Research

Women’s Health Rights can Guide International Climate Litigation: KlimaSeniorinnen v. Switzerland before the European Court of Human Rights

Hannah van Kolfschooten and Angela Hefti All over the world, individuals are taking governments to court for their role in climate change, or rather, their “climate inaction”. The 2022 Global Trends in Climate Change Litigation Policy Report shows that strategic litigation cases to enforce climate laws and policies have doubled since 2015.…

The Council of Europe’s Artificial Intelligence Convention: Implications for Health and Patients

The Council of Europe, the most important international human rights organization on the European continent, currently is drafting a Convention on Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law (AI Convention). The Convention aims to protect fundamental rights against the harms of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and is expected to become a global leading…

Five “Big MedTech” Myths about Medical AI Debunked

Criticism of the European Union’s AI Act by the HealthTech Industry is often based on incorrect assumptions, and is in conflict with health and fundamental rights principles, write Hannah van Kolfschooten, Janneke van Oirschot, and Claudia Nicastro. The European Union’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act is a world-first attempt to create comprehensive AI…

Health protection is non-negotiable in the AI Act negotiations

A health-centric approach to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act is essential for the protection of health and fundamental rights of European citizens, write Hannah van Kolfschooten and Janneke van Oirschot.  The European Commission’s proposal for an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act has been the topic of a heated debate since its publication in…

Call for Action: High Time to Prioritise Health in the EU Artificial Intelligence Act

Last year, the European Commission published its long awaited legislative proposal on artificial intelligence (AI): the Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA). Since then, a heated debate has been going on about its contents, as many civil society organisations believe the proposal falls short on fundamental rights protection. Various committees within the European Parliament have proposed amendments…

A Health-Oriented Approach to the Declaration on European Digital Rights and Principles

Hannah van Kolfschooten and Sofia PalmieriEurope is in the midst of a digital revolution transforming many aspects of daily life. In the healthcare sector, digitalisation may change today’s values and rights. Health tech developments range from relatively simple digital solutions—such as online appointment systems and digital health records—to artificial intelligence…

EU Regulation of Artificial Intelligence: Challenges for Patients’ Rights

In order to create a well-functioning internal market for Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, the European Commission recently proposed the Artificial Intelligence Act. However, this legislative proposal pays limited attention to the health-specific risks the use of AI poses to patients’ rights. This article outlines that fundamental rights impacts associated with…

Privacy Harmonisation in Times of Crisis

Hannah van Kolfschooten & Bastiaan Wallage On 25 May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entered into force. From then on, the lawfulness of processing personal data within the European Union has been harmonised. The right to personal data protection, an important part of the human right to privacy,…

A Legal Perspective on Contact Tracing

Information for early detection of health emergencies can save lives. In the COVID-19 crisis, we see that national governments in the European Union (EU) turn to widespread surveillance and contact tracing in order to gather information on the spreading and risks of the virus. Contact tracing is the tracing of…

From Saramago’s Blindness Epidemic to EU Health Law

My interest in health emergencies was sparked when reading Saramago’s novel Blindness at age 16. It tells the story of a sudden blindness pandemic afflicting nearly everyone and I loved every word. Since then, I’ve seen countless post-apocalyptic movies on pandemics, ranging from classic contagion to zombies. I’ve played the…