Groningen Centre for Health Law

Prof. mr. J.C.J. Dute - The corona vaccination campaign has started in the Netherlands. In the meantime, the first votes have also been raised for the introduction of a vaccination requirement. Talking now about compulsory vaccination is premature, overestimates the vaccine, is misguided and is counterproductive. In this article I explain why.

Dominique Mollet - Earlier this month, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) published its first case challenging measures taken by a State in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In Le Mailloux v. France (press release in English), the applicant invoked Articles 2 (right to life), 3 (the prohibition of torture), 8 (right to respect for private life) and 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), challenging the French response to the outbreak of the coronavirus. On 5 November 2020, the Fifth Section of the Court declared the application inadmissible. In this column, I will present my analysis of the complaint and the decision of the Court.

Dominique Mollet - Today’s column presents the last in the series on HFSS food advertising regulation. Over the past few weeks I have examined several aspects related to HFSS food advertising regulation. I started off by arguing that States, in certain circumstances, have obligations arising from ‘the right to adequate nutrition’ under international human rights law to regulate HFSS food advertising

Dominique Mollet - As I have indicated in my previous columns, the Dutch lack of regulation of HFSS food advertising, which does not conform to the implementation of IHRL, can be traced back to European trends. It is therefore interesting to have a look at how other European States have regulated advertising in light of the inconsistency between international legal standards and European trends.

Pieter de Coninck - The current COVID-19 pandemic seems the ultimate proof that health at national level has global dimensions, regarding not only the origin and spread of diseases but also the efforts to prevent and control them. Infectious or communicable diseases may be the most striking example, but they are definitely not the only one: e.g. antimicrobial resistance, alcohol, and tobacco. In various ways, many health issues have cross-border, global aspects.

Dean M. Harris - Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the candidates of the Democratic Party, have won the election for President and Vice President of the United States. This is good for democracy, human rights, and global health

Katharina O 'Cathaoir - In September 2020, twelve "cluster 5" cases of Covid-19 were identified in humans in North Jutland, Denmark. By November, new coronavirus mutations had passed from minks to around 200 humans, some in contact with minks and others without direct contact, meaning it is circulating in the population of North Jutland. A central concern is that some of the mutations appear to be less susceptible to antibody responses, which raised fears that the much-awaited vaccines would not be effective on this strain. However, it should be noted that this has been disputed and remains unproven.

Dominique Mollet - Based on my previous column, it is safe to say that the Netherlands approaches HFSS food advertising regulation from a commercial perspective, rather than from the health- and human rights-based approach described in Part I of this series. In this column I argue that the European trends regarding HFSS food advertising constitute a possible factor that may have influenced the adoption of this stance

Dominique Mollet - As indicated in my previous column, international human rights law imposes obligations for States to protect the rights of individuals.

Dominique Mollet - Whenever we open our Facebook-, or Instagram-app or turn on the TV, we are often targeted by advertising efforts promoting the consumption of products detrimental to our health, such as ‘unhealthy’ food (food high in saturated fat, trans fatty acids, salt and sugar, HFSS food). Some States have regulated such advertising to some extent, while others mainly leave it unregulated. But do States actually have obligations under international human rights law to regulate this?