Policy

This monograph is an introduction to participation in the context of the right to the highest attainable standard of health. A companion volume to Accountability and the right to the highest attainable standard of health (sometimes referred to as the "accountability monograph"), the monograph is intended to assist government health policy makers to understand the content and role of participation in the context of policy making and the right to health. The active and informed participation of people and groups in all health-related decisionmaking is a component of the right to the highest attainable standard of health.

The right to health places the well-being of people, groups, communities and populations at the centre of a health system. By doing so, implementation of the right can help to ensure that a health system is neither dominated by experts nor removed from the people it is meant to serve. In the context of health systems, this includes active and informed participation in the identification and development of health policy, as well as implementation and accountability. Clearly, participation has wide application in the context of the right to the highest attainable standard of health. In this preliminary monograph, the principal focus is placed on participation in the development of health policy, as a means of illustrating how active and informed participation can take place.

In September 2006 a new clause was inserted into the Sexual Offences Act making it an offence to "unlawfully and intentionally engage the sexual services of a person 18 years or older for financial or other reward, favour or compensation." According to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development the intended aim of this clause is to protect sex workers from exploitation and abuse and to prevent trafficking in persons by eradicating sex work.

Certain sections of the long-awaited Sexual Offences Act finally came into operation on Sunday.

According to a statement released by Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Clause 72 of the Act provides for the implementation of Chapters 1 to 4 and 7 came into operation on Sunday.

These relate mainly to the creation of statutory sexual offences and certain transitional arrangements and evidentiary matters.

Certain sections of the long-awaited Sexual Offences Act finally came into operation this week. They deal mainly with statutory sexual offences relating to assault, exploitation, trafficking and child pornography.

Certain sections of the long-awaited Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, No. 32 of 2007, came into effect on the 16th of December 2007 after being signed into law by President Thabo Mbeki. Section 72 of the Act provides for the implementation of Chapters 1 to 4 and 7, which mainly deal with the creation of statutory sexual offences, special protection measures for children and persons who are mentally disabled, certain transitional arrangements and evidencerelated matters. The Act will help intensify South Africa's efforts to fight sexual crimes against all persons and, especially, sexual offences being committed against vulnerable groups, including women, children and people who are mentally disabled.

"Sexuality" is a major life function that is an integral part of relating to others, building self-esteem and building social relationships. The ability to make choices related to sexuality and act on those choices by people with developmental disabilities contributes to healthy community living.

The Canadian government recently released a new "International Policy Statement". In the "Development" section, there are many references to sexual and reproductive health (and rights, in some instances). With respect to "Improving Health Outcomes", the Statement states the following (emphasis added in some cases):   Canada will assist countries to improve health outcomes, particularly among the poorest, through a focus on: preventing and controlling high-burden, communicable, poverty-linked diseases (especially HIV/AIDS); strengthening the capacity of health systems; improving infant and child health; strengthening sexual and reproductive health; and improving food security.

If the involvement of children in crime is under discussion, one can distinguish between crimes by children and crimes  against children. Crimes committed by children (delinquents) are investigated by the relevant unit, for example the Vehicle Theft Unit, Detective Branch, etc. 

The need to establish a unit within the South African Police Service to prevent and combat crimes against children, was identified during 1986. The primary task of the Child Protection Unit is to render a sensitive service endearing to the child victim.

Women's equality and the important role of women in every field of human endeavour has been acknowledged through international instruments, national constitutions and by societies across the globe.

The rights of all people, regardless of gender, sexuality, race, religion, has been acknowledged under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Further, governments have acknowledged the rights of women under the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Under this Convention, Governments are obliged to implement concrete programs to put into practice three main principles, the principle of equality, the principle of non-discrimination and the principle of State obligation.

Today, we're announcing a new logs retention policy: we'll anonymize IP addresses on our server logs after 9 months. We're significantly shortening our previous 18-month retention policy to address regulatory concerns and to take another step to improve privacy for our users.

Back in March 2007, Google became the first leading search engine to announce a policy to anonymize our search server logs in the interests of privacy. And many others in the industry quickly followed our lead. Although that was good for privacy, it was a difficult decision because the routine server log data we collect has always been a critical ingredient of innovation. We have published a series of blog posts explaining how we use logs data for the benefit of our users: to make improvements to search quality, improve security, fight fraud and reduce spam.

Over the last two years, policymakers and regulators -- especially in Europe and the U.S. -- have continued to ask us (and others in the industry) to explain and justify this shortened logs retention policy. We responded by open letter to explain how we were trying to strike the right balance between sometimes conflicting factors like privacy, security, and innovation. Some in the community of EU data protection regulators continued to be skeptical of the legitimacy of logs retention and demanded detailed justifications for this retention. Many of these privacy leaders also highlighted the risks of litigants using court-ordered discovery to gain access to logs, as in the recent Viacom suit.