A motion for an interlocutory injunction was brought to prevent the City of Toronto from enforcing its By-law that prohibited camping and erecting tents, structures, and shelters in City parks, City of Toronto Municipal Code, c. 608. The applicants did not challenge the validity of the By-law but sought an order to have it suspended …Read more

The applicants appealed a decision affirming the constitutionality of Brian’s Law (Mental Health Legislative Reform), 2000, S.O. 2000, c. 9. (“Brian’s Law”), which was enacted by the Ontario legislature in 2000. Brian’s Law amended the Mental Health Act (“MHA”), adding provisions that expanded criteria for involuntary committal in a psychiatric hospital and introduced community treatment …Read more

The applicants’ claim was based on s. 27(1)(b) of the Constitution – the right to sufficient food and water, which they submitted found further expression in the provisions of the Water Services Act 108 of 1997 (“WSA”). Their complaint argued that farm occupiers and labour tenants, especially the applicants, lacked “access to sufficient water, basic …Read more

The applicant, Mr. Slavko Krajnc, was a professional truck driver in Celje, Slovenia. On September 29, 2003, Krajnc was deemed to have “category III work-related disability” as a result of his epilepsy, which rendered him unable to work as a truck driver. Accordingly, he had the right to be assigned to a different, more suitable …Read more

Duque and his same-sex partner lived together as a couple for over ten years, until his partner died from AIDS. Four years prior to the death, Duque was diagnosed with HIV and was being treated under support from his partner. When his partner died, Duque asked the COLFONDOS (the pension service) to ask what requirements …Read more

The plaintiffs, 1200 women filing a joint tutela, seek constitutional protection against false information being spread by the Attorney General of Colombia regarding emergency contraception. The Attorney General stated that emergency contraceptive that contained Levonorgestrel was an abortificant as the contraceptive can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg on to the walls of the uterus. …Read more

Aranzazu Meneses de Jiménez, a General Service Operator at the Maria Inmaculada Hospital, filed a petition against the Republic of Colombia alleging a violation of article 4 (right to life), article 5 (right to humane treatment), and article 25 (right to judicial protection) of the American Convention on Human Rights and Articles 1, 2, 6 …Read more

Petioner brought action before the Constitutional Court, challenging the constitutionality of Law 1335 of 2009, which imposes a general ban on all forms of tobacco promotion, advertisement and sponsorship and in this case, its constitutionality is being questioned. It imposes bans on behaviors aimed at promoting the consumption of a particular group of goods but …Read more

An amparo action (appeal for legal protection) was brought against the Ministry of Social Protection by the Colombian Commission of Jurists (Comisión Colombiana de Juristas) on behalf of three women (Diana Carmenza Redondo, Argénida Torres, and María Romero), who were victims of massacres orchestrated by either paramilitaries or guerrillas, who were thereafter displaced from their communities, …Read more

25-year-old Petitioner brought a legal protection action before the Municipal Court of Santa Rosa de Osos against Coomeva EPS for refusing to cover the labiaplasty surgery prescribed by her doctor to treat her condition, labia minora hypertrophy.  Petitioner was unable to fully cover the procedure and therefore, claimed that the denial of coverage constituted a …Read more

The applicant, a Colombian woman, tutela action (appeal for legal protection) on behalf of her daughter against EPS Coomeva, a health care provider in Colombia. The child was diagnosed with cognitive disabilities, which required, according to the Fundación Integrar de Medellín, an institution specialized in the care of patients, that the child receive special education …Read more

Petitioner Hernán Antonio Barrero Bravo brought action challenging the constitutionality of Law 860 (Reform of the Social Security System law), alleging its violation of articles 48 (principle of progressive realization), 49 (principle of non-retrogression of social rights) and 53 (principle of non-retrogression in the protection given by the previous law) of the Constitution in changing …Read more

The petitioner, a Colombian national, filed a tutela (an appeal for legal protection) on behalf of his partner who was 19 weeks pregnant. The petitioner’s partner underwent examination and discovered that the fetus exhibited serious malformations that made the fetus unviable. Despite the advice of a board of specialists to terminate the pregnancy, the local health …Read more

The Constitutional Court considered the persistence of an unconstitutional state of affairs with regard to forced displacement, which disproportionately affected women in Colombia. The Court originally declared an unconstitutional state of affairs in Ruling T-025 of 2004 and again in Resolution 218 of 2006. More than half the displaced people in Colombia  (54 per cent) …Read more

In 1993, Colombia passed Law 100, a broad national healthcare reform act that attempted to improve delivery of health services in Colombia by utilizing public and private insurers (“Health Promoting Entities,” or EPSs) as substitutes to purchase health care for insured patients. To this end, the law established a two-tier system of benefits: (1) a …Read more

The Emberá-Chamí community, which is located on the Río San Juan Embera-Chamí native reservation, practices female genital mutilation. This consists of cutting and cauterizing the clitorises of newborn girls. The practice is customary for this community and appears to have two rationales: first, to prevent infidelity among adolescent girls and women, and second, to prevent, …Read more

A Colombian citizen challenged before the Supreme Administrative Court the constitutionality of an administrative decision that allowed the Asociación Probienestar de la Familia Colombiana PROFAMILIA to import and distribute the emergency contraception pill Postinor 2. The petitioner argued that the drug suppressed life in its initial stages, acting as an abortive and therefore violating the …Read more

A girl, aged 13, was a victim of rape and became pregnant as a result. The girl was affiliated with the Coomeva healthcare provider company. However, the company refused to perform a legal abortion claiming conscientious objection on the part of all of its physicians. The company then referred her to the Erasmo Meoz de …Read more

The petitioner brought an tutela action (appeal for legal protection) against SALUDVIDA E.P.S., a health insurance company, for violation of her right to surgical abortion, seeking legal protection of her right to psychological and physical integrity and permission to have an abortion. The petitioner claimed that during the fifth month of her pregnancy, her fetus had …Read more

Petitioners, the alleged victims of violent acts that took place in a region called La Granja, alleged before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that members of law enforcement bodies and paramilitary groups involved in the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia participated in armed raids in which they killed unarmed civilians, robbed others, and caused …Read more

Women petitioners brought a tutela action (appeal for legal protection) requesting that the Court declare unconstitutional particular provisions of the Penal Code (Articles 122 (criminalized abortion), 123 (criminalized abortion without consent), and 124 (mitigating circumstances)) that criminalized abortion, claiming that, first, the doctrine of res judicata did not apply to them with regards to previous decisions …Read more

A woman filed a tutela action (appeal for legal protection), claiming that a criminal court violated the Criminal Procedures Code when it ordered and examined evidence requested by the defense in a trial where she was a rape victim.  The request for evidence included documents on her behavior and several witnesses to testify about her …Read more

Mrs. Torres Puerta (the “Patient”) was affiliated with E.P.S. Coomeva, a Health Providing Entity. (Note: in Colombia, Health Providing Entities are in charge of providing healthcare services to employees, who must subscribe to one of such entities and pay a monthly fee which their employer deducts from their salary). In 2002, The Patient received authorization …Read more

Mr. Rodrigo Alberto Valencia Echeverri brought a Constitutional Action against Cafesalud EPS (“EPS”), a Health Promoting Entity, arguing that his fundamental rights to health and social security had been violated. The plaintiff affirmed that EPS would not administer a medicine called “gadolinium contrast dye”, which was required to conduct a “brain magnetic resonance” exam. This …Read more

Mr. XX filed a tutela action (appeal for legal protection) against the Ministry of National Defence-School of Cadets for expelling him after discovering that he was HIV-positive during a blood donation. The discharge occurred two months before the petitioner was to be promoted to Second Lieutenant. The petitioner had passed all health exams and was found …Read more

Originally, three individuals living with HIV brought action against Hospital Simón Bolívar and the District’s Secretary of Health for the Hospital’s refusal to provide them with the necessary medications and treatment for their condition upon petitioners’ inability to afford payment of the medications and services. The petitioners claimed violations of their rights to health, life …Read more

Doris Fabiola Reinoso Barroso was the daughter of Esteban Reinoso (the Plaintiff) a Colombian Petroleum Company (the Respondent) pensioner, who enjoyed medical assistance services covered by the Respondent. Although she was an adult, Ms. Barroso was listed as a beneficiary of the Plaintiff on these medical assistance services, as her paranoid schizophrenia meant that she …Read more

Cesar Augusto Medina Lopera (the Plaintiff) requested the Health Security Company Comfenalco (H.S.C, the Respondent), to affiliate him to the Social Security System in Health as beneficiary of his life partner, Jairo Castaño Suescún, who was a contributor to this H.S.C. The Respondent denied the affiliation and argued that, in accordance with Colombian Political Constitution, …Read more

This joint appeal involved two cases wherein mentally ill individuals were released from psychiatric hospitals into the care of their families. In File 152.647, Jorge Sandro Hernandez Tacuri had been repeatedly admitted into psychiatric hospitals because he suffered from a variety of mental psychosis, including schizophrenia and epilepsy. After treatment in the psychiatric hospital, Jorge …Read more

Through a representative, 418 parents, inhabitants of the sector of Puenta Aranda in Bogota, filed a tutela against the national and district health authorities alleging that the authorities’ failure to provide a free vaccination program against meningitis violated the duty to protect the health of their children. The Plaintiffs were poor, worked in the informal …Read more

The case combined six writs of tutela that were filed against the Institute of Social Security (ISS) into one record. The Plaintiffs were persons living with HIV who had not been able to obtain protease inhibitors to treat their HIV. The protease inhibitors sought by the Plaintiffs were antiretrovirals used in the treatment of HIV …Read more

Mr. XX, the Plaintiff, worked for the Gun Club Corporation, the Respondent, from 16 March 1992 until 1 July 1994. On 28 April 1994, Dr. Alvaro Murra Erazo, who was working for the Respondent, administered an HIV test to the Plaintiff. After receiving a positive result, the Plaintiff was advised by Dr. Murra to resign …Read more

A 10-month-old baby girl was diagnosed with lobar pneumonia, malnourishment, and dehydration. A doctor advised her parents to seek immediate medical attention considering her critical health state was putting her life at risk. The parents were evangelical Christians whose sect did not allow them to take the baby to the hospital for treatment. The Caldono …Read more

The Petitioner, a Colombian national living with HIV, filed an appeal for legal protection against the Colombian Social Security Institute. The Petitioner claimed that his right to medical services was threatened when a doctor at the Cali Social Security Institute informed him that his treatment would cease in 30 days. However, medical directors at the …Read more