While there is widespread agreement that climate change has negative implications for the enjoyment of human rights, it remains unclear in what circumstances State action associated with climate change amounts to a human rights violation. To unpack this question, this chapter analyses how the...

This essay seeks to explore some theoretical and practical obstacles to developing a coherent and comprehensive theory for the interpretation of health legislation. One obstacle considered involves the academic and professional reluctance to direct critical attention to interpretive actions...

The patenting of biotechnological inventions potentially affects human rights in a number of ways. Human rights to identity and the practice of religion may be affected by the availability of patents on genetically modified human beings (or elements of the human body). Patents as mechanisms for...

We are considering the relationship between human rights and trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS). Intellectual property rights (IPRs) have always reflected a balancing of general public interests and private stakeholder interests, and in this sense IPRs take into...

This paper explores methods of achieving linkage in international law between the human right to health and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) ). It explores the relevance to this question of international law’s...

The experience of human life differs dramatically depending on where one lives in the world. While many of those in wealthier countries can expect decent nutrition, housing, education, and health care, those in the poorest countries live under extraordinary poverty and hardship, without...

The world's climate is changing, with insidious effects that steadily erode the quality of life of those who depend on the environment. The dramatic effects of this change are evident in the form of an exceptional accumulation of natural disasters. In the two decades since the U.N. recognized...