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The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- The enjoyment of the right to health of all people who use drugs - and are dependent on drugs - is applicable irrespective of the fact of their drug use. It is important that drug use and drug dependence are not conflated: drug dependence is considered a chronic, relapsing disorder involving altered brain function that may require medical treatment, ideally utilizing a "biopsychosocial" approach. By contrast, drug use is not a medical condition and does not necessarily imply dependence. Indeed the majority of people who use drugs do not become dependent and do not require any treatment.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Punitive drug policies also disproportionately impact on communities that are already vulnerable. For instance, it has been reported that in the United States of America, African-Americans are arrested at consistently higher rates than white Americans, although the rates of offences committed are comparable between these groups. Additionally, over 80 per cent of arrests are for possession of drugs, rather than sales. Accumulation of such minor offences can lead to incarceration and further marginalization of these already vulnerable individuals, increasing their health-related risks.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Year
- 2010
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- A number of United Nations bodies enforce the three drug control treaties and are required to promote and protect human rights, as identified in Articles 1 and 55 of the Charter of the United Nations. When the goals and approaches of the international drug control regime and international human rights regime conflict, it is clear that human rights obligations should prevail. The General Assembly has consistently adopted resolutions declaring that international drug control must be carried out in conformity with the Charter, and "with full respect for human rights" (see resolutions 62/176 and 63/197).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- A human rights-based approach to drug control must be adopted as a matter of priority to prevent the continuing violations of rights stemming from the current approaches to curtailing supply and demand, and to move towards the creation of a humane system that meets its own health-related objectives. Currently, there is a lack of coordination and discussion between the actors involved in drug control and human rights at the international level. Law enforcement approaches are ingrained institutionally in the international drug control regime, as drug control is housed within UNODC, which leads the United Nations efforts on organized crime. This association between law enforcement and drug control, in part, precludes adoption of a human rights-based approach and interaction with the human rights bodies of the United Nations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Year
- 2010
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
Right to health and criminalization of same-sex conduct and sexual orientation, sex-work and HIV transmission 2010, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Various criminal laws exist worldwide that make it an offence for individuals to engage in same-sex conduct, or penalize individuals for their sexual orientation or gender identity. For example, consensual same-sex conduct is a criminal offence in about 80 countries. Other laws also indirectly prohibit or suppress same-sex conduct, such as anti-debauchery statutes and prohibitions on sex work. Many States also regulate extra-marital sexual conduct through criminal or financial sanctions, which affects individuals who identify as heterosexual but intermittently engage in same-sex conduct. These laws also have a significant impact on individuals engaging in sexual conduct with members of the opposite sex outside of marriage, particularly women, although this is outside the scope of this report.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- LGBTQI+
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- In countries where the "war on drugs" is zealously pursued or drug laws are enforced stringently, those who are dependent on drugs may be, and often are, discouraged from accessing health services. It is reported that in some countries this approach has reinforced the status of people who use drugs as social outcasts, driving drug use underground, compromising the HIV/AIDS response, as well as discouraging people who use drugs from accessing treatment. And where HIV infections occur through unsafe injecting practices, seroprevalence among injecting drug users can be as high as 50 per cent.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Needle and syringe programmes involve provision of sterile injection equipment to injecting drug users. The World Health Organization has endorsed the use of such programmes, noting that "compelling evidence" exists that they reduce HIV infections substantially, in a cost-effective manner, without any major negative consequences. The use of needle and syringe programmes is consistent with standard public health principles, in that elimination of a vector (in this case, the contaminated needles) reduces transmission of vector-driven disease.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- The non-prices measures of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control provide the best examples of the protections and regulations that may replace the existing enforcement-based framework. Such measures include regulation of drug content, education and awareness-building, and measures concerning dependence reduction and cessation. Implementation of these measures would secure the right to health by, inter alia, ensuring supply of unadulterated drugs, increasing individual and community awareness to minimize risk, and ensuring access to appropriate treatment, where necessary. There generally are high levels of implementation among Parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on nearly all of these measures, suggesting similar possibilities for currently controlled drugs.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- People who use drugs are often subjected to discrimination in medical settings. Access to antiretroviral (ARV) therapy can be low for people who use drugs: in Eastern Europe, although 70 per cent of reported cases of HIV occurred among people who injected drugs, this group comprised 39 per cent of the total population of people living with HIV receiving ARV therapy. This may be attributed to structural inequalities that impede access of these groups to the therapy; for instance, lack of targeted interventions. Cases of health-care providers, however, denying ARV treatment to people who use drugs also have been noted, in direct contravention of a right-to-health approach.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Interventions such as first-aid training and administration of Naloxone (an opioid receptor antagonist used to reverse depression of the central nervous system in cases of opioid overdose) are also used to minimize the harm associated with drug overdose, as is the use of drug-consumption rooms, where individuals can use drugs in a supported environment. The potential benefits of drug-consumption rooms include prevention of disease transmission and reduced venous damage, as well as encouraging entry to treatment and other services. Evidence exists that drug-consumption rooms have contributed to reductions in overdose rates, and increased access to medical and social services.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Year
- 2010
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Emergency obstetric procedures and management of epilepsy also require use of scheduled medications, and remain inadequately resourced. Post-partum haemorrhage results in over 100,000 maternal deaths annually. Oxytocin and ergometrine, two controlled drugs used in obstetric procedures, are difficult to access yet reduce the risk of severe post-partum bleeding by more than half. Similarly, around 75 per cent of people with epilepsy in developing countries and up to 90 per cent of patients with epilepsy in Africa do not receive treatment with essential medicines, including phenobarbital, partly because it is a controlled substance.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Compliance with procedural requirements associated with stocking, supplying and prescribing scheduled medications can be burdensome for health-care institutions and workers, creating a barrier to supply of these medications. Such procedures, for example, include restrictive licensing of controlled medicines within health-care institutions. In some countries, it is reported that only "Level 1" hospitals are allowed to prescribe opioids. Regulations also limit the substances a doctor may prescribe, or the amount that can be prescribed. Certain States require health-care workers to obtain special licences to prescribe morphine, in addition to their professional licences. Restrictive laws are a particular problem in the cases of methadone and buprenorphine, drugs used for OST. In some States use of these drugs is outlawed.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
Right to health and criminalization of same-sex conduct and sexual orientation, sex-work and HIV transmission 2010, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Similarly, the model law for sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS for West and Central Africa criminalizes the transmission of HIV virus "through any means by a person with full knowledge of his/her HIV/AIDS status to another person". This provision does not require that the person intends to transmit HIV; rather, it requires only that he or she has knowledge of his/her status and fails to take into account relevant circumstances, such as whether the accused individual had knowledge of how HIV is transmitted or used effective precautionary methods, in establishing either the offence or the availability of relevant defences. This law been implemented in at least 15 African countries as of 2009, occasionally with amendments.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
Right to health and criminalization of same-sex conduct and sexual orientation, sex-work and HIV transmission 2010, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- As such, criminalization should be considered permissible only in cases involving intentional, malicious transmission. The criminalization of any lesser mens rea is not only inappropriate, but also it is counterproductive in the struggle against the spread of HIV. In the view of UNAIDS: Criminal law should not be applied where there is no significant risk of transmission or where the person: Did not know that he/she was HIV-positive Did not understand how HIV is transmitted Disclosed his/her HIV-positive status to the person at risk (or honestly believed the other person was aware of his/her status through some other means) Did not disclose his/her HIV-positive status because of fear of violence or other serious negative consequences Took reasonable measures to reduce risk of transmission, such as practising safer sex through using a condom or other precautions to avoid higher risk acts Previously agreed on a level of mutually acceptable risk with the other person
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
Right to health and criminalization of same-sex conduct and sexual orientation, sex-work and HIV transmission 2010, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- Finally, domestic laws prohibiting the deliberate spread of any disease or assault, or laws concerning the age of consent, adequately cover intentional transmission of HIV should the need arise to prosecute cases where this has occurred. The use of these pre-existing laws provides a legal safeguard to potential victims, without unnecessarily stigmatizing and further marginalizing those affected by HIV within the jurisdiction. States should, in addition to using pre-existing laws, issue guidelines to ensure that these laws are only utilized in cases of intentional transmission and that the relevant mens rea is to be established beyond a reasonable doubt.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- The obligation to respect the right to health requires that States abstain from limiting access to contraceptives and other means of maintaining sexual and reproductive health. States should therefore remove criminal laws and other legal restrictions, including parental consent laws and other third party authorizations, to ensure access to family planning and contraceptive goods, services and information. The obligation to protect requires States ensure that neither third parties nor harmful social or traditional practices interfere with access to prenatal and post-natal care and family-planning (see E/C.12/2000/4, para. 35), or curtail access to some or all contraceptive methods. Finally, the obligation to fulfil includes adopting and implementing a national public health strategy, which includes the provision of "a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services, including access to family planning (...) and access to information (see E/CN.4/2004/49, para. 29)".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2011
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- The provision of comprehensive education and information on sexual and reproductive health is an essential component of the right to health and to the realization of other rights, such as the right to education and access to information. Criminal and other laws restricting access to comprehensive education and information on sexual and reproductive health are thus incompatible with the full realization of the right to health and should be removed by States (see E/C.12/2000/4, para. 11). Both women and men are adversely affected by these barriers. Women, however, are disproportionately impacted.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- The International Guidelines on Sexuality Education of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) describe optimal sexual education as "an age-appropriate, culturally sensitive and comprehensive approach … that include programmes providing scientifically accurate, realistic, non-judgmental information". Moreover, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education and information should provide "opportunities to explore one's own values and attitudes and to build decision-making, communication, and risk reduction skills about all aspects of sexuality". The Special Rapporteur on the right to education has further emphasized that a comprehensive curriculum requires sensitivity to sexual diversity and a gendered perspective (see A/65/162, para. 23).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Even in jurisdictions where sexual and reproductive health education is permitted in some form, its quality and effectiveness can be severely diminished by policy prescriptions. States have assisted in the dissemination of misinformation on condom use either by distributing materials that contain inaccurate information or by remaining silent on the topic, which allows for the proliferation of contradictory and inaccurate information. Similarly, abstinence-only campaigns that focus only on abstaining from sexual intercourse as a means to avoid sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies provide a narrow and incomplete rather than a comprehensive perspective. Such programmes, which often lack accurate and evidence-based information, have been shown to have a minimal or no effect on reducing the transmission of sexually transmitted infections.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
Right to health and criminalization of same-sex conduct and sexual orientation, sex-work and HIV transmission 2010, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- Some countries have enacted laws that criminalize mother-to-child transmission explicitly (see paragraph 54 above) or implicitly due to overly broad drafting of the law. Where the right to access to appropriate health services (such as comprehensive prevention of mother-to-child transmission services and safe breastfeeding alternatives) is not ensured, women are simply unable to take necessary precautions to prevent transmission, which could place them at risk of criminal liability. In 2008, only 45 per cent of pregnant women living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa and only 25 per cent in South and East Asia had access to prevention of mother-to-child transmission services.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The conditions under which unsafe abortions occur include: limited access to information, particularly concerning when and how legal abortions may be obtained; abortion induced by an unskilled provider in unhygienic conditions or by a health-care worker outside of appropriate facilities; abortion induced by the woman herself or a traditional medical practitioner through insertion of an object into the uterus, drinking of a hazardous substance or violent massage; and incorrectly prescribed medicine with no follow-up or further information provided. Criminalization of abortion creates and perpetuates these unsafe conditions. In more liberal regimes, women are able to legally seek service and treatment through professional health-care providers under safe and medically appropriate circumstances, including the use of medical abortion pills, which allow for safe, self-induced early abortions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- States are also obliged to protect against infringement of the right to health by third parties. In States where abortion is prohibited, public health and safety regulations regarding abortion, such as provisions for the training and licensing of health-care workers, cannot exist, thus increasing the potential for unsafe abortion practices. Decriminalization, coupled with appropriate regulation and the provision of accessible, safe abortion services, is the most expeditious method of fully protecting the right to health against third-party violations. Additionally, States should take measures to protect those who provide abortions and related services from harassment, violence, kidnappings and murder perpetrated by non-State actors (religiously motivated or otherwise).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Year
- 2011
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Women are entitled to equal health protection afforded by the State as part of the right to health. Regardless of the legal status of abortion, women are entitled to receive access to goods, services and information related to sexual and reproductive health. In particular, they are entitled to have access to quality health services for the management of complications, including those arising from unsafe abortions and miscarriages. Such care must be unconditional even where the threat of criminal punishment is present, and it should not be contingent on a woman's cooperation in any subsequent criminal prosecution, or used as evidence in any proceeding against her or the abortion providers. Laws must not require health-care personnel to report women for abortion-related care to law enforcement or judicial authorities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- In certain jurisdictions, pregnant women have been prosecuted for various types of conduct during pregnancy. A number of prosecutions have occurred in relation to the use of illicit drugs by pregnant woman, including under pre-existing laws relating to child abuse, attempted murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Criminal laws have also been used to prosecute women for other conduct, including alcohol use during pregnancy, the birth of stillborn babies or the miscarriage of a foetus (see A/HRC/17/26/Add.2, para. 68), failing to follow a doctor's orders, failing to refrain from sexual intercourse, and concealment of the birth.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- The Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for the protection of the right to health of young persons under the age of 18. Article 24 of the Convention affirms the right to health as established in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which is especially relevant given the importance of sexual and reproductive health to the lives of young women and men. The Convention urges States to ensure prenatal and post-natal care for mothers, develop family planning education and services and ensure the elimination of traditional practices that are "prejudicial to the health of children".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2011
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
The right to health and development 2011, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- The "capabilities" approach first articulated by Sen and developed by Nussbaum, which underlies the concept of human development, at its core requires removal of major sources of "unfreedom" in order for development to occur, including poverty, poor economic opportunities, tyranny, neglect of public facilities, and social deprivations. This very acknowledgement allows a clear space in which human rights-based discourse can guide development. The capabilities approach recognizes rights as both "constitutive" of and "instrumental" to the overall process of development; that is, rights and freedoms are not only necessary tools in achieving the goals of development, but that realization of rights should constitute an end-goal of development itself. More particularly, this approach holds that human rights are entitlements which make up a part of a set of central capabilities: a core set of freedoms, or rights, which form the basis of the very opportunities necessary to achieving a requisite level of human development.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- Criminal laws and other legal restrictions that reduce or deny access to family planning goods and services, or certain modern contraceptive methods, such as emergency contraception, constitute a violation of the right to health. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women calls upon States to ensure access to specific educational information to help to ensure the health and well-being of families, including information and advice on family planning, as well as access to adequate health-care facilities, including information, counselling and services in family planning. In General Comment No. 14, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights calls upon States to take measures to "improve child and maternal health, sexual and reproductive health services, including access to family planning … and access to information, as well as to resources necessary to act on that information" (see E/C.12/2000/4, para. 14).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- In chapter II, principle 8, of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development confirms that States should take all appropriate measures to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, universal access to health-care services, including those related to reproductive health care, which includes family planning and sexual health. It also stresses the need for participation and notes that family planning programmes are most successful when women are fully involved in the design, provision, management and evaluation of services. It further adds that Governments should remove all unnecessary legal, medical, clinical and regulatory barriers to information and to access to family-planning services and methods. In paragraph 96, the Beijing Platform for Action declares that the human rights of women include their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
The right to health and development 2011, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Around 33.3 million people worldwide are currently living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus which causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a universally fatal syndrome causing failure of the human immune system. One of the most pressing health and human rights conundrums of modern life, it has been described as a "health threat of massive proportions" and an "extraordinary challenge", and represents the first illness that has essentially required the introduction of a public health response that gave heed to human rights. The relationship between HIV and development has also been clearly recognized over time. The pernicious effect of HIV on human development is being tackled through its prioritization as one of the eight Millennium Development Goals, and UNDP has noted that "mainstreaming" HIV into development processes is effective. The connections between HIV/AIDS and human rights were articulated by the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights ("Guidelines"), which recognize the central role played by human rights in addressing, limiting and attempting to eradicate HIV/AIDS.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph
The right to health and development 2011, para. 18i
- Paragraph text
- [The right to health framework complements current development approaches by underlining the importance of aspects such as participation, community empowerment and the need to focus on vulnerable populations. The right to health analytical framework "unpacks" the right to health, making it easier to understand and apply in practical settings. Its key elements are as follows:] Developing countries have a responsibility to seek international assistance and cooperation, while developed States have some responsibilities towards the realization of the right to health in developing countries; and
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Paragraph type
- Other
Paragraph