Richard Elliott - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Richard Elliott

Journal of the International AIDS Society, 2009

Stigma and discrimination constitute one of the greatest barriers to dealing effectively with the... more Stigma and discrimination constitute one of the greatest barriers to dealing effectively with the HIV epidemic, underlying a range of human rights violations and hindering access to prevention, care, treatment and support. There is some existing protection against HIV‐based discrimination under international law, but the extent of states' obligations to address such discrimination has not been comprehensively addressed in an international instrument.The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities entered into force in May 2008. As countries ratify the convention, they are required to amend national laws and policies to give greater protection to the human rights of people with disabilities, including abolishing disability‐based discrimination by the state and protecting persons against such discrimination by others. The Disability Convention addresses many of the issues faced by people living with HIV (PLHIV) but does not explicitly include HIV or AIDS w...

Pluto Press eBooks, Sep 7, 2017

Canadian Journal of Public Health, 2012

Health and human rights, 2017

This special section of Health and Human Rights Journal examines some of the many ways in which i... more This special section of Health and Human Rights Journal examines some of the many ways in which international and domestic drug control laws engage human rights and create an environment of enhanced human rights risk. In this edition, the authors address specific human rights issues such as the right to the highest attainable standard of health (including health protection and promotion measures, as well as access to controlled substances as medicines) and indigenous rights, and how drug control laws affect the protection and fulfillment of these rights. Other authors explore drug control through the lens of cross-cutting human rights themes such as gender and the rights of the child. Together, the contributions illustrate how international guidelines on human rights and drug control could help close the human rights gap-and point the way to drug laws and policies that would respect, protect, and fulfill human rights rather than breach them or impede their full realization. Next year marks the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the foundational instrument of the modern system of international human rights law, a system now underpinned by nine core UN treaties and multiple regional conventions. The growth of the international human rights regime has provided a critical tool to address the abusive and unaccountable exercise of state power. Multilateral treaties on drug control predate the foundation of international human rights law by several decades. Beginning with the 1912 International Opium Convention and evolving through a series of conventions adopted under the auspices of the League of Nations, drug control was already a well-established subject of international law by the time the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration in 1948, and the first UN drug convention in 1961. 1 The preamble of that treaty, the Single Convention on Rick Lines is Executive Director of Harm Reduction International and Chair of the International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy at the Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, UK, where he is a Visiting Fellow.

The International journal on drug policy, 2008

The approach of Canada's Government to Insite, North America's first safer injecting facility (SI... more The approach of Canada's Government to Insite, North America's first safer injecting facility (SIF) (Wood, Kerr, Tyndall, & Montaner, 2008), is one manifestation of what appears to be the government's broader hostility to both evidence and human rights in public policy, at least insofar as that policy involves the health of people who use illicit drugs. A number of observations are warranted in this regard.

HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2004

In many countries, HIV prevalence among people who use illicit drugs is high. Yet many government... more In many countries, HIV prevalence among people who use illicit drugs is high. Yet many governments resist implementing effective HIV prevention measures, and drug users often lack access to care, treatment, and support, including for HIV/AIDS. Growing evidence indicates the dominant prohibitionist approach to illicit drugs is ineffective--and even counterproductive, blocking or undermining measures shown to reduce harms to drug users and to communities affected by open drug scenes. The growing debate over global drug control policy could shift us collectively away from the current, failed prescriptions to a more rational, pragmatic, and health-promoting framework of harm reduction. This article by Richard Elliott is an abridged version of a paper prepared for "Human Rights at the Margins: HIV/AIDS, Prisoners, Drug Users and the Law," a satellite meeting held in Bangkok on 9 July 2004, and organized by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS ...

HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2011

In January 2011, the Regional Office for Central Asia of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)... more In January 2011, the Regional Office for Central Asia of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network released an extensive report assessing the legislative and policy environment affecting the response to HIV in six countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The report, which draws in part upon the work of a national expert group in each country, puts forward dozens of recommendations for legislative and policy reform, including recommendations for specific reform tailored to the situation in each of the participating countries, with a particular focus on addressing the fast-growing HIV epidemic linked to injection drug use and in prisons.

HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2009

HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2008

Each year, U.N. member states gather for a week in Vienna at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CN... more Each year, U.N. member states gather for a week in Vienna at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), the central policy-making body within the U.N. system dealing with drug-related matters, "to exchange expertise, experiences and information on drug-related matters and to collaborate on a coordinated response to the global drug situation."

HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2008

Four years to the month after Parliament passed a law to enable the supply of lower-cost generic ... more Four years to the month after Parliament passed a law to enable the supply of lower-cost generic medicines to developing countries in need, the first exports are finally about to happen. In this article, Richard Elliott provides an overview of recent developments under Canada's Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR), and identifies key reforms needed to streamline the regime so that it can more easily be used to address public health problems in developing countries.

The International journal on drug policy, 2007

Injecting drugs into human rights advocacy Realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms f... more Injecting drugs into human rights advocacy Realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all is essential to reduce vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.

Canadian HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2002

In September 2001, a gay man with hepatitis C held as a patient at a high-security psychiatric ho... more In September 2001, a gay man with hepatitis C held as a patient at a high-security psychiatric hospital applied for judicial review of the hospital's policy banning access to condoms for patients. His application was denied by the High Court on 30 October 2001.

Canadian HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2002

In August 2001, the Tax Court of Canada issued its most recent judgment on the tax deductability ... more In August 2001, the Tax Court of Canada issued its most recent judgment on the tax deductability of expenses for complementary/alternative therapies. The decision in Pagnotta v Canada is significant for people with HIV/AIDS who use such therapies. It also illustrates how provincial and federal laws regulating health-care practitioners and natural health products have a financial impact on the cost of accessing treatment.

Canadian HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2002

In the face of an ongoing and escalating health crisis among injection drug users in Canada, call... more In the face of an ongoing and escalating health crisis among injection drug users in Canada, calls are coming from many quarters to initiate safe injection facilities as a way to reduce overdoses, the spread of bloodborne diseases, and other health and community problems associated with injection drug use. This article summarizes a paper on safe injection facilities released in early 2002 by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. The paper contributes to the policy discussion in Canada and sets out why and how the law should support the introduction of safe injection facilities.

Canadian HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2002

Canadian HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2002

In a historic development, non-governmental HIV/AIDS organizations in Latin America and the Carib... more In a historic development, non-governmental HIV/AIDS organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean presented a joint report on access to comprehensive care, including antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on 16 October 2002.

Canadian HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2002

Journal of the International AIDS Society, 2009

Stigma and discrimination constitute one of the greatest barriers to dealing effectively with the... more Stigma and discrimination constitute one of the greatest barriers to dealing effectively with the HIV epidemic, underlying a range of human rights violations and hindering access to prevention, care, treatment and support. There is some existing protection against HIV‐based discrimination under international law, but the extent of states' obligations to address such discrimination has not been comprehensively addressed in an international instrument.The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities entered into force in May 2008. As countries ratify the convention, they are required to amend national laws and policies to give greater protection to the human rights of people with disabilities, including abolishing disability‐based discrimination by the state and protecting persons against such discrimination by others. The Disability Convention addresses many of the issues faced by people living with HIV (PLHIV) but does not explicitly include HIV or AIDS w...

Pluto Press eBooks, Sep 7, 2017

Canadian Journal of Public Health, 2012

Health and human rights, 2017

This special section of Health and Human Rights Journal examines some of the many ways in which i... more This special section of Health and Human Rights Journal examines some of the many ways in which international and domestic drug control laws engage human rights and create an environment of enhanced human rights risk. In this edition, the authors address specific human rights issues such as the right to the highest attainable standard of health (including health protection and promotion measures, as well as access to controlled substances as medicines) and indigenous rights, and how drug control laws affect the protection and fulfillment of these rights. Other authors explore drug control through the lens of cross-cutting human rights themes such as gender and the rights of the child. Together, the contributions illustrate how international guidelines on human rights and drug control could help close the human rights gap-and point the way to drug laws and policies that would respect, protect, and fulfill human rights rather than breach them or impede their full realization. Next year marks the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the foundational instrument of the modern system of international human rights law, a system now underpinned by nine core UN treaties and multiple regional conventions. The growth of the international human rights regime has provided a critical tool to address the abusive and unaccountable exercise of state power. Multilateral treaties on drug control predate the foundation of international human rights law by several decades. Beginning with the 1912 International Opium Convention and evolving through a series of conventions adopted under the auspices of the League of Nations, drug control was already a well-established subject of international law by the time the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration in 1948, and the first UN drug convention in 1961. 1 The preamble of that treaty, the Single Convention on Rick Lines is Executive Director of Harm Reduction International and Chair of the International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy at the Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, UK, where he is a Visiting Fellow.

The International journal on drug policy, 2008

The approach of Canada's Government to Insite, North America's first safer injecting facility (SI... more The approach of Canada's Government to Insite, North America's first safer injecting facility (SIF) (Wood, Kerr, Tyndall, & Montaner, 2008), is one manifestation of what appears to be the government's broader hostility to both evidence and human rights in public policy, at least insofar as that policy involves the health of people who use illicit drugs. A number of observations are warranted in this regard.

HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2004

In many countries, HIV prevalence among people who use illicit drugs is high. Yet many government... more In many countries, HIV prevalence among people who use illicit drugs is high. Yet many governments resist implementing effective HIV prevention measures, and drug users often lack access to care, treatment, and support, including for HIV/AIDS. Growing evidence indicates the dominant prohibitionist approach to illicit drugs is ineffective--and even counterproductive, blocking or undermining measures shown to reduce harms to drug users and to communities affected by open drug scenes. The growing debate over global drug control policy could shift us collectively away from the current, failed prescriptions to a more rational, pragmatic, and health-promoting framework of harm reduction. This article by Richard Elliott is an abridged version of a paper prepared for "Human Rights at the Margins: HIV/AIDS, Prisoners, Drug Users and the Law," a satellite meeting held in Bangkok on 9 July 2004, and organized by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS ...

HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2011

In January 2011, the Regional Office for Central Asia of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)... more In January 2011, the Regional Office for Central Asia of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network released an extensive report assessing the legislative and policy environment affecting the response to HIV in six countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The report, which draws in part upon the work of a national expert group in each country, puts forward dozens of recommendations for legislative and policy reform, including recommendations for specific reform tailored to the situation in each of the participating countries, with a particular focus on addressing the fast-growing HIV epidemic linked to injection drug use and in prisons.

HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2009

HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2008

Each year, U.N. member states gather for a week in Vienna at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CN... more Each year, U.N. member states gather for a week in Vienna at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), the central policy-making body within the U.N. system dealing with drug-related matters, "to exchange expertise, experiences and information on drug-related matters and to collaborate on a coordinated response to the global drug situation."

HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2008

Four years to the month after Parliament passed a law to enable the supply of lower-cost generic ... more Four years to the month after Parliament passed a law to enable the supply of lower-cost generic medicines to developing countries in need, the first exports are finally about to happen. In this article, Richard Elliott provides an overview of recent developments under Canada's Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR), and identifies key reforms needed to streamline the regime so that it can more easily be used to address public health problems in developing countries.

The International journal on drug policy, 2007

Injecting drugs into human rights advocacy Realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms f... more Injecting drugs into human rights advocacy Realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all is essential to reduce vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.

Canadian HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2002

In September 2001, a gay man with hepatitis C held as a patient at a high-security psychiatric ho... more In September 2001, a gay man with hepatitis C held as a patient at a high-security psychiatric hospital applied for judicial review of the hospital's policy banning access to condoms for patients. His application was denied by the High Court on 30 October 2001.

Canadian HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2002

In August 2001, the Tax Court of Canada issued its most recent judgment on the tax deductability ... more In August 2001, the Tax Court of Canada issued its most recent judgment on the tax deductability of expenses for complementary/alternative therapies. The decision in Pagnotta v Canada is significant for people with HIV/AIDS who use such therapies. It also illustrates how provincial and federal laws regulating health-care practitioners and natural health products have a financial impact on the cost of accessing treatment.

Canadian HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2002

In the face of an ongoing and escalating health crisis among injection drug users in Canada, call... more In the face of an ongoing and escalating health crisis among injection drug users in Canada, calls are coming from many quarters to initiate safe injection facilities as a way to reduce overdoses, the spread of bloodborne diseases, and other health and community problems associated with injection drug use. This article summarizes a paper on safe injection facilities released in early 2002 by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. The paper contributes to the policy discussion in Canada and sets out why and how the law should support the introduction of safe injection facilities.

Canadian HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2002

Canadian HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2002

In a historic development, non-governmental HIV/AIDS organizations in Latin America and the Carib... more In a historic development, non-governmental HIV/AIDS organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean presented a joint report on access to comprehensive care, including antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on 16 October 2002.

Canadian HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2002