This article provides a brief overview of the history of international mediation law, as well as the relevance of its further development in the international arena.
The right of citizens to health, unlike other human rights, has recently become legally enshrined in legal acts, including in constitutions, countries of the world community. Until the middle of the last century, the constitutions of states around the world did not mention the right of citizens to health, although many other human rights had already been proclaimed.
The 47th Conference of the Association of International Law, held in Dubrovniki (Yugoslavia) in 1956, established the Committee on International Medical Law [1]. The materials of the activity of this committee show that international medical law was considered as part of the so-called “law of war”. The main content of this branch of law was the Committee considered norms aimed at humanizing war, rendering medical assistance to the victims of war. In the most concentrated form this viewpoint is expressed in a resolution adopted by the 47th Conference of the Association of International Law. The resolution emphasizes that the main goal of international medical law “is to strengthen the legal guarantee for more effective protection of victims of armed conflicts”. In 1960, the report approved by the Committee said: “This branch of international law is developing in every possible way to take a significant place within the framework of the international law of war”. The same position was taken by members of the Committee at the 51st Conference of the Association held in August 1964 in Tokyo [2].
Meanwhile, the tasks of international medical law should be understood much broader. Among the vast number of rules governing interstate relations, there are many such that relate to health and medical issues. All of them in aggregate represent the whole system directed to the same purpose
to improvement of health of all people on the earth. The totality of these norms is international medical law.
In order to clearly understand the content of the considered branch of law, it is necessary to turn to the Charter of the World Health Organization, which states that the main goal of the organization is “the achievement by all peoples of the highest possible level of health”. The term “health”, as stated in the preamble of the Charter, means “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not only the absence of disease or infirmity.” It is these provisions of the WHO Constitution that should form the basis of international medical law and determine its main content. The development of such legal norms that would most effectively contribute to improving the health of the entire population of our planet that is the most important task of international medical law.
Having the main objective of legal regulation of activities to improve the health of all peoples, it also has a second task, which is to protect the lives and health of people in the event of armed conflicts. The war is causing huge damage to the health of millions of people. Therefore, the norms of international law, referring to the protection of human health in the event of war, are also the content of the considered branch of law, but they are not in the first place.
International medical law is part of international law, which regulates interstate relations on health and medicine [3]. Proceeding from this, it follows that the sources of this branch of law are those international treaties and conventions whose norms are primarily aimed at improving the health of peoples in peacetime and, in addition, protecting the health of people in the event of war. As the only source of this branch of law, foreign authors usually consider the Geneva Conventions of 1949 on the protection of war victims. Paying most attention to the analysis of these conventions, they completely ignore such important documents as the UN Charter, the WHO Constitution and other international legal acts. Thus, the authors of the report, submitted to the Committee on International Medical law in 1958, proclaim: “The Geneva agreements for us are sort of grand charter of charters”. At the meeting of the Committee on International Medical Law in Tokyo, the same line continued the focus was only on conventions on the protection of war victims.
This position seems to be wrong. The main sources of international medical law are the UN Charter and the WHO Constitution. However, if the United Nations Charter only in its most general form states that the United Nations should promote international cooperation in the field of health care and the resolution of emerging international problems, the provisions of the Charter of the World Health Organization are much more developed. The WHO Constitution, as sources of international medical law, should refer to the International Health Regulations, adopted in 1951 at the WHO World Health Assembly, which means establishing quarantine as necessary to prevent the spread of contagious diseases. Sources of this branch of law are also the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 and a number of bilateral agreements on cooperation in the field of health.
It seems necessary to include decisions of international bodies, in particular the World Health Assembly of WHO. Thus, in 1961, at its XIV session, on the proposal of the USSR delegation, a special resolution was adopted which, taking into account the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples adopted by the Fifteenth Session of the UN General Assembly, obliges the World Health Organization to provide medical assistance to the peoples who have won their independence or defending their right to it. This resolution is an important source of international medical law [4].
Important sources of international medical law are, in addition, agreements adopted by the World Health Assembly in accordance with the WHO Constitution, conventions and various rules on sanitation, medicine, etc. These agreements and conventions, according to Art. 19 of the WHO Constitution require the approval of a two-thirds majority cast at a meeting of the Assembly. Moreover, for each member of WHO, the convention adopted in this way will enter into force only if it is approved by the competent state authorities in accordance with the constitutional procedure in the country. It was noted above that the system of international medical law includes those norms that protect human health during a war in one way or another.
The result of half a century of activity was that at present the norms of medical law become an integral part of international and domestic legislation. Today, international medical law unites social human rights, covering a significant range of issues than the medical legislation of a particular state. Before the science of international medical law there is a noble task of developing such new norms that maximally contribute to improving the health of all the people. The World Health Organization believes that in order to achieve positive results in the field of health care, it is necessary to set up, on a legal basis, targeted management of all levels of the health care system. The strategy developed by WHO / EURO assumes that the State has a proper health system that includes an appropriate and generally accessible public health system, as well as its legal support, which makes it possible to clearly delineate the terms of reference and powers of central and regional public authorities. The main task is to create a healthcare system regulated by the basic legislation and other legal acts that allows rendering the necessary medical assistance to the whole population and providing prevention and diagnostics of diseases, special measures to protect the health of mothers, children and the elderly, as well as general measures aimed at “ prevention of air and water pollution, protection from radiation and noise, food and environmental quality control and combating alcohol and drug abuse” [5].
Among the tasks of ensuring the right to health is also the protection of the health of people living in close proximity to nuclear power plants; measures to prevent the spread of AIDS; the creation of a health education system; the provision of advisory and educational services to improve the health and development of people’s sense of personal responsibility for their health; prevention, as far as possible, of the spread of epidemic, endemic and other diseases; and the availability of general health services in all primary and secondary schools. The objects of control are also the standards for the quality of the medical care provided, incl. quality of food products, etc. In general, the analysis of foreign sources shows that, first of all, in the field of healthcare, the task is to contribute to “ensuring a high level of protection of human health, encouraging cooperation among member states and, if necessary, supporting their actions”.
A study of the history of foreign medical law and health legislation allows us to assert that in the economically developed countries of the world there is a stable trend in the legal regulation of health protection that is based not on departmental lawmaking but on laws protecting human health issued by the highest state authorities of different countries or their subjects, as well as on legal acts of international medical organizations.
REFERENCES
- International Law Association. Hamburg Conference. Committee of International Medical Law. – Hamburg, 1960. – P.5.
- Всемирная Организация Здравоохранения. Основные документы. 13-е издание. Женева, С.1-2.
- International Law Association. New York University Conference. Committee of International Medical – NY, 1958. P.1.
- International Sanitary Regulations. – WHO. – Geneva,
- Official Records of the World Health Organisation. WHA 14.58. Geneva, P. 25.