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Human Rights and Dementia: The Importance of Perceived Identity
Every day, doctors, nurses and care partners violate the basic human rights of millions of people around the world.
In America — and in essentially every other nation on earth — people living with acquired cognitive disabilities are stigmatized and routinely abused by the systems designed to support them.
Can training of frontline healthcare workers in human rights help stop this?
International human rights law is the baseline set by 192 countries in an era of global unity following the atrocities of the second world war. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948 and sought to establish the foundational rights — for all human beings — that all U.N. member states are bound to ensure.
Over the years, the body of international human rights law has become more robust. Additional protections for women, children, and people with disabilities have been incorporated to address the effects of stigma, discrimination, and abuse.
In practical terms, the body of international human rights law informs the bodies of national and state law created all over the world.
Put simply, it’s illegal everywhere to violate a person’s human rights.
