Book review: Social Inequality

The judicial guarantee of the right to health: between the indirect protection and the specific justiciability

El objetivo principal de este trabajo es el estudio de los mecanismos de garantía judicial del derecho a la salud. Se estudian, de un lado, aquellos que protegen este derecho a través de la vía de la interrelación con otros derechos, como es el caso del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos o del sistema interamericano. De otro lado, se tratan los sistemas que reconocen una justiciabilidad autónoma al derecho a la salud, destacando la litigación en países como Brasil o Colombia, y las críticas que ello ha recibido. Ante estas reservas, como las inequidades encontradas en el acceso a los tribunales y la excesiva intervención judicial, como objetivo último se plantean algunas respuestas, entre…

THE HUMAN RIGHT TO HEALTH: A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS AFTER 70 YEARS OF INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

In 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the first international text recognising universal human rights for all; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 25 recognises the right to an adequate standard of living, which includes the right to health and medical care. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Declaration, this article presents an overview of the main developments that have been made towards understanding the content and implications of the right to health, as well as an analysis of some specific advancements that aim to facilitate the enforcement thereof. These include: a) the implication of private entities as responsible for right to health…

Universal Health Coverage for Undocumented Migrants. The Spanish Case

Implementation of the universal right to health, along with the UN’s goal to achieve universal health coverage (UHC), face common challenges to ensuring universal health care entitlement. One of these difficulties is health care restrictions for undocumented migrants. A recent example is the Spanish health care regulation that places universal coverage at risk by restricting access to it by this group. The work herein examines the right to health and UHC’s regulations with the aim of determining if access to health care services for undocumented migrants is indeed recognized and if this recognition could therefore be valid to limit those kinds of measures. The UHC proposal does not sufficie…

Comparing the access conditions for minimum income support in four EU member states for national, EU and non-EU citizens

This research analyses the conditions imposed on national, EU and non-EU citizens who wish to access minimum income (MI) benefits within four EU Member States, specifically within Finland, France, Ireland and Spain. The primary aim is to identify and compare the required MI access conditions. Furthermore, focus is given to the residence requisites, which are discussed in relation to relevant supranational regulations in order to detect possible multilevel implications. The paper concludes with the identification of different MI conditions, such as stricter age requisites in France and Spain. Moreover, the study of national cases allows for consideration of how the EU social protection floor…

Alonso Seco, José María. La política social como realización de derechos sociales. Valencia : Tirant lo Blanch, 2019.

The content and potential of the right to social assistance in light of Article 13 of the European Social Charter

This article explores the current development of the right to social assistance as well as its potential for improving income support policies. Focusing on Article 13 of the European Social Charter (ESC), it aims to shed light on the content of such provision by identifying a list of comprehensive defining standards from the monitoring activity conducted by the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR). Secondly, it asks whether the right can effectively enhance access to social assistance in practice by studying the implementation of the right in two national cases, the UK and Spain. The article concludes that Article 13 ESC imposes clear obligations on States Parties regarding aspects o…

Morales, Leticia. Derechos sociales constitucionales y democracia, Madrid: Marcial Pons, 2015

En torno a la igualdad en la fundamentación de los derechos sociales | On the Subject of Equality as a Foundation of Social Rights

Resumen: Este trabajo aborda algunas cuestiones de fundamentación de los derechos sociales, entendiendo los mismos desde una perspectiva igualitaria. Como derechos humanos universales, se asignan a todas las personas. Ahora bien, de ello no cabe inferir que los derechos sociales sean, por definición, derechos de igualdad. Asimismo, en cuanto a las variantes del igualitarismo, se concluye que la relevancia de las necesidades y de las capacidades remiten a una concepción del igualitarismo suficientista.
 
 Abstract: This paper addresses some questions on the foundation of social rights from an egalitarian perspective. As universal human rights, social rights are assigned to all peop…

The ingreso mínimo vital and the right to social assistance of the european social charter

En este artículo se analiza el Ingreso Mínimo Vital (IMV) desde la perspectiva de los derechos humanos y, en concreto, desde los estándares exigidos por el derecho a la asistencia social reconocido en la Carta Social Europea. El objetivo es valorar si el IMV cumple o no con las exigencias del derecho a la asistencia social tal y como ha sido reconocido en el artículo 13 de la Carta Social Europea, de acuerdo con la doctrina consolidada del Comité Europeo de Derechos Sociales del Consejo de Europa. El análisis de la regulación del IMV teniendo en cuenta las implicaciones de este derecho permite concluir que, a pesar de los importantes avances realizados, algunas mejoras son todavía necesaria…