An Explication on Broadening the Definition and Scope of Maximum Available Resources under the General Comment 14 of the ICESCR to include Islamic Taxation in Financing the Right to Health
Journal Title: Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research (BJSTR) - Year 2017, Vol 1, Issue 3
Abstract
There exists no comprehensive definition on what constitutes “available resources” as envisaged under article 2.1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. There is also an absence of an extensive discourse on this definition beyond stating that it refers to both the resources existing within a state as well as those available from the international community through international cooperation and assistance. The definition does not recognize Islamic forms of taxation that are domestically available to an Islamic as well as a secular state. Accordingly, the problem identified in this explication is that of linking zakat; a form of Islamic taxation, to the concept and definition of maximum available resources. The book by Waris (2015) argues that there is a link between taxation and human rights (the right to health being among such rights). Waris pushes this proposition to the point of demonstrating the validity of the argument that rights require resources for their realization and subsequent enforcement, but she stops short of discussing the exact fiscal mechanism that could be used for the realisation and enforcement of specific rights. This explication having identified this gap aims to advance an argument that allows for broadening the international community understands of what constitutes maximum available resources that a state can utilise to finance the right to health. It proposes the introduction of zakat as a potential method of mobilising financial resources domestically available and argues for its inclusion in the definition and scope of maximum available resources.Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) recognizes the “right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health” [1,2]. This declaration of the right to health itself, however, does not suffice for its realisation. Instead, its realisation can be progressively achieved through the development of an equitable tax and effective health governance systems as necessary prerequisites for achieving this right. Accordingly, financial resources and governance of health systems are critical to the realisation of the right to health. Article 2.1 of the ICESCR states that: This means that states have a legal obligation to respect, protect and fulfill economic, social and cultural rights and are expected to take progressive action towards their fulfillment. Consequently, a state is to allocate the maximum of its available resources towards the realisation of this right.
Authors and Affiliations
LA Latif
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- EP ID EP572751
- DOI 10.26717/BJSTR.2017.01.000313
- Views 156
- Downloads 0
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