To mark the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to outline the international human rights standards applicable to health care, the expert-discussion on the topic of “Human Rights-based approaches to healthcare” was organized on 11 December 2023 with different stakeholders, decision makers and civil society in the field of healthcare.
The expert discussion focused on the relevance of human rights principles and standards in the context of healthcare and how international human rights standards can inform and protect patients' rights in Council of Europe member states.
A new background report on “Human Rights-based approaches to healthcare” prepared within the framework of the Council of Europe Strategic Action Plan on Human Rights and Technologies in Biomedicine (2020-2025) provided a basis for the discussion.
Maxime Longangue, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan and Laurence Lwoff, Head of the Human Rights and Biomedicine Division of the Council of Europe, opened the expert discussion. “Health is a fundamental human right for all people. The right to health means leaving no one behind. This means that all persons should have access to health services without discrimination, including based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. This means supporting national and local authorities in addressing discrimination and inequities related health”, highlighted Maxime Longangué, reiterating that the Council of Europe Office is fully committed to support the authorities of Armenia with the implementation of the reforms in the field of healthcare beyond the current Action Plan for Armenia 2023-2026.
Laurence Lwoff mentioned that the starting point and key underlying premise under international human rights law is that health care must be undertaken in a manner that fully respects human dignity and human rights. “This is part of positive international law as evidenced by the fact that all major instruments in the field adopt a human rights-based approach to regulating biomedicine. The report includes but distinguishes between principles and standards that are part of international law having attracted general consensus on the one side and progressive developments of the law where divergences still persist on the other”, she concluded.
The main findings and recommendations of the report on “Human Rights-based approaches to healthcare” was made by Dr Rumiana Yotova, author of the report and Assistant Professor in International Law, Faculty of Law and Fellow in Law at Gonville & Caius College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Suren Krmoyan, consultant of the Council of Europe Project on “Protection of Human Rights in Biomedicine II”, presented the patient-centred approaches of Armenian healthcare system.
The presentations were followed addressing the practical issues and the Government’s policy agenda in the field of healthcare with regards to the human-rights-based approaches related to patients’ rights highlighting the importance of a ratification of the Oviedo Convention by Armenia as the only legally binding instrument in the field.
The expert-discussion was organized within the framework of the Council of Europe Project on “Protection of Human Rights in Biomedicine II” which is implemented within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2023-2026.
