This is not a complete sentence and therefore cannot be accurately translated. Please provide a complete sentence for translation.
Samuel Bakhtiyari

In today’s limited and repetitive industrial world, at first glance, addressing human rights does not provoke any opposition and on the surface, most people claim to support human rights. Most people, when they imagine a confrontation with the issue of human rights, overlook the imprisonment of dissidents, torture, and blatant violence against humanity. With this definition, incorporating the issue of safety and vaccination within the framework of human rights issues seems a bit difficult.

Wealthy countries have repeatedly promised to eliminate poverty and diseases that have gripped poor countries. G-8 member countries, several years ago in one of their meetings, promised to eradicate poverty and diseases from poor countries by providing appropriate and practical solutions.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been adopted by 191 countries, clearly states that children all over the world have the right to physical, moral, spiritual, and social development in their own communities. This convention also explicitly states that children require special support to fully benefit from this right. These terms may be unfamiliar to children in developed countries, but this is not the case in other countries.

Based on the report of the World Health Organization, until just a few years ago, more than 10 million children were dying before the age of 5; despite some improvement, this statistic still exists. Most of these children are from poor or developing countries, with Africa alone accounting for half of these victims. For example, children in Sierra Leone are 100 times more likely to die before the age of 5 compared to German or Japanese children. There are countless reasons for the tragic conditions of these children; including lack of access to clean water, public health, inadequate nutrition, and unhealthy living conditions.

Alongside all the mentioned topics, a large number of children in developing countries are deprived of vaccination. It may be hard to believe, but in today’s world, children are still falling victim to diseases such as measles and whooping cough. The statistics of 3 child deaths per minute due to preventable infectious diseases are heartbreaking, especially when there is a simple and quick solution like immunization. Why is there not a simple and fast solution like vaccination to alleviate the pain and suffering of these children? This is where the issue of vaccination is raised as a human rights issue.

It is hard to imagine that the world is only a spectator to the fundamental violation of the most basic right of these children, the right to life. However, there is also no opposition to taking any action in favor of these children.

In one of the G-8 group meetings that took place over 10 years ago in Scotland, the leaders of the world’s industrialized countries announced their agreement with Britain’s plan to provide funding for children’s vaccination in poor countries over the next 10 years. According to these leaders, this action was a positive step towards reducing child mortality in poor countries. From the perspective of many of these leaders and people around the world, covering the costs of vaccination is considered a humanitarian act. The important issue is understanding vaccination as a fundamental right of children. Although there are countless logical reasons for changing attitudes and accepting this, the world today also needs an ethical necessity; vaccination is a fundamental right of children, not just a humanitarian act!

In 2004, a British organization (United Kingdom, Common Wealth Medical Trust) discussed the issue of vaccination as a human rights issue in a report titled “Human Rights and Health”. The report emphasized that many governments are willing to cooperate with each other in the framework of child vaccination, but not from a human rights perspective. From a human rights perspective, vaccination is not just a means of measuring the overall health of a society, but a fundamental right. Therefore, government immunization programs cannot be placed within this framework. Most government planning is based on the country’s budget, where there are other priorities for spending. Therefore, it cannot be accepted that the immunization program for children is part of a benevolent act and is related to the good intentions of governments.

Lack of access to vaccines is not only a problem for poor countries that must be addressed within the framework of human rights, but also difficult access to clean water, adequate nutrition, and education for children require a human rights perspective. A human rights approach to child safety can be the beginning of remarkable changes. This change in perspective is a valuable opportunity to save human lives and a great test for human rights advocates. Of course, governments and citizens of wealthy countries must make more efforts to address human rights issues and create a better world for living.

Explanation: This article, published by “Mary Robinson” in “Chicago Tribune”, has been translated into Farsi with some abbreviation. Ms. Mary Robinson is the former head of the Commission on Immunization Support and a member of the board of this global institution.