Skip to main content

Children’s Right to Health

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
International Human Rights of Children

Part of the book series: International Human Rights ((IHR))

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to, first, examine the meaning of the right to health for children and, second, explore the practical ways in which this right might be relevant to addressing children’s health needs. It is argued that despite the considerable ambiguity associated with the right to health, there is now a well-developed body of academic commentary and jurisprudence from the human rights treaty monitoring bodies which provides a persuasive understanding of the key feature of a child’s right to health. This right will be shown to be of relevance to advocacy efforts, the development of policies and programs, service delivery, and research to address children’s health needs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alderson P (1993) Children’s consent to surgery. Open University Press. In Didcock E (2006) Issues of consent and competency in children and young people. Curr Pediatr 16: 91

    Google Scholar 

  • Backman G (ed) (2012) The right to health: theory and practice. Studentlitteratur, Lund

    Google Scholar 

  • Beitz C (2009) The idea of human rights. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Broughton F (2016) Overstepping the mark? The UN committee of the rights of the child’s recommendations to decriminalise abortion in Ireland and the meaning of the ‘child’ within the convention on the rights of the child. Int J Child Rights 24(4):687–717

    Google Scholar 

  • Bustero F, Hunt P, Gruskin S et al (2013) Women’s and children’s health: evidence of impact of human rights. World Health Organisation, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapman A (2016) Global health, human rights and the challenge of neoliberal policies. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman A, Russell A (eds) (2002) Core obligations: building a framework for economic social and cultural rights. Intersentia, Antwerp

    Google Scholar 

  • Clapham A, Robinson M (eds) (2009) Realizing the right to health. Ruffer and Rub, Zurich

    Google Scholar 

  • Clavering E, McLaughlin J (2010) Children’s participation in health research: from objects to agents? Child Care Health Dev 36(5):603–611

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CEDAW Committee, CRC Committee (2014) Joint general recommendation no 31 of the committee on the elimination of discrimination against women/general comment no 18 of the committee on the rights of the child on harmful practices. CEDAW/C/GC/31-CRC/C/GC/18

    Google Scholar 

  • Council of Europe Guidelines on Child Friendly Health Care (2011) adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 21 September 2011 at the 1121st meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2003a) General comment no 5: general measures of implementation for the convention on the rights of the child. UN Doc CRC/GC/2003/5

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2003b) General comment no 4: adolescent health and development in the context of the convention on the rights of the child. CRC/GC/2003/4

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2003c) General comment no 3: HIV/AIDS and the rights of the child. CRC/GC/2003/3

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2003d) Concluding observations: Eritrea. CRC/C/15/Add.204

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2003e) Concluding observations: Pakistan. CRC/C/15/Add.217

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2003f) Concluding observations: Czech Republic. CRC/C/15/Add.201

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2003g) Concluding observations: Romania. CRC/C/15/Add.199

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2004a) Concluding observations: Indonesia. CRC/C/15/Add.223

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2004b) Concluding observations: Equatorial Guinea. CRC/C/15/Add.245

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2004c) Concluding observations: Liberia. CRC/C/15/Add.236

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2005) Concluding observations: Philippines. CRC/C/15/Add.259

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2008) Report on the forty-sixth session. CRC/C/46/3

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2009) General comment no 12: the right of the child to be heard. CRC/C/GC12

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2013) General comment no 15 on the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health. CRC/C/GC/15

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2015) Concluding observations on the combined third and fourth periodic reports of Poland. CRC/C/POL/CO/3–4

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2016a) Concluding observations on the initial report of Nauru. CRC/C/NRU/CO/1

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2016b) Concluding observations on the combined third to fifth periodic reports of Bulgaria. CRC/C/BGR/CO/3–5

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2016c) Concluding observations on the second periodic report of Gabon. CRC/C/GAB/CO/2

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2016d) General comment no 19 on public budgeting for the realization of children’s rights (art 4). CRC/C/GC/19

    Google Scholar 

  • CRC Committee (2016e) General Comment No 20 on the implementation of the rights of the child during adolescence CRC/C/GC/20

    Google Scholar 

  • Daniels N (2008) Meeting health needs fairly. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Economic and Social Council (1978) Commission on human rights: report on the thirty-fourth session. E/CN.4/1292

    Google Scholar 

  • Eide A, Eide W (2006) A commentary on the United Nations convention on the rights of the child, article 24: the right to health. Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden

    Google Scholar 

  • ESCR Committee (1990) General comment no 3: the nature of states parties’ obligations (art 2, para 1, of the covenant). E/1991/23

    Google Scholar 

  • ESCR Committee (1999a) General comment no 13: the right to education (article 13). E/C.12/1999/10

    Google Scholar 

  • ESCR Committee (1999b) General comment no 12: the right to adequate food. E/C.12/1999/5

    Google Scholar 

  • ESCR Committee (2000) General comment no 14: the right to the highest attainable standard of health (art 12). E/C/12/2000/4

    Google Scholar 

  • ESCR Committee (2016) General comment No. 22: the right to sexual and reproductive health (article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) E/C.12/GC/22

    Google Scholar 

  • Forman L, Ooms G, Brolan CE (2015) Rights language in the sustainable development agenda: has right to health discourse and norms shaped health goals? Int J Health Policy Manag 4(12):799–804

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forman L, Caraoshi L, Chapman A, Lamprea E (2016) Conceptualising minimum core obligations under the right to health: how should we define and implement the ‘morality of the depths. Int J Hum Rights 20(4):53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gianella-Malca C, Gloppen S, Fosse E (2013) Giving effect to children’s right to health in Colombia? Analysing the implementation of court decisions ordering health system reform. J Hum Rights Pract 5(1):153–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Global Health and Human Rights Database. http://www.globalhealthrights.org/constitutions/constitution-region. Accessed 9 Jan 2017

  • Gostin L (2014) Global health law. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Griffin J (2008) On human rights. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes D (2006) Client centred human rights advocacy. Clin Law Rev 13(1):379

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunt P (2008) The health and human rights movement: progress and obstacles. J Law Med 15(5):714–724

    Google Scholar 

  • International Commission of Jurists (1997) Maastricht guidelines on violations of economic social and cultural rights. Maastricht

    Google Scholar 

  • Jagannath M, Phillips N, Shah J (2011) A rights based approach to lawyering: legal empowerment as an alternative to legal aid in post-disaster Haiti. Northwest J Int Hum Rights 10(1):7–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz AL Webb SA (2016) American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Bioethics ‘Informed consent in decision-making in pediatric practice’. Pediatrics 138:e20161485

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kellet M (2010) Rethinking children and research: attitudes in contemporary society. Continuum, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Kellet M (2012) Child led research from inception to reception: methodological innovation and evolution issues. Commun Manage Q 7(24):5–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly M (2011) Empowering children and young people as researchers: overcoming barriers and building capacity. Child Indic Res 4(2):205–219

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenny E, Clark B (2004) Provisions for health and health care in the constitutions of the countries of the world. Cornell Int Law J 37(2):285–355

    Google Scholar 

  • Lundy L, McEvoy L (2011) Children’s right and research processes: assisting children to (in)formed views. Childhood 19(1):129–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lundy L, McEvoy L, Byrne B (2011) Working with children as co-researchers: an approach informed by the United Nations convention on the rights of the child. Early Educ Dev 22(5):714–736

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lynch P (2003) Human rights lawyering for people experiencing homelessness. Aust J Hum Rights 10(1):4

    Google Scholar 

  • Michaud PA (2017) Assessing adolescent capacity for decision making in clinical care: the practical application of bioethics and human rights principles. In: Cherry A, Baltag V, Dillon M (eds) International handbook on adolescent health and development. Springer, pp 359–372

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy T (2013) Health and human rights. Hart, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Neill O (2005) The dark side of human rights. Int Aff 81(2):427–439

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pemberton S, Gordon D, Nandy S, Pantazis C, Townsend P (2007) Child rights and child poverty: can the international framework of children’s rights be used to improve child survival rates? Plos Med (10):e307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruger J (2006) Toward a theory of the right to health: capability and incompletely theorised agreements. Yale J Int Law Hum Rights 18(2):273–326

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlam L, Wood J (2000) Informed consent to the medical treatment of minors: law and practice. Health Matrix: J Law Med 10:14

    Google Scholar 

  • Sepúlveda M (2003) The nature of the obligations under the international covenant on economic social and cultural rights. Intersentia, Antwerp

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaahinfer A, Betancourt T (2014) Child and adolescent health and human rights. In: Gupta N et al (eds) Mass general hospital for children handbook of pediatric global health. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Shier H (2012) Learn to live without violence: transformative research by children and young people. University of Central Lancashire

    Google Scholar 

  • Skogly S (2012) The requirement of using ‘maximum available resources’ for human rights realisation: a question of quality as well as quantity. Hum Rights Law Rev 12(3):393–420

    Google Scholar 

  • Sreenivasan G (2012) A human right to health? Some inconclusive scepticism. Proc Aristot Soc 86(1):239–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tasioulas J, Vayena E (forthcoming) Just global health: integrating human rights and common goods. In: Brooks T (ed) The Oxford handbook of global justice

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas N (2007) Towards a theory of children’s participation. Int J Chil Rights 15(2):199–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas R, Kuruvilla S, Hinton R et al (2015) Assessing the impact of a human rights based approach across a spectrum of change for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health. Health Hum Rights 17(2):11–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobin J (2006) Beyond the supermarket shelf: using a rights based approach to address the health needs of children. Int J Child Rights 14(3):275–306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tobin J (2010) Seeking to persuade: a constructive approach to human rights treaty interpretation. Harv Hum Rights J 23:1–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobin J (2012) The right to health in international law. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobin (2015a) Taking children’s rights seriously: the need for a multilingual approach. In: Diduck A, Peleg N, Reece H (eds) Law in society: reflections on children, family, culture and philosophy: essays in honour of Michael Freeman. Brill Nijhoff, Leiden, p 127

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobin J (2015b) Understanding children’s rights: a vision beyond vulnerability. Nord J Int Law 84(2):155–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toebes B (1999) The right to health as a human right in international law. Intersentia, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • UNICEF (2012) Global evaluation of the application of the human rights based approach to UNICEF programming. UNICEF, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • UNICEF (2013) Ethical research involving children. UNICEF, Florence

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolff J (2012a) The human right to health. WW Norton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolff J (2012b) The demands of the right to health. Aristot Soc Suppl Vol 86(1):217–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organisation (2005) The world health report 2005: make every mother and child count. World Health Organisation, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamin A (2016) Power suffering and the struggle for dignity: human rights frameworks for health and why they matter. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Yamin A, Gloppen S (eds) (2011) Litigating health rights: can courts bring more justice to health? Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Young K (2008) The minimum core of economic and social rights: a concept in search of meaning. Yale Int Law J 33:113–175

    Google Scholar 

  • Young I (2010) Inclusion and democracy. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Zuniga J, Marks S, Gostin L (2013) Advancing the human right to health. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John Tobin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Tobin, J. (2018). Children’s Right to Health. In: Kilkelly, U., Liefaard, T. (eds) International Human Rights of Children. International Human Rights. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3182-3_12-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3182-3_12-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-3182-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-3182-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Law and CriminologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics