Health Justice in the Americas: The Role of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

The jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has been profoundly influential in the region since its inception in 1979. Since 2017, the Court has built up case law on the right to health, addressing an array of issues including: access to emergency care, HIV treatment, and health services for prison inmates; informed consent in physical and mental health care; and State duties to regulate private health providers and insurance companies.

This event will be a moderated panel discussion among scholars who have been directly involved as experts in one or more of these cases. Panelists will discuss this emerging jurisprudence and situate it in the trajectory of the Court’s evolving treatment of economic and social rights in a region of gaping socio-economic inequalities. The session will consider the merits and challenges of this body of case law and compare it with trends in other international courts and forums.

Panelists

Introduction: Carmel Shachar, Executive Director, Petrie-Flom Center

Laura Clérico, Independent Researcher, Argentine National Scientific and Technical Council (CONICET), Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Buenos Aires, and Honorary Professor for Constitutional Comparative Law and Protection of Human Rights, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)

Christian Courtis, Senior Human Rights Officer, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in New York

Diana Guarnizo, PhD in Law, University of Essex and Director of the area of Economic Justice, Center for Study of Law, Justice and Society, Dejusticia

Liliana Ronconi, PhD in Law, Buenos Aires University and Fellow, Argentine National Research Council (CONICET)

Moderator: Alicia Ely Yamin, Senior Fellow in Global Health and Rights, Petrie-Flom Center and Senior Advisor on Human Rights and Health Policy, Partners In Health

Sponsored by the Global Health and Rights Project (GHRP), a collaboration between the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, the Global Health Education and Learning Incubator (GHELI) at Harvard University, and the Andes & Southern Cone Program at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) at Harvard University.