Core Competencies in Human Rights for Health Professionals

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Core Competencies in Human Rights for Health
Professionals

• Wednesday 5th to Friday 7th July 2006
• Leslie Building, UCT Upper Campus
• Financial support

University of Cape Town
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Conference Overview
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Overview

• Experiences in Curriculum Development (10)
• Nursing, medicine, OT, Diet, Pharmacy, bioethics
• Teaching strategies (4)
• From student to practitioner (31)
• Institutional responses
• International experiences

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Common themes

• Should start early in curriculum (even at
  schools), but continue throughout, including CPD
• Does the hidden curriculum unteach what is
  taught early?
• Importance of continuous assessment
• Human rights and ethics used interchangeably
  cannot separate
• Formal teaching needs to include different
  methods including experiential/self-reflection,
  so as to get students to recognise importance and
  relevance to them
• Who is qualified to teach human rights? Capacity
  building critical. White staff deny black staff
  dont think they need to examine it?
• Unlearning of old ways of doing things
• Where? Not just clinical but also for management,
  those who make decisions, hold power

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Common themes

• Labelling of Human Rights champions intervene in
  the system to support teaching HR
• Whistleblowing NB
• Not simplistic solutions change
• Difficulties in changing attitudes how important
  role modeling is.
• Many opportunities for teaching and learning hr
  are available need to identify

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International Experiences

• Fragile / need to guard gains / guarantees on
  paper not sustainable
• Comprehensive across Civil/political AND
  socio-economic rights

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Differences

• Relationship of ethics to human rights health
  law
• Extent of prescription on competencies
  interfering in academic freedom
• How to apply to SAQA frameworks
• Discipline versus generic core competencies
• Debate around balance of recognising context
  versus taking firm position

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Core competencies

• Recognising a violations
• Know what to do when you see a HR violation?(AND
  skills to DO)