AN EXAMINATION OF THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN’S RIGHT TO HEALTH UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW: A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIA.
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Men and Women are entitled to the full protection of their rights because they are human beings.[1] At its most basic level, “human rights” are safeguarded prerogative granted because a person is alive.[2] This means that all human beings have rights by virtue of human species membership. A right, therefore is a claim to something (by the right holder) that can be exercised and enforced under a set of grounds or justifications without interference from others. The subject of right can be an individual or a group, and the object is that which is being laid claim to as a right.[3] Human rights are, therefore, those rights that every human being possesses and is entitled to enjoy by virtue of being a human being.
Health has been defined by World Health Organization (WHO) “as a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.[4] The preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization also proclaims that “the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of living is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of races, religion, and political belief, economic or social conditions”.5
Right to health as a fundamental human right was declared by the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)[5]. Women‟s right to health has been declared as human right at Beijing, China.[6] At the Conference, delegates from 189 countries committed themselves to upholding the equal rights and inherent dignity of women through the adoption of the Beijing Declaration. The Declaration called on governments to implement measures to eliminate discrimination and violence against women and girls, recognize women‟s rights as human rights; and within this context, control all aspects of their health and fulfil their responsibilities to respect women‟s human rights and humanitarian law.8
