Life (Right to)

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Nigeria: Urgent Action - Support MOSOP!

ESCR-Net asks the government of Nigeria to protect the members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), an ESCR-Net member organization. Member homes have been invaded and their lives have been threatened. ESCR-Net also encourages other organizations to send their own letters of solidarity to the Nigerian government.

Case of the Street Children (Villagrán-Morales et al.) v. Guatemala

A petition was filed with the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) against the State of Guatemala alleging the kidnapping, torture and death of four minors and the murder of a fifth one in 1990, in the city of Guatemala, by members of the security forces, and the State's failure to provide adequate judicial protection to the victims' families.

Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores del Ministerio de Salud de Ecuador. [ENG]

Centro de Derechos Económicos y Sociales (CDES), on behalf of the General Secretary of Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores del Ministerio de Salud [National Union of Health Ministry Workers] and the workers represented by the union, filed a report with the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) against the State of Ecuador.

People living with HIV [ENG]

The Chilean Health Ministry issued a decree ordering free medical treatment and tests for all sexually transmitted diseases, including the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). However, the decree was not complied with in the case of HIV. Given this situation, the organization Vivo Positivo, sponsored by Clínica de Acciones de Interés Público de la Universidad Diego Portales, filed three amparo actions requesting the East Metropolitan Health Service and the Health Ministry to comply with the decree.

Programa Venezolano de Educación-Acción en Derechos Humanos (PROVEA) y otros c. Gobernación del Distrito Federal s/ Acción de Protección. Expediente N° 3174. [ENG]

Several non governmental organizations filed a protection action due to poor clinical and surgical treatment of children with congenital heart conditions treated at the J. M. de los Ríos Children's Hospital in Caracas. The action was based on the rights to life and to health enshrined in the Constitution, human rights treaties, and the Children and Adolescents Protection Law. Children had to wait for a long time to get surgery appointments. Some died while waiting and others who did get an appointment died for not being operated earlier.

López, Glenda y otros c. Instituto Venezolano de los Seguros Sociales (IVSS) s/ acción de amparo. Expediente 00-1343. Sentencia N° 487. [ENG]

A group of persons living with HIV and covered by Instituto Venezolano de los Seguros Sociales (IVSS) filed an amparo action against IVSS requesting it to ensure regular and consistent supply of triple-therapy drugs and other drugs needed to treat opportunistic diseases, as well as to provide coverage of expenses of all necessary medical tests. The petitioners also requested that the effect of the decision be extended to all HIV-positive persons covered by IVSS.

Comunidad Yanomami. Caso Nº 7615. Resolución Nº 12/85. [ENG]

A petition was filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) against the State of Brazil and in favor of the Yanomami indigenous community.

Cruz del Valle Bermúdez y otros vs. MSAS s/amparo. Expediente N° 15.789. Sentencia N° 196. [ENG]

A group of citizens living with HIV/AIDS filed an amparo action against the Health and Assistance Ministry (HAM) due to its refusal to deliver drugs needed to treat the virus as prescribed (triple therapy). Applicants had no social security and lacked financial means to buy the prescribed drugs.

Case of the Indigenous Community Yakye Axa v. Paraguay [ENG]

The Yakye Axa community, a Paraguayan indigenous community belonging to the Lengua Enxet Sur people, filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) alleging Paraguay had failed to acknowledge its right to property over ancestral land. Given its impossibility to solve the case, the Commission referred it to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

New Brunswick (Minister of Health and Community Services) v.G.(J.), [1999] 3 S.C.R. 46

Jeannine Godin lived in poverty and relied on social assistance. The Minister of Health and Social Services had been granted custody of her three children for six months, and was applying to extend this for another six months. She applied to legal aid for a lawyer to represent her at the hearing but was denied because legal aid did not cover temporary custody hearings. She applied to the court for an order that funds be provided for a lawyer and asked for a declaration that the restricted eligibility for legal aid violated her rights to life, liberty and security of the person under s.