This case concerned a petition received by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (“IACHR”) from the Workers’ Pension Plan Association of the Banco Nacional de Desarrollo Agricola (National Agricultural Development Bank) (BANDESA). The petition was brought on behalf of 179 former BANDESA workers against the Republic of Guatemala. The petitioners alleged that the State of …Read more

Petitioner V.P.C. stated that on two occasions, her father H.R.A. took her nine-year-old daughter V.R.C. to a remote site, drugged her, and sexually abused her. Petitioner took her daughter to the hospital on October 16, 2001 because her daughter could not control her bowels. The doctor biopsied polyps near the daughter’s rectum and found that …Read more

This report addresses allegations that El Salvador failed to fulfill its obligations under the American Convention on Human Rights (the Convention), including protection of the right to health and the right life. Petitioner, Jorge Odir Miranda Cortez, filed a petition on behalf of himself and 26 other people living with HIV against the State of …Read more

This report addresses the admissibility of a petition that alleged Mexico failed to fulfill its obligations under the American Convention on Human Rights (the Convention), including protection of the right to equal protection of the law and the right to humane treatment. J.S.C.H. and M.G.S. were discharged from the Mexican Army because of their HIV …Read more

The Plaintiffs, aged, blind or disabled persons and legal resident aliens of New York State, brought these proceedings against the Commissioner of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) after they became ineligible for Supplementary Security Income (SSI) from the federal government and Additional State Payments (ASP) provided by the State. …Read more

Ms. Boyle brought a claim against her employer, SCA Packaging, under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (the 1995 Act). Ms. Boyle had been employed by SCA Packaging as a buyer/stock controller since 1969. In 1974, she consulted an ENT specialist about constant hoarseness in her throat. She was diagnosed with nodules on her vocal cords. …Read more

This case was heard together with case 70/2009-0-0. The Petitioners, Miroslav Grcev and Stamen Filipov, challenged the constitutionality of the Anti-Smoking Law (the Law). The Law banned smoking in public premises, advertising cigarettes, and selling cigarettes to persons under the age of 16. Public premises included institutions for education, health, state administration,  public transport, and …Read more

This case was heard together with case 261/2008-0-0. The Petitioners, Miroslav Grcev and Stamen Filipov, challenged the constitutionality of the Anti-Smoking Law (the Law). The Law banned smoking in public premises, advertising cigarettes, and selling cigarettes to persons under the age of 16. Public premises included institutions for education, health, state administration,  public transport, and …Read more

Petitioner Hernán Antonio Barrero Bravo brought action challenging the constitutionality of Law 860 (Reform of the Social Security System law), alleging its violation of articles 48 (principle of progressive realization), 49 (principle of non-retrogression of social rights) and 53 (principle of non-retrogression in the protection given by the previous law) of the Constitution in changing …Read more

The petitioner, a Colombian national, filed a tutela (an appeal for legal protection) on behalf of his partner who was 19 weeks pregnant. The petitioner’s partner underwent examination and discovered that the fetus exhibited serious malformations that made the fetus unviable. Despite the advice of a board of specialists to terminate the pregnancy, the local health …Read more

The Plaintiffs, parents of a worker who died in a fire at his workplace, sued their son´s employer for damages. They alleged that the employer had not implemented appropriate measures to deal with situations of emergency such as the fire that caused their son’s death. The lower court accepted the claim of the Plaintiffs, awarding …Read more

Three non-profit organizations concerned with Belgian healthcare and nursing brought forward a plea seeking to annul a 2007 law relating to the representation of homecare nurses within the Conventions Committee of Nurses. At a later date, another non-profit organization brought forth a plea challenging Articles 2-5 of the 2007 law. The Constitutional Court heard both …Read more

The National Institute of Health and Disability Insurance (INAMI) sued the defendant company Aktuapharma for payment of fees. The defendant company was a parallel importer, importing pharmaceutical products from other countries to Belgium. A specific brand-name drug available in Belgium might be available in another country at a cheaper price. The defendant company would import …Read more

The applicant pharmaceutical company , which marketed cheaper, generic drugs, brought forward a claim against the “Institut national d’assurance maladie-invalidité” (National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance). The lower court referred a question to the Constitutional Court about whether Article 191 of the law concerning compulsory health insurance and benefits violated the principle of equality, …Read more

The lower court referred to the Constitutional Court a question as to the constitutionality of article 1017, paragraph 4, of the Judicial Code (the “challenged article), which allowed for a judge to offset court costs between spouses, parents, siblings or relatives to the same degree, but not between parties between whom existed a family relationship …Read more

The applicants were two, non-authorized physicians registered with the Saint-Vincent-Sainte-Elisabeth Hospital Center. Non-authorized physicians, unlike authorized physicians, work in private settings and do not fall within the public national healthcare system. The applicants challenged the constitutionality of Article 46 of a 2006 law passed on health provisions, in that it treated authorized and non-authorized doctors …Read more

The Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA) filed a writ petition against the Government, seeking urgent steps to be taken to prevent sexual harassment against women at the place of work or study. On the date the petition was filed, there existed no legislative provisions protecting women from abusive behavior by men in high-level positions …Read more

NTERIGHTS brought a complaint which alleged that Croatia was not complying with Articles 11(2) and 16 taken alone and in light of the non-discrimination clause in the Preamble and Article 17 of the European Social Charter (“ESC”) because Croatian schools were not providing adequate sexual and reproductive health education for children and young people. It …Read more

The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) brought a complaint alleging that the 2006 and 2008 amendments to Bulgaria’s Social Assistance Act of 1998 (‘the Act’) violated Article 13(1) of the RESC, taken alone or in conjunction with the non-discrimination provisions of Article E. Prior to these amendments, entitlement to social assistance benefits under the Act …Read more

The complainants were South Cameroonian citizens who alleged a variety of human rights violations done by Cameroon and were seeking the right to secede and form their own state. In 1961, the United Nations Trust System held a plebiscite that allowed South Cameroonians to join Cameroon or Nigeria but not to form their own country. …Read more

The claimant, Mr. Oscar Fontes, brought a protection action against the Ministry of Public Health (the “Ministry”) for its failure to provide him with the drug Cetuximab, as prescribed by his doctor for treatment of colon cancer. The drug was not included on the Therapeutic Drug Registry, and the Ministry denied his request. The claimant …Read more

The appellants challenged a ban on smoking at the Rampton Hospital. The smoking ban was introduced because of a policy by Nottinghampshire Health Care NHS Trust (the Trust), which banned smoking in and outside of the hospital. The Smoke-Free (Exemption & Vehicles) Regulations 2007 (the Exemption Regulation) allowed the prohibition of smoking inside, but did …Read more

Plaintiff Roland Doige alleged that the health premium policies of the Ministry of Finance of British Columbia discriminated against him as a single person. A single beneficiary of the Medical Services Plan (“MSP”) paid a monthly premium rate of CAD 54.00, which was up to CAD 6.00 more per person than would be paid by …Read more

The appellant, a woman suffering from multiple sclerosis, brought a claim against New Zealand’s Ministry of Health for discrimination contrary to s. 123(2) of the Human Rights Act, 1993. She claimed that if her disability had been caused by accident rather than illness, she would have received significantly greater disability benefits from the government under …Read more

The Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) filed a complaint on behalf of Mr. Esmaila Connateh and 13 other Gambians deported from Angola during March through May of 2004. IHRDA’s complaint alleged that Angola arbitrarily arrested and detained the individuals, along with tens of thousands of foreigners who had legally lived and …Read more

The applicant was a United Kingdom national imprisoned at H.M. Prison Whitemoor who complained that the Government’s failure to provide needle exchange programs in prisons violated the rights of prisoners under Article 2 (respect for the right to life), Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment), Article 8 (respect for …Read more

The Centro de Derechos Reproductivos (Center for Reproductive Rights) and the Centro Ecuatoriano para la Promoción y Acción de la Mujer (Center for the Advancement and Action of Women) (CEPAM-Guayaquil) alleged that the assistant principal at the public school where Paola del Rosario Guzmán Albarracín, age 16, was a student, took advantage of his position …Read more

Citizens’ Association “Polio Plus” (the Association) challenged provisions of the Law on Mental Health (the Law) that regulated whether or not a person with mental illness would be given the right to possess personal items, such as clothing or items for hygiene, while resident in a mental health facility. These provisions stipulated that certain persons …Read more

In 2000, the Ombudsman of Bolivia, on behalf of the victim, lodged a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights alleging that victim was submitted to a surgical procedure of ligature of the fallopian tubes in a public hospital without her informed consent and this was therefore an involuntary sterilization. The Ombudsman further alleged …Read more