Human rights and right to health of MST rural settlements dwellers

Abstract

In Brazil, the challenge to guarantee the exercise of rights is impaired by deep social inequalities, which weaken not only the guarantee of rights, but also the implementation of public policies that can address the demands of the population. In the case of the rural population, the profound contrasts in the distribution of land, resources, and access to services make residents of rural settlements face precarious conditions for survival. This article is a review of the strengths and weaknesses that members of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) present for the exercise of human rights, especially the right to health, based on references located in LILACS, SciELO, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, PubMed, Web of Science and ProQuest. Eight articles were analyzed and three main categories were identified: i) Struggle for rights and party interests; ii) Right to education and education in rights, iii) Where to exercise social control in health? The results showed that the defense of their rights sometimes collides with political party interests; however, the focus on education indicates strong potential in the defense and expansion of these rights. With regard to the right to health, members of the movement still present contradictory positions in relation to formal spaces of social control in health.