INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL REHABILITATION AND PALLIATIVE MEDICINE.2015.2(2):49-53; doi 10.15574/IJRPM.2015.2.49 
 

Some international legal acts to ensure the implementation of social policy and social work in palliative and hospice care 
 

Wolf Olexander

Charitable organization «Association of palliative and hospice care», head of the board 
 

The aim of the article is to highlight the issue of legal grounds for humanization of social policy towards the terminally ill as the new area of social policy in Ukraine as well as the basic principles of palliative care. Its material being analyzed – the most important documents of international organizations (United Nations, World Health Organization, the European Association for Palliative Care), developed in 2013-2014, have been reviewed. As a conclusion and issues for discussion, it is noted that the existence of the crisis in social and political life of Ukraine can update and accelerate organizational, political and legal changes in relation to terminally ill citizens. The important role in these public and political changes should belong to structures of civil society. International legal documents on various aspects of policy concerning the terminally ill, which have been developed and published in 2013-2014, should become the basic for our country, too, because they take into account the crisis that particularly affects developing countries. 
 

Key words: palliative and hospice care, civil society, NGOs, patients’ rights, human rights, euthanasia, global social policy, humanization of health care. 
 

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