Sustainable Development and the Right to Water in Colombia

Water, considered as an environmental resource and as an economic and social good, should be part of the Colombian public agenda, not only not only in terms of the use and preservation of hydro resources, but also in terms of the social implications of its possession and use. The world wide preoccupation with the diminution of natural resources, species extinction and water shortage has its origins in the seventies. One of the results was the establishment of international conventions and agreements to achieve responsible management of natural resources. Regarding water as a resource, it is intrinsically bound to the Earth���s natural processes and ecosystems. As regards the Colombian case, the ���right to water in Colombia��� is analyzed taking into account: water as an integral part of sustainable development, the right to water as a global debate and, finally, the right to water in the Colombian context within the explanatory framework of the Water Referendum.

Delimitation of the Right to Life by Healthcare Professionals: Up to what point should the right to life be protected?

This article explores the medical care standard required by law for terminally illpatients and the possibility of limiting therapeutic efforts while respecting the duediligence expected from doctors. To this end, circumstances are identified in whichthe doctor is forced to choose between two possible actions: to guarantee the right tolife by continuing treatment, or to limit the right to healthcare by limiting therapeuticefforts. Two cases taken from English Common Law were reviewed that decided onthe factual problem at hand. In our country, the Constitutional Court established aline of jurisprudence on the role of the doctor in deciding whether or not to continuetreatment for a terminally ill person. Lastly, jurisprudence precedents are presentedalong with a comparative analysis of the solutions given in Great Britain andin Colombia.

Socioterritorials forms of appropiation of living and right to the differencial space

The aim of this work is to recover Henri Lef��bvre's methodological contributions for (re)thinking the right to the city, based on the need to know the appropriation of space��s dialectical triad. Empirically, it refers to the urban genesis of Mar del Plata (Argentina), an intermediate Latin American city, and its heterogeneous socio-territorial forms of appropriating inhabitance, or different forms of appropriating goods of use, that lead to think about opening to the transformation of the capitalist social order, and of its urban order, naturalized after the fetischism of private property.

Dying for the vote : how ordinary people won the right to vote.

Estudia los movimientos sociales para conquistar y extender el derecho al voto entre todos los hombres y mujeres, denominados cartismo y sufragistas. Cumple con los requisitos del curr��culo nacional ingl��s para la etapa de 3 de secundaria (key stage 3). Este texto esta preparado para el Schools History Project creado en 1972 para mejorar el estudio de la historia entre estudiantes de trece a diecis��is a��os. Reconsidera las formas en que la historia contribuye a las necesidades educativas de los j��venes, y por ello idea nuevos objetivos, nuevos criterios para la planificaci��n y desarrollo del curso, as�� como de nuevos materiales de apoyo. Requiere nuevos criterios de evaluaci��n y, por tanto nuevos ex��menes y, adquiri�� mayor expansi��n con la introducci��n del General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) en 1987.

Do we have a right to privacy?

El derecho a la intimidad es un tema que genera grandes debates. Las nuevas tecnolog��as facilitan mucho la obtenci��n de informaci��n privada por parte del gobierno, los medios de comunicaci��n y las empresas, siendo controvertido su uso (para la seguridad y protecci��n de los ciudadanos, para la informaci��n sobre asuntos de inter��s p��blico, etc.). El objetivo del libro es animar a los j��venes a tener su propia opini��n sobre el tema mediante t��cnicas de pensamiento cr��tico y creativo, recopilaci��n de informaci��n, hechos y otros puntos de vista, y el debate y la discusi��n.

The right to remain silent : the ethics of invasion and evasion in Paul Sayer���s ''The Comforts of Madness''

Este artigo considera as implica����es do sil��ncio e da ��tica da experimenta����o m��dica no romance de Paul Sayer, The Comforts of Madness, vencedor do pr��mio Whitbread. O romance de Sayer debru��a-se sobre um paciente emestado catat��nico, Peter, o qual procura retirar-se para um estado de pura subjetividade como consequ��ncia de uma s��rie de eventos traum��ticos. Inicialmente tratado num hospital tradicional, �� posteriormente transferido para uma cl��nica experimental onde �� submetido a uma s��rie de ��tratamento�� invasivos e b��rbaros com o objectivo de ��cur��-lo��. A abordagem de Sayer dos temas relacionados com a insanidade, o sil��ncio pessoal e a medicina progressiva levanta quest��es relativas ao direito do indiv��duo de rejeitar o mundo comunit��rio e �� ��tica de extrair a narrativa retida da narrativa relutante. Ao examinar os processos de normaliza����o e resist��ncia, o romance levanta quest��es relativamente �� ��tica da inclus��o for��ada e estabelece uma legitimidade de n��o-coopera����o, o direito ao sil��ncio, o qual funciona em paralelo com a legitimidade da voz marginalizada. A tend��ncia recente nos estudos liter��rios tem sido no sentido da exposi����o e promo����o das vozes anteriormente ostracizadas pela ind��stria editorial e pelo p��blico leitor, mas, de um modo geral, este processo tem partido da premissa de que a voz perdida beneficia de tal exposi����o. Para Sayer, existe o caso igualmente persuasivo relacionado com o reconhecimento do direito �� privacidade, em risco de ser preterido numa era de transpar��ncia excessiva. Este ensaio discute o modo como o romance de Sayer aborda estas preocupa����es e salienta a sua consci��ncia do processo complexo de lidar com o indiv��duo para quem a recusa a falar corresponde a um gesto social amb��guo.

Global Acceleration and Dispossesion: Regression in the Right to Life and Public Health during Ecuador���s Neoliberal Decades

The present essay���s central argument or hypothesis is, consequently, that the mechanisms accelerating a wealth concentrating and exclusionary economy centred on the benefit and overprotection of big business���with a corresponding plundering of resources that are vital for life���generated forms of loss and regression in the right to healthcare and the dismantling of institutional protections. These are all expressed in indicators from 1990-2005, which point not only to the deterioration of healthcare programs and services but also to the undermining of the general conditions of life (social reproduction) and, in contrast to the reports and predictions of the era���s governments, a stagnation or deterioration in health indicators, especially for those most sensitive to the crisis. The present study���s argument is linked together across distinct chapters. First, we undertake the necessary clarification of the categories central to the understanding of a complex issue; clarifying the concept of health itself and its determinants, emphasizing the necessity of taking on an integral understanding as a fundamental prerequisite to unravelling what documents and reports from this era either leave unsaid or distort. Based on that analysis, we will explain the harmful effects of global economic acceleration, the monopolization and pillaging of strategic healthcare goods; not only those which directly place obstacles on the access to health services, but also those like the destructuration of small economies, linked to the impoverishment and worsening of living modes. Thinking epidemiologically, we intend to show signs of the deterioration of broad collectivities��� ways of life as a result of the mechanisms of acceleration and pillage. We will then collect disparate evidence of the deterioration of human health and ecosystems to, finally, establish the most urgent conclusions about this unfortunate period of our social and medical history.

Ensuring the right to the city: pro-poor housing, urban development and tenure legalization in S��o Paulo, Brazil

S��o Paulo is one of Latin America���s most modern and developed cities, yet around one-third of its 10 million inhabitants live in poor-quality housing in sub-standard settlements. This paper describes the response of the S��o Paulo municipal government that took office in 2001. Through its Secretariat of Housing and Urban Development, it designed a new policy framework with a strong emphasis on improving the quantity and quality of housing for low-income groups. Supported by new legislation, financial instruments and partnerships with the private sector, the mainstays of the new policy are integrated housing and urban development, modernization of the administrative system, and public participation in all decision-making and implementation processes. The programmes centre on upgrading and legalizing land tenure in informal settlements, and regeneration of the city centre. The new focus on valuing the investments that low-income groups have already made in their housing and settlements has proved to be more cost-effective than previous interventions, leading to improvements on an impressive scale.