A/HRC/41/34
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
12 April 2019
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Forty-first session
24 June–12 July 2019
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable
standard of physical and mental health
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the
enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental
health
Summary
In the present report, submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 33/9,
the Special Rapporteur elaborates on the critical role of the social and underlying
determinants of health in advancing the realization of the right to mental health.
The Special Rapporteur outlines important opportunities and challenges associated
with a human rights-based approach to actions on the determinants needed for mental
health promotion. He argues that good mental health and well-being cannot be defined by
the absence of a mental health condition, but must be defined instead by the social,
psychosocial, political, economic and physical environment that enables individuals and
populations to live a life of dignity, with full enjoyment of their rights and in the equitable
pursuit of their potential.
The Special Rapporteur highlights the need for and States’ obligations to create and
sustain enabling environments that incorporate a rights-based approach to mental health,
and which value social connection and respect through non-violent and healthy
relationships at the individual and societal levels, promoting a life of dignity and well-being
for all persons throughout their lifetimes.
GE.19-06239(E)