Laws should protect not harm

Luisa Cabal
| ONUSIDA

More than 65 countries criminalize same-sex sexual relations, including at least eight that impose the death penalty. Globally, gay men and other men who have sex with men are around 28 times more likely to acquire HIV than the general population and are much less likely to access HIV services. Transgender people, who account for an estimated 0.1–1.1% of the global population, often face stigma, discrimination and social rejection in their homes and communities. Discrimination, violence and criminalization prevent many people from accessing the HIV services they need to stay healthy. When we reform criminal laws, people can exercise their fundamental human rights, according to Luisa Cabal, UNAIDS Director a.i. of Community Support, Social Justice, and Inclusion.

Women of the World : Laws and Policies Affecting Their Reproductive Lives : Latin America and the Caribbean

Luisa Cabal, Luisa, ed. Cabal, The Center for Reproductive Law & Policy, DEMUS Estudio para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer
1997 | The Center for Reproductive Law & Policy

Reframing the Right to Health: Legal Advocacy to Advance Women's Reproductive Rights

Luisa Cabal, Jaime M. Todd-Gher
2009 | Rüffer & Rub

Striking a Balance: Conscientious Objection and Reproductive Health Care from the Colombian Perspective

Mónica Arango Olaya, Luisa Cabal, Valentina Montoya Robledo
2014

Conscientious Objection or conscientious refusal (CO) in access to reproductive health care is at the center of current legal debates worldwide. In countries such as the US and the UK, constitutional dilemmas surrounding CO in the context of reproductive health services reveal inadequate policy frameworks for balancing CO rights with women’s rights to access contraception and abortion. The Colombian Constitutional Court’s holistic jurisprudence regarding CO standards has applied international human rights norms so as to not only protect women’s reproductive rights as fundamental rights, but to also introduce clear limits for the exercise of CO in health care settings. This paper reviews Latin American lines of regulation in Argentina, Uruguay, and Mexico City to argue that the Colombian Court’s jurisprudence offers a strong guidance for future comprehensive policy approaches that aim to effectively balance tensions between CO and women’s reproductive rights.

Letter to the Editor

Luisa Cabal, Jennie Pasquarella
2008

The Agenda for Zero Discrimination in Health Care

Luisa Cabal
2017

Learning from the Past: Confronting Legal, Social, and Structural Barriers to the HIV Response

Luisa Cabal, Patrick Eba
2017

Women's Reproductive Rights in Colombia : A Shadow Report

Luisa Cabal, Katherine Hall Martinez
1998 | The Center for Reproductive Law & Policy

Cuerpo y derecho : Legislación y jurisprudencia en América Latina

Luisa Cabal, Julieta Lemaitre Ripoll, Mónica del Pilar Roa López
2001 | Universidad de los Andes

En los países latinoamericanos con sistemas legales derivados del derecho romano y europeo continental, donde la ley es la principal fuente de derecho, persiste la idea de que los jueces son agentes instrumentales cuya función consiste simplemente en aplicar la ley de manera objetiva, apolítica y neutral a un caso concreto. El protagonismo de la norma escrita, ha restado importancia al estudio de la jurisprudencia y al papel que desempeñan los jueces como voces históricas y políticas que dan significado y contenido al lenguaje que articula una norma, y ha hecho invisible el poder que tienen los jueces, no sólo por las consecuencias que puede acarrear su desición sobre un caso particular, sino también por el impacto que tiene su discurso como reflejo del sistema de valores de una sociedad y de las relaciones de poder que tienen lugar en ella. Este trabajo surge como respuesta a la necesidad de estudiar el discurso judicial de las altas cortes en la última década del siglo XX con relación a los derechos de la mujer y, en particular, a los derechos del cuerpo en la sexualidad y la reproducción: los derechos reproductivos.

Bodies on Trial: Reproductive Rights in Latin American Courts

Center for Reproductive Rights, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Derecho, Luisa Cabal, Julieta Lemaitre Ripoll, Mónica del Pilar Roa López, Isabel Cristina Jaramillo Sierra
2003 | Center for Reproductive Rights

Reproductive Rights Litigation: From Recognition to Transformation

Luisa Cabal, Suzannah Phillips
2017 | Cambridge University Press

Calling a Spade a Spade: Maternal Mortality as a Human Rights Violation

Luisa Cabal, Morgan Stoffregen
2009

What Role Can International Litigation Play in the Promotion and Advancement of Reproductive Rights in Latin America?

Luisa Cabal, Mónica del Pilar Roa López, Lilian Sepúlveda-Oliva
2003

During the past decades, legal advocacy has played a critical role in changing the realities of women's reproductive lives in countries worldwide. The courts may be an excellent venue for bringing about change, especially where there is a disconnect between international, constitutional, or legislative norms and the reality of women's lives. The Center for Reproductive Rights' International Legal Program and its partner organizations in Latin America have pioneered the use of international litigation as a strategy to ensure that legislation and policies better reflect the international community's recognition of reproductive rights. This article aims to share the Center's experiences; explore the use of high-impact litigation to further reproductive rights; evaluate whether the time is right for litigation; examine the process of identifying issues and cases; and understand the potential pitfalls and opportunities of such litigation. ///
Au cours des dernières décennies, les partisans des transformations juridiques ont joué un rôle crucial en changeant les réalités de la vie reproductive des femmes dans un certain nombre de pays du monde entier. Les tribunaux peuvent constituer un excellent moyen de produire des changements, en particulier dans les cas où il existe une rupture entre les normes internationales, constitutionnelles ou législatives et la réalité de la vie de femmes. Le programme légal international du Centre pour les droits reproductifs et les organisations qui collaborent avec lui en Amérique Latine ont fait œuvre de pionniers en utilisant les procès comme stratégie pour assurer que les lois et politiques reflètent mieux la reconnaissance des droits reproductifs par la communauté internationale. Cet article a pour objet de partager les expériences du Centre; d'explorer l'emploi de procès à impact élevé pour promouvoir les droits reproductifs; d'évaluer si le moment est propice pour intenter des procès; d'examiner le processus d'identification des problèmes et des cas; et de comprendre les risques ainsi que les opportunités que de tels procès présentent. ///
En las últimas décadas, la defensa legal ha jugado un papel crítico para el cambio de la realidad de la vida reproductiva de las mujeres en países alrededor del mundo. Los tribunales pueden ser un foro excelente para producir el cambio, sobre todo cuando existe una ausencia de vínculo entre las normas internacionales, constitucionales o legislativas y la realidad de las vidas de mujeres. El Programa Legal Internacional del Centro de Derechos Reproductivos y sus organizaciones asociadas de América Latina han sido pioneros en el uso de los litigios internacionales como una estrategia para asegurar que la legislación y las políticas reflejen de mejor manera el reconocimiento de los derechos reproductivos por parte de la comunidad internacional. Este artículo procura compartir las experiencias del Centro; explorar el uso de los litigios de alto impacto para promover los derechos reproductivos; evaluar si el momento es oportuno para litigios; examinar el proceso de identificación de temas y casos; y entender los escollos potenciales y las oportunidades de defensa de los litigios.

The Legal Determinants of Health: Harnessing the Power of Law for Global Health and Sustainable Development

Ala Alwan, Agnes Binagwaho, Gian Luca Burci, Luisa Cabal, Mary DeBartolo, Katherine DeLand, Eric A. Friedman, Eric Goosby, Lawrence O. Gostin, Katie Gottschalk, Timothy Grant Evans, Sara Hossain, Jenny Kaldor, Susan C. Kim, Howard Koh, John T. Monahan, Gorik Ooms, Mirta Roses Periago, Rodrigo Uprimny, Alicia Ely Yamin
2019

Health risks in the 21st century are beyond the control of any government in any country. In an era of globalisation, promoting public health and equity requires cooperation and coordination both within and among states. Law can be a powerful tool for advancing global health, yet it remains substantially underutilised and poorly understood. Working in partnership, public health lawyers and health professionals can become champions for evidence-based laws to ensure the public’s health and safety.This Lancet Commission articulates the crucial role of law in achieving global health with justice, through legal instruments, legal capacities, and institutional reforms, as well as a firm commitment to the rule of law. The Commission’s aim is to enhance the global health community’s understanding of law, regulation, and the rule of law as effective tools to advance population health and equity.The term law throughout is used to mean legal instruments such as statutes, treaties, and regulations that express public policy, as well as the public institutions (eg, courts, legislatures, and agencies) responsible for creating, implementing, and interpreting the law. By establishing the rules and frameworks that shape social and economic interactions, laws exert a powerful force on all the social determinants of health. Well designed laws can help build strong health systems, ensure safe and nutritious foods, evaluate and approve safe and effective drugs and vaccines, create healthier and safer workplaces, and improve the built and natural environ-ments. However, laws that are poorly designed, imple-mented, or enforced can harm marginalised populations and entrench stigma and discrimination.This Commission brings together global leaders in the fields of health, law, and governance. We make the case for better, more strategic linkages between health and law, and the professionals who work in both fields. We begin by providing a short explanation of legal terms and concepts, and the actors and institutions that govern health. Our report is structured around four legal determinants of health, each of which powerfully affects health outcomes. We use the term legal determinants of health because it demonstrates the power of law to address the underlying social and economic causes of injury and disease. These four legal determinants show how law can substantially influence health and equity. We do not endeavour a systematic review of law in global health, but rather to advocate for, and demonstrate, the crucial value of law in advancing global health with justice. Finally, drawing on identified areas for reform, as well as principles of good governance and the right to health, we offer seven concrete recommendations for action.Legal determinant 1 states that law can translate vision into action on sustainable development. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) present a bold and unifying vision for global health and development. Law offers the mechanisms, frameworks, and account-ability measures to achieve this vision. In particular, law can be used to lay the foundations for Universal Health Coverage (UHC), which is a crucial element of sustainable development. We show how the power of law can be used to achieve health with justice through a case study of how law can build and implement UHC. We make two recommendations for action.Recommendation 1 suggests that the UN, WHO, and international partners should set standards to support the implementation of, and objectively evaluate com-pliance with SDG 3·8 (UHC), as well as the upcoming UN political declaration on UHC in 2019.

The Right to Health Must Guide Responses to COVID-19

Judith Bueno de Mesquita, Luisa Cabal, Allan Maleche, Benjamin Mason Meier, Dainius Pūras
2020

Tensions and Exclusions: the Knotty Policy Encounter Between Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and HIV

Aziza Ahmed, Luisa Cabal, Susana T. Fried
2019

Criminal Law and the Risk of Harm: A Commentary on the Impact of Criminal Laws on Sexual and Reproductive Health, Sexual Conduct and Key Populations

Luisa Cabal, Verónica Birga, Lucinda O'Hanlon, Christina Zampas
2018

Criminal law is one of the most powerful tools that a State can use to exert control over individuals. It provides a means by which the State may legitimately restrict individual conduct, so as to prevent harm or address harms that have already occurred. In some areas, however, the criminal law itself can be harmful and, for this reason, must be carefully regarded to ensure that it is not employed in ways which are unjust or undermining of human rights, including the right to the highest attainable standard of health and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). In the areas of consensual sexual conduct, including adultery, sex work and same-sex relations; drug use; HIV exposure and transmission; abortion and other sexual and reproductive health and rights, human rights bodies as well as international, regional and national courts have expressed concerns about the impact of criminal law on the enjoyment of human rights, including on gender equality and the right to health.

Advancing Rights for Women: The Role of Litigation

Luisa Cabal
2006

Litigation is becoming an increasingly attractive advocacy tool for human rights movements around the world. It has served as an effective strategy not only for reforming or enforcing laws that deny or protect basic human rights, but also for raising awareness of and mobilizing support for human rights issues. In this article, which is based on a presentation at a symposium session at the conference, Luisa Cabal focuses on a specific area within the realm of women's health and rights--the rights of HIV-positive women and girls, and in particular, violations they experience vis-à-vis access to health care--and discusses the potential for litigation to help raise awareness and advance efforts to protect and promote human rights in this area.

Importance of Incorporating Access to Emergency Contraception Within a Human Rights Framework: The Latin American Experience

Luisa Cabal

In recent years, conservative groups in Latin America have opposed laws and policies that ensure women’s access to reproductive health services such as abortion, family planning and emergency contraception. Cumulatively, these can have a negative impact on women’s health and their access to other health services. This paper will present the following key issues: 1) Recent experiences in Chile and Colombia that demonstrate the critical impact on women’s health of promoting access to reproductive health services within a human rights framework to enable broader recognition and protection of these rights. 2) The importance of collaborative efforts between the human rights community and public health advocates and providers to guarantee women’s access to reproductive health services. The Latin America Consortium for Emergency Contraception will be used as a model for effective collaboration and dialogue among these communities.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of the session, the participants in this session will be able to
1. Recognize the importance of advocating for reproductive health services within a human rights framework.
2. Prioritize collaborative efforts among public health advocates and providers and reproductive rights advocates in order to effectively advocate for the right of women to have information and access to EC.
3. Apply the lessons learned from the challenges faced by groups in who promote emergency contraception at the local and national level across the region.

Using Litigation to Address Gender Violations in the HIV/AIDS Context

Luisa Cabal, Pardiss Kebriaei
2006