Insurance and Human Rights

This volume examines the impact of and interplay between human rights and insurance. National, supranational and international legal instruments regulating the taking-up and pursuit of the business of insurance and reinsurance, (re)insurance distribution and the insurance contract often refer to or impact on human or fundamental rights. Courts are often faced with the sometimes seemingly impossible task of reconciling insurance core principles, practices and mind-sets with the principles and values stemming from human rights protection. In some cases, such as that of discrimination in insurance, this discussion has been going on for decades. Some deal with hot topics which have more recently emerged in light of developments stemming from technologic innovations ('InsurTech'). The first part of the book focuses on insurance and the right to equal treatment. Discrimination on the basis of factors such as gender or age is tackled, from the perspectives of the European Union, Canada and South Africa. The second part of the book highlights the very relevant role played by insurance in the upholding of the right to health, covering the United States of America, Africa and Brazil. The third part of the book explores InsurTech's manifold challenges upon the right to privacy, focusing on European Union. The fourth part tackles the threat posed by insurance on the right to life in general, but with a particular focus on the United Kingdom. Written by legal scholars and practitioners, the book offers international, comparative and regional or national perspectives, aiming to contribute to a more thorough and systematic understanding of the interactions between these two very different fields of law, providing the industry as well as the scientific community with insights from both sides of this seemingly difficult to transpose divide.

First book on insurance and human rights Covers various parts of the world, with a particular focus on Europe and North-America Written by both legal practitioners and legal scholars from across the globe

Autorentext

Professor Margarida Lima Rego, NOVA University, School of Law, Lisbon, Portugal Professor Birgit Kuschke, University of Pretoria, Faculty of Law, Pretoria, South Africa

Inhalt

Part I - Insurance and the right to equal treatment.- Discrimination Bans and Insurance Law.- Discrimination in the Context of Parametric Insurance.- Insurance and Discrimination in Canadian Law.- Part II Insurance and the right to health.- Health Reinsurance as a Human Right.- The role of cooperatives and mutual health organizations in the extension of universal health insurance in Africa.- Part III Insurance and the right to privacy.- Big Data, Privacy and the Protection of the User of Autonomous Vehicles: Ethical Issues, Insurance Aspects and Human Rights.- GDPR and processing of health data in insurance contracts: opening a can of worms?.- Part IV Insurance and the right to life.- Gambling on My Life and My Right to Live.