The human right to health places obligations predominantly on state parties to respect, protect, and fulfill it. This obligation often means that it also acts to protect its citizens from the actions of other “citizens” where those actions threaten the full enjoyment of their rights. However, there is an increasing recognition that the ideological underpinnings of relational ethics, as exemplified in Ubuntu, create a more robust notion of rights and obligations that transcend the traditionally vertical and unidirectional nature of rights obligations. This framing contains a recognition that the full enjoyment of any right comes with a commensurate duty on citizens to act in a manner that also respects and protects the rights of other citizens and places a duty to work in synergy for the benefit of their communities. While the notions of citizenship and personhood have long been attributed to natural persons, the evolution of corporate law has widened the ambit of the personhood of juridical persons and corporate entities. However, although corporations have long enjoyed being seen as persons in law, the recognition and fulfillment of their commensurate duties and obligations, especially vis-à-vis the human right to health, has not always been realized. This chapter examines how claims to personhood by corporations must be a double-edged sword that confers both rights and obligations that transcend the corporate realm and place an obligation to act not only to respect the rights of others but, significantly, also to realize health rights in a manner that is proportionate with the stature and resources available to corporate citizens.

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The Role of Nonstate Actors in the Realization of the Human Right to Health in South Africa

  • Thierry Ngosso

摘要

The human right to health places obligations predominantly on state parties to respect, protect, and fulfill it. This obligation often means that it also acts to protect its citizens from the actions of other “citizens” where those actions threaten the full enjoyment of their rights. However, there is an increasing recognition that the ideological underpinnings of relational ethics, as exemplified in Ubuntu, create a more robust notion of rights and obligations that transcend the traditionally vertical and unidirectional nature of rights obligations. This framing contains a recognition that the full enjoyment of any right comes with a commensurate duty on citizens to act in a manner that also respects and protects the rights of other citizens and places a duty to work in synergy for the benefit of their communities. While the notions of citizenship and personhood have long been attributed to natural persons, the evolution of corporate law has widened the ambit of the personhood of juridical persons and corporate entities. However, although corporations have long enjoyed being seen as persons in law, the recognition and fulfillment of their commensurate duties and obligations, especially vis-à-vis the human right to health, has not always been realized. This chapter examines how claims to personhood by corporations must be a double-edged sword that confers both rights and obligations that transcend the corporate realm and place an obligation to act not only to respect the rights of others but, significantly, also to realize health rights in a manner that is proportionate with the stature and resources available to corporate citizens.