Stigmatisation as a public health tool against obesity - A health and human rights perspective

European Journal of Health Law

Volumn 21, Issue 4, 2014, Pages 365-386

  Hartlev, Mette ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN   (Denmark)

Author keywords

Health and human rights; Life style diseases; Obesity; Public health; Right to health; Stigmatisation

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; HUMAN; HUMAN RIGHTS; LEGAL ASPECT; OBESITY; POLICY; PREJUDICE; PUBLIC HEALTH; SOCIAL STIGMA;

HUMAN RIGHTS; HUMANS; OBESITY; PREJUDICE; PUBLIC HEALTH; PUBLIC POLICY; SOCIAL STIGMA;

EID: 84907817463     PISSN: 09290273     EISSN: 15718093     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/15718093-12341327     Document Type: Review

References (49)

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2. UN, Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination of Women (CEDAW), Article 12
3. UN, Convention of the Right of the Child (CRC), Article 24
4. UN, Convention on the Right of Persons with Disability (CRPD), Article 25
5. Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), Article 168
6. EU Charter on Fundamental Rights, Article 35.
7. See e.g. WHO, A Declaration of the Promotion of Patients' Rights in Europe (1994), Article 5
8. Council of Europe, Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, Article 3.
9. UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 14, The right to the highest attainable standard of health (Art. 12), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2000/4 (2000), Section 1.1.
10. B. Toebes, 'The Right to Health and Other Health-Related Rights', in: B. Toebes, M. Hartlev, A. Hendriks and J. R. Hermann (eds.), Health and Human Rights in Europe (Cambridge: Intersentia, 2012), pp. 88-110.
11. T.H. Tulchinsky and E.A. Varavikova, The New Public Health (Burlington, MA: Elsevier Academic Press, 2nd ed. 2009), pp. 407-408.
12. See e.g. WHO, Global Strategy for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases, 53th World Health Assembly, A53/14m 2000.
13. F. Sassi, Obesity and the Economics of Prevention: Fit not Fat (OECD, 2010) Chapter 2
14. OECD, Health at a Glance: Europe 2012 (OECD Publishing, 2010). Retrieved April 2014: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/health-glance. Overweight is defined as a BMI of 25-29.9, and obesity as a BMI ≥30.
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18. UN, Economic and Social Council, Syracuse Principles on the Limitation and Derogation Provisions in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, U.N. Doc. E/ CN.4/1985/4, Annex (1985).
19. See also ECtHR, Enhorn v. Sweden, application no. 56529/00.
20. R. Bayer, 'Stigma and the ethics of public health: not can we but should we', Social Science and Medicine 67 (2008) 463-472.
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24. See also H. Nygren-Krug, 'A Human Rights-Based Approach to Non-Communicable Diseases', in: A. Clapham and M. Robinson (eds.), Realizing the Right to Health, Swiss Human Rights Book, vol. 3 (2009), pp. 263-276.
25. B. Toebes, 'Introduction', in: B. Toebes, M. Hartlev, A. Hendriks and J. R. Hermann (eds.), Health and Human Rights in Europe (Cambridge: Intersentia, 2012), pp. 1-19.
26. E. Goffman, Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1963), pp. 3-5.
27. B.G. Link and J.C. Phelan, 'Conceptualising Stigma', Annual Review of Sociology 27 (2001) 363-385 (p. 367).
28. Human Rights, Stigmatization and Risk of Discrimination Against Specific Population Segments and Target Groups, Report from TELL Me, submitted July 2012, pp. 14-15. Retrieved April 2014, http://www.tellmeproject.eu/content/d16-human-rights-stigmatisation-andrisk- discrimination.
29. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, Stigma and the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation, A/HRC/21/42, 2012, paras. 18-21.
30. UN General Assembly, Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Intensifying Our Efforts to Eliminate HIV and AIDS, 65/277, 10 June 2011.
31. UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 20, Non- Discrimination in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Art. 2, para. 2), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/ GC/20 (2009), para. 33.
32. UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 14, The right to the highest attainable standard of health (Art. 12), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2000/4 (2000).
33. WHO-Europe, European Charter on counteracting obesity (2006).
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35. A. Faeh, 'Obesity in Europe: The Strategy of the European Union from a Public Health Law Perspective, European Journal of Health Law 19 (2012) 69-86.
36. EU, White Paper on A Strategy for Europe on Nutrition, Overweight and Obesity related health issues, COM (2007) 279 final, (2007).
37. See also EU, Green paper 'Promoting healthy diets and physical activity: a European dimension for the prevention of overweight, obesity and chronic diseases', COM (2005) 637 final (2005).
38. HM Government, Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A Call to Action on Obesity in England (2011);
39. Danish Health and Medicines Authority, Forebyggelsespakke: Overvægt (Health promotion package: Overweight), (2013).
40. The Danish policy on obesity is part of a more comprehensive health prevention package with a number of other specific policy papers in areas such as mental health, physical activity and alcohol. An English resume is available on this link: http://sundhedsstyrelsen.dk/publ/Publ2013/02feb/HealthPromoPacksDK .pdf (retrieved April 2014).
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42. UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 14, The right to the highest attainable standard of health (Art. 12), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2000/4 (2000).
43. The 'intervention ladder' reflects various degrees of intrusiveness in directing and controlling individuals' choice, see Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Public health: ethical issues, 2007.
44. S. Vallgårda, 'Ethics, equality and evidence in health promotion Danish guidelines for municipalities', Scandinavian Journal of Public Health (2014), online version 7 March 2014.
45. W.A. Bogart, 'Law as a Tool in "The War on Obesity": Useful Interventions, Maybe, But, First, What's the Problem?', Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics (41)1 (2013) 28-41;
46. A. Kirkland, 'Think of the Hippopotamus: Rights Consciousness in the Fat Acceptance Movement, Law & Society Review (42)2 (2008) 397-431.
47. R.M. Puhl and C.A. Heuer, 'The Stigma of Obesity: A Review and Update', Obesity 17(5) (2008) 941-964;
48. Whether human rights law provides protection against discrimination of overweight and obese individuals is not subject for examination in this article. It would need further and more focused and elaborated analysis of individual human rights (e.g. The right to health, right to work, right to education, etc.), including the extend to which obesity could be considered a disability protected by the UN Covenant on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In ECtHR Kiyutin v. Russia, application no. 2700/10, the European Court of Human Rights came to the conclusion that '. . . distinctions made on account of one's health status, including such conditions as HIV infection, should be covered - either as a form of disability or alongside with it - by the term 'other status' in the text of Article 14 of the Convention' (para. 57). This indicates that overweight and obesity - if considered a disability or health status - potentially may be covered by human rights nondiscrimination provisions. See also UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 20, Non-Discrimination in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Art. 2, para. 2), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/GC/20 (2009), which mentions 'health' as an example of 'other status' (para. 33).
49. ECtHR, Kiyutin v. Russia, application no. 2700/10, para 63.