law, cyber-security and democracy : after the European Convention

Many commentators have treated the internet as a site of democratic freedom and as a new kind of public sphere. While there are good reasons for optimism, like any social space digital space also has its dark side. Citizens and governments alike have expressed anxiety about cybercrime and cyber-security. In August 2011, the Australian government introduced legislation to give effect to Australia becoming a signatory to the European Convention on Cybercrime (2001). At the time of writing, that legislation is still before the Parliament. In this article, attention is given to how the legal and policy-making process enabling Australia to be compliant with the European Convention on Cybercrime came about. Among the motivations that informed both the development of the Convention in Europe and then the Australian exercise of legislating for compliance with it was a range of legitimate concerns about the impact that cybercrime can have on individuals and communities. This article makes the case that equal attention also needs to be given to ensuring that legislators and policy makers differentiate between legitimate security imperatives and any over-reach evident in the implementation of this legislation that affects rule of law principles, our capacity to engage in democratic practices, and our civic and human rights.

Male reproductive health disorders among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men : a hidden problem?

OBJECTIVE: To better understand help-seeking behaviours and reproductive health disorders among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A cross-sectional mixed-methods study conducted from 1 May 2004 to 30 April 2005 of 293 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men aged 18 years and over from urban, rural and remote communities in the Northern Territory and Queensland. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Subscale of the International Index of Erectile Function, self-reported help-seeking behaviours for erectile dysfunction (ED) and prostate disease, thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and focus groups. RESULTS: The prevalence of moderate-to-severe ED increased across age groups, from about 10% in younger men (under 35 years) to 28% in men aged 55-74 years. Moderate-to-severe ED was strongly associated with reporting a chronic condition (odds ratio [OR], 3.67) and residing in a remote area (OR, 2.94). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men aged 40-59 years showed similar low levels of help-seeking behaviours compared with non-Indigenous men from a comparable population-based study. About half of the men with ED saw a doctor or received treatment for ED in each population. While prostate cancer rates were low in both studies, testing for prostate problems was less frequent in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men (11.4%) than in non-Indigenous men (34.1%, P < 0.001), despite similar levels of concern about prostate cancer. Barriers to help-seeking included shame, culturally inappropriate services and lack of awareness. CONCLUSION: This study, the first to investigate reproductive health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men, found low levels of help-seeking behaviours for reproductive health disorders, with implications for missing a predictor of chronic disease and late diagnosis of prostate disease.

InterLACE : a new international collaboration for a Life course approach to women's reproductive health and chronic disease events.

Evidence from population-based studies of women increasingly points to the inter-related nature of reproductive health, lifestyle, and chronic disease risk. This paper describes the recently established International Collaboration for a Life Course Approach to Reproductive Health and Chronic Disease. InterLACE aims to advance the evidence base for women's health policy beyond associations from disparate studies by means of systematic and culturally sensitive synthesis of longitudinal data. Currently InterLACE draws on individual level data for reproductive health and chronic disease among 200,000 women from over thirteen studies of women's health in seven countries. The rationale for this multi-study research programme is set out in terms of a life course perspective to reproductive health. The research programme will build a comprehensive picture of reproductive health through life in relation to chronic disease risk. Although combining multiple international studies poses methodological challenges, InterLACE represents an invaluable opportunity to strength evidence to guide the development of timely and tailored preventive health strategies.

Prisoners, rights and citizenship

The denial of civil rights to convicts has a long history. Its origins lie in the idea of ‘civil death’. Convicts who were not punished by execution would instead suffer civil death which stripped them of inheritance, family and political rights (Davidson, 2004). In Australia and internationally the removal of prisoners’ voting rights has been a controversial topic which has been a subject of much debate and a number of legislation changes (Davidson, 2004). This article argues that even though the latest amendment to the Australian Electoral legislation is, on the face of it, democratic and inclusive, it is in fact a denial of prisoners’ civil rights, which has its roots in the concept of civil death. My argument is in keeping with the themes of the Crime and Governance thematic group and focuses on my research interests in sociology of deviance, social reactions to crime, and socio-legal topics.

The discursive nature of citizenship : Indigenous sovereign rights, racism and welfare reform

Citizenship is more than a status associated with a bundle of rights; it is also the formal contract by which the sovereignty of a nation is extended to the individual in exchange for being governed. Who can and who cannot contract into this status and what rights are able to be exercised is also shaped by who possesses the nation. In this article it is argued that citizenship operates discursively to contain Indigenous people’s engagement with the economy through social rights. This containment precludes consideration of Indigenous sovereign rights to our lands and resources, to enable Indigenous economic development within a capitalist market economy.

Health Care and the Law [Fifth Edition]

"Fully updated to reflect the rapid pace of change in the health law areas. Explains the legal process as it relates to the health care professional."--Libraries Australia. Table of Contents Part I. Introductory concepts -- 1. What is law -- 2. The legal structure -- 3. The legal process -- Part II. Patient relationships -- 4. Consent to health care by a competent adult -- 5. Consent to health care by a legally incompetent person -- 6. Negligence -- 7. Patient information and privacy -- 8. Patients' property -- 9. Contract -- Part III. Employment -- 10. Contracts to provide health care services -- 011. Accidents and injuries related to health care --12. Registration and practice --13. Drugs --14. Criminal law and health care --15. State involvement in birth and death: registration and coronial inquiries --16. State involvement in threats to health or welfare --17. Human tissue transplants and reproductive technology --18. Expanding recognition of human rights --19. Decision making, law and ethics: a discussion.

Genetic technologies and the regulation of reproductive decision-making in Australia

This article provides a critical analysis of the current Australian regulatory landscape at the interface between genetics and reproductive decision- making. The authors argue that a comparative analysis with other countries and international law and a contextual examination of the way law regulates concepts such as disease and health, abnormality and normality is necessary before we can develop appropriate policy and legislative responses in this area. Specific genetic testing technologies are considered including prenatal genetic testing, preimplantation genetic diagnosis and inheritable genetic modification. An increasing number of members of the Australian community are using genetic testing technologies when they decide to have a baby. The authors argue that as concepts of disease and health vary among members of the community and the potential to test for traits other than illness increases, a new tension arises between an ethic of individual choice and a role for government in regulating reproductive decision-making.

Reproductive Health as a Human Right: A Matter of Access or Provision?

This article seeks to understand why, despite over three decades of claiming women's reproductive health as a human right, we have seen little progress in reducing their health inequalities and poor health outcomes. I argue that one reason for this lack of progress may be due to a failure to clearly articulate the responsibilities of key actors, crucially states, in ensuring that women have access to, and provision of, services required to realize their reproductive rights. What is needed, this article suggests, is a framework that can translate decades of rights language into action and specifically identify the provisions required to address women's health.

Using the SWAP to connect water, human rights and mining

It is important that industries’ water interactions respect the human right to water. Historically, within the mining industry there has been a disconnect between the management of sites’ internal water interactions and the consequences of their external impacts, including human rights impacts. This poses a challenge for the mining industry as it attempts to put the Ruggie Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights into practice, particularly as United Nations has recently recognised the human right to water. A technical framework such as the Minerals Council of Australia’s Water Accounting Framework (WAF) can help to bridge this disconnect and to integrate human rights considerations into business practice by connecting a site’s external and internal water interactions and by encouraging regular monitoring of performance. However, at present the connection is limited since the WAF lacks the capability to formalise a site’s social water context. This work presents the Social Water Assessment Protocol (SWAP), a scoping tool consisting of a set of questions organised into taxonomic themes that capture a site’s social water context and that can be combined with the WAF to better connect human rights with mine water interactions.

Home range and habitat selection by a threatened bat in exotic plantation forest

Individuals' home ranges are constrained by resource distribution and density, population size, and energetic requirements. Consequently, home ranges and habitat selection may vary between individuals of different sex and reproductive conditions. Whilst home ranges of bats are well-studied in native habitats, they are often not well understood in modified landscapes, particularly exotic plantation forests. Although Chalinolobus tuberculatus (Vespertilionidae, Chiroptera) are present in plantation forests throughout New Zealand their home ranges have only been studied in native forest and forest-agricultural mosaic and no studies of habitat selection that included males had occurred in any habitat type. Therefore, we investigated C. tuberculatus home range and habitat selection within exotic plantation forest. Home range sizes did not differ between bats of different reproductive states. Bats selected home ranges with higher proportions of relatively old forest than was available. Males selected edges with open unplanted areas within their home ranges, which females avoided. We suggest males use these edges, highly profitable foraging areas with early evening peaks in invertebrate abundance, to maintain relatively low energetic demands. Females require longer periods of invertebrate activity to fulfil their needs so select older stands for foraging, where invertebrate activity is higher. These results highlight additional understanding gained when data are not pooled across sexes. Mitigation for harvest operations could include ensuring that areas suitable for foraging and roosting are located within a radius equal to the home range of this bat species.

Environmental crime, human rights and green criminology

This chapter is concerned with the prospects for a safe and sustainable environment in a fair and just world. At present, these prospects look bleak. However there are a number of legal developments and ethical principles on which to build, including the European Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law, notions of environmental, ecological and species justice, and conceptions of human rights. The chapter considers these in five sections: first providing an overview and exploring the links between human rights and environmental issues; then examining examples of environmental crimes / harms and attempts to regulate or criminalise these; before outlining the development of a Green Criminology and proposals for an international law against ecocide as a framework for addressing this range of challenges. Finally, concluding comments draw attention to debates and directions for discussion and research.

Just label it: Consumer rights, GM food labelling, and international trade

In the United States, there has been fierce debate over state, federal and international efforts to engage in genetically modified food labelling (GM food labelling). A grassroots coalition of consumers, environmentalists, organic farmers, and the food movement has pushed for law reform in respect of GM food labelling. The Just Label It campaign has encouraged United States consumers to send comments to the United States Food and Drug Administration to label genetically modified foods. This Chapter explores the various justifications made in respect of genetically modified food labelling. There has been a considerable effort to portray the issue of GM food labelling as one of consumer rights as part of ‘the right to know’. There has been a significant battle amongst farmers over GM food labelling – with organic farmers and biotechnology companies, fighting for precedence. There has also been a significant discussion about the use of GM food labelling as a form of environmental legislation. The prescriptions in GM food labelling regulations may serve to promote eco-labelling, and deter greenwashing. There has been a significant debate over whether GM food labelling may serve to regulate corporations – particularly from the food, agriculture, and biotechnology industries. There are significant issues about the interaction between intellectual property laws – particularly in respect of trade mark law and consumer protection – and regulatory proposals focused upon biotechnology. There has been a lack of international harmonization in respect of GM food labelling. As such, there has been a major use of comparative arguments about regulator models in respect of food labelling. There has also been a discussion about international law, particularly with the emergence of sweeping regional trade proposals, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. This Chapter considers the United States debates over genetically modified food labelling – at state, federal, and international levels. The battles often involved the use of citizen-initiated referenda. The policy conflicts have been policy-centric disputes – pitting organic farmers, consumers, and environmentalists against the food industry and biotechnology industry. Such battles have raised questions about consumer rights, public health, freedom of speech, and corporate rights. The disputes highlighted larger issues about lobbying, fund-raising, and political influence. The role of money in United States has been a prominent concern of Lawrence Lessig in his recent academic and policy work with the group, Rootstrikers. Part 1 considers the debate in California over Proposition 37. Part 2 explores other key state initiatives in respect of GM food labelling. Part 3 examines the Federal debate in the United States over GM food labelling. Part 4 explores whether regional trade agreements – such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) – will impact upon