Leaving no one behind: a human rights-based approach to the protection of the victims of global public health emergencies

Th e human rights-based approach (‘HRB’) to the protection of the victims of global emergencies has found recent support from both governments and non-governmental organisations and international humanitarian organisations. We set out to clarify this approach, how it is applied and to identify its main components and actors. Th rough references to the IASC Operational Guidelines on Human Rights and Natural Disasters (‘the Operational Guidelines’ or the ‘Guidelines’), a recently adopted tool for governments and international non-governmental humanitarian organisations, we show how the HRB approach works in relation to the protection of the victims of global natural disasters, and we discuss why the Operational Guidelines could be used as a model for developing a HRB approach for the protection of the victims of public health emergencies of international concern, especially of the most vulnerable ones. A review of humanitarian assistance within the United Nations framework, of the international responsibility to practise public health and of the non-derogation clauses in international human rights law – three potentially valuable and alternative avenues to the HRB approach for the protection of persons aff ected by global public health emergencies – will precede the above-mentioned exposition and suggestion.