London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

In the ECOHOST Seminar Series

Abstract: Traditionally, social and environmental human rights in national constitution have been considered as an aspiration or goal that countries should work towards. However, an alternative way of thinking is to view these rights as legal and political instruments that can be used to achieve improvements in social and environmental objectives, implied in these rights. This concept of human rights is perhaps most visible in Latin American, where the courts have taken an active role in redressing the failures of education, health, welfare, and environmental policies. Successful cases are often linked to constitutional provisions of these rights, which are supported by international treaties. Using DHS and tax and social expenditure data, this research analyzes the effects of introducing four different constitutional social and environmental human rights (health, free education, welfare and environment) into national constitution and jurisprudence on child health outcomes.

Speaker: Hiroaki Matsuura is Provost and Vice President at Shoin University in Japan. He is also a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development in the United States and a global member at the University of Edinburgh’s Global Health Academy.