ABSTRACT
CONTENTS 15.1 The Right to Health under International Law ............................. 308 15.2 A Country Snapshot: Why Cuba? ................................................ 310 15.3 Cuban Legal Obligations for the Right to Health ........................ 311 15.4 Cuban Health: Past and Present................................................... 313 15.5 Beyond the Special Period............................................................ 316 15.6 Conclusions and Ways Forward ................................................... 317 References ............................................................................................... 319
15.1 The Right to Health under International Law In a famous 1964 case on obscenity, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart coined what is now known as the Casablanca Test, which is simply, ‘‘I know it when I see it’’ [1]. Human rights are in many ways just the opposite. You know it when you do not see them or do not have them, you know it when your rights are being violated. Human rights are a set of beliefs about the societal basis of human well being and about what people need to maintain their human dignity. Human rights describe the relationships between individuals and society, specifically government. They are a kind of pact; we pledge our loyalty to our country, and our respective governments pledge to respect, protect, and fulfill our human rights.
