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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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- The International Narcotics Control Board oversees implementation of all three drug conventions. It monitors illicit drug production and trade, as well as access to controlled substances for scientific and medicinal purposes, and has the authority to investigate Governments that do not comply with treaty requirements. The Commission on Narcotic Drugs classifies narcotic and psychotropic drugs under different levels of restriction and serves as the governing body for the United Nations International Drug Control Programme within the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The Office is mandated "to contribute to the achievement of security and justice for all by making the world safer from drugs, crime and terrorism".
- 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
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- The war-on-drugs approach also fails to acknowledge the realities of drug use and dependence and, for that reason, has been unsuccessful in achieving its stated aims. First, people invariably continue using drugs irrespective of criminal laws, even though deterrence of drug use is considered the primary justification for imposition of penal sanctions. Second, drug dependence, as distinct from drug use, is a medical condition requiring appropriate, evidence-based treatment - not criminal sanctions. Finally, punitive drug control regimes increase the harms associated with drug use by directing resources towards inappropriate methods and misguided solutions, while neglecting evidence-based approaches.
- 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
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Drug use may have harmful health consequences, but the Special Rapporteur is concerned that the current drug control approach creates more harm than the harms it seeks to prevent. Criminalization of drug use, designed to deter drug use, possession and trafficking, has failed. Instead, it has perpetuated risky forms of drug use, while disproportionately punishing people who use drugs. Its ramifications for the health of the wider community, particularly in relation to HIV/AIDS, are no less severe: the 2010 Vienna Declaration notes that the criminalization of illicit drug users is fuelling the HIV epidemic. Millennium Development Goal 6 requires States to commit to halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015 (see General Assembly resolution 55/2), but continuing criminalization directly contradicts several multilateral health policies.
- 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
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Health is a human right that is indispensable for the exercise of other human rights. Countries that are overly punitive in sentencing also violate other rights of people who use drugs. Thirty-two jurisdictions currently retain the death penalty for drug offences, some mandatorily. Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights allows for imposition of the death sentence only for "the most serious crimes" (General Assembly resolution 2200 A (XXI)). The Human Rights Committee and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions have confirmed that drug offences do not meet those criteria, and thus executions for drug offences are in violation of international human rights law.
- 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
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Criminalization of drug use and possession are implicated in violation of several human rights, including the right to health. Other infringements of the right to health are less direct, but occur as by-products of the skewed focus of the international drug control regime: for instance, insufficient access to essential medications. The Special Rapporteur considers that each of these violations is traceable ultimately to a disproportionate focus on criminalization and law enforcement practices at the expense of the enjoyment of the right to health and reduction of harms associated with 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Criminalization of drug use and possession also may lead to an increased risk of illness among people who use drugs. Higher rates of legal repression have been associated with higher HIV prevalence among people who use injecting drugs, without a decrease in prevalence of injecting drug use. This is a likely result of individuals' adopting riskier injection practices such as sharing of syringes and injection supplies, hurried injecting, or use of drugs in unsafe places (such as needle-shooting galleries) out of fear of arrest or punishment. Hurried preparation of drugs to avoid detection by law enforcement agents also predisposes people who inject drugs to an increased risk of overdose, vascular accident and infections, such as abscesses. These risks may be exacerbated by an individual's reluctance, out of fear, to utilize assistance in preparing and injecting 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)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- The ineffectiveness of the current international drug control system must be understood, and reform undertaken at all policymaking levels. National governments should implement harm reduction programmes and policies, decriminalize or de-penalize drug use and possession, and reform regulations concerning essential medicines. United Nations drug control bodies must ensure system-wide coherence by adopting a human rights-based approach to drug control, which necessarily requires recognition of international human rights as central to their operations, and these changes in the international system should also guide and legitimize domestic reforms.
- 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
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur considers that the continuing imposition of criminal penalties for drug use and possession perpetuates many of the major risks associated with drug use. He advocates for consideration of less restrictive approaches to drug control, including decriminalization or de-penalization. Decriminalization of drug use cannot simply be equated with legalization of drug use. When decriminalized, drug use and possession can remain legally prohibited, but criminal penalties for such offences either are not applied at all or only minor penalties are given. Decriminalization generally entails complete removal of criminal punishment for the conduct in question (administrative penalties may be applied instead), whereas de-penalization requires removal of custodial sentences, although the conduct remains a criminal offence. Legalization, by contrast, involves no prohibitions on the relevant conduct.
- 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
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Moreover, in 2001, Portugal decriminalized purchase, possession and usage of all illicit drugs for personal use, instead characterizing them as administrative offences. That law allows for imposition of pecuniary or non-pecuniary penalties, and there is a provision for sanctions to be suspended, should the offender undertake treatment. In contrast to the International Narcotics Control Board's reaction to Argentina and Mexico, decriminalization to this extent has been deemed consistent with the 1988 Convention. Decriminalization generally was perceived as the best option for minimizing drug-related problems in Portugal, largely through de stigmatizing drug use and bringing a higher proportion of drug users into treatment, rather than a communication to the public that drug use was condoned.
- 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
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- Several other States have de-penalized various forms of drug use and possession. This has occurred either through legislation to that effect, or de facto de penalization, whereby drug laws are not enforced strictly. Spain maintains criminal sanctions for drug use, although persons tried are never imprisoned for drug consumption alone. In the Netherlands and Germany, possession of drugs for personal use remains de jure unlawful, but punishment is not imposed for breaches of these laws. This, however, is obviously an inadequate solution at best.
- 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
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to health and criminalization of same-sex conduct and sexual orientation, sex-work and HIV transmission 2010, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Globally, there have been periods where sex work has been highly regulated or decriminalized, generally to manage certain aspects of sex work or to achieve control of disease, particularly within the military. However, prohibitions against sex work are regarded as "notoriously difficult to enforce" and of questionable utility where enforcement is accompanied by extortion and brutality. In recent times, significant opposition has arisen to the imposition of criminal sanctions against sex workers, and certain nations have amended laws to decriminalize sex work.
- 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
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to health and criminalization of same-sex conduct and sexual orientation, sex-work and HIV transmission 2010, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- In paragraph 58 of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, Member States pledged to: by 2003, enact, strengthen or enforce, as appropriate, legislation, regulations and other measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination against and to ensure the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by people living with HIV/AIDS and members of vulnerable groups, in particular to ensure their access to, inter alia, education, inheritance, employment, health care, social and health services, prevention, support and treatment, information and legal protection, while respecting their privacy and confidentiality; and develop strategies to combat stigma and social exclusion connected with the epidemic. Despite these commitments to adopt and enact appropriate legislation concerning HIV, States continue to introduce statutes criminalizing HIV transmission and exposure, thereby undermining HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to health and criminalization of same-sex conduct and sexual orientation, sex-work and HIV transmission 2010, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- The criminalization of HIV transmission in the instance of intentional, malicious transmission is the only circumstance in which the use of criminal law in relation to HIV may be appropriate. In such cases, the alleged perpetrator should have acted autonomously, with full knowledge of relevant surrounding circumstances, including but not limited to their HIV status, effectiveness and attempted use of prophylaxis, and so forth. However, the utility of enacting legislation specifically dealing with this circumstance is questionable. In contrast, criminalization is inappropriate where there is a lack of such culpability.
- 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
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to health and criminalization of same-sex conduct and sexual orientation, sex-work and HIV transmission 2010, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- However, the delineation between intentional and unintentional transmission is often not clearly made by States - legislation may be unintentionally drafted with such breadth as to allow for the criminalization of unintentional transmission or exposure. For instance, in Zimbabwe the law stipulates that if anyone who realizes "that there is a real risk or possibility" that she or he might have HIV intentionally does anything which he or she realizes involves a real risk or possibility of infecting another person with HIV, he or she "shall be guilty of deliberate transmission of HIV". This implies that a crime can be committed even with an HIV-negative status, that is, based merely on the realization that "there is a real risk or possibility" of a positive status.
- 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
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to health and criminalization of same-sex conduct and sexual orientation, sex-work and HIV transmission 2010, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- Any law concerning HIV transmission should therefore be directed at issues around public infrastructure, access to medicines, information campaigns concerning HIV/AIDS and so forth. The criminalization of HIV transmission should not form the mainstay of a national HIV/AIDS response, and its necessity is questionable in any event. Informed individuals take steps to prevent HIV transmission irrespective of criminal laws around transmission, and there is little evidence that specific laws criminalizing HIV transmission deter or modify the behaviour of individuals. With little benefit demonstrated in terms of achieving the aims of the criminal law or public health, and a corresponding risk of alienation, stigmatization and fear, it is difficult to see why the criminalization of HIV transmission is justified at all. Laws that are unnecessarily punitive will undermine any public health response to HIV, rather than assist it.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- The use of overt physical coercion by the State or non-State actors, such as in cases of forced sterilization, forced abortion, forced contraception and forced pregnancy has long been recognized as an unjustifiable form of State-sanctioned coercion and a violation of the right to health. Similarly, where the criminal law is used as a tool by the State to regulate the conduct and decision-making of individuals in the context of the right to sexual and reproductive health the State coercively substitutes its will for that of the individual.
- 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
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- States most frequently cite two grounds for implementing criminal or other restrictive laws in relation to the right to sexual and reproductive health: public health and public morality. Public morality cannot serve as a justification for enactment or enforcement of laws that may result in human rights violations, including those intended to regulate sexual and reproductive conduct and decision-making. Although securing particular public health outcomes is a legitimate State aim, measures taken to achieve this must be both evidence-based and proportionate to ensure respect of human rights. When criminal laws and legal restrictions used to regulate public health are neither evidence-based nor proportionate, States should refrain from using them to regulate sexual and reproductive health, as they not only violate the right to health of affected individuals, but also contradict their own public health justification.
- 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
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to health and development 2011, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The right to development is a self-standing right, which includes all other human rights. As the Declaration on the Rights to Development states in its article 1, it is a right "by virtue of which every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized." Accordingly, the right to development includes the right to health guaranteed in ICESCR and other international human rights treaties.
- 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
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to health and development 2011, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The right to development is a right of individuals and of peoples. It is distinguishable from the right to health in this respect, which is more related to the individual citizen's relationship with the State. Nevertheless, overlap exists. General comment No. 14 of CESCR confirms that the right to health, as outlined in Article 12 of the ICESCR, has both collective and individual dimensions, and that collective rights are critical in the field of health, as modern public health policy relies heavily on prevention and promotion, approaches directed primarily towards groups. Similarly, both the right to health and the right to development underline the imperative of ensuring transparency, equality, participation, accountability and non-discrimination.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to health and development 2011, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- The operationalization of the right to development can also be informed by the significant amount of work undertaken in respect of the collective aspect of the right to health. For instance, the World Health Organization (WHO) has long recognized the importance of social justice for health; the Commission on Social Determinants of Health has highlighted the importance of domestic legislation enshrining the right to health, and recognition of the rights of citizens to participate in public policy and budgeting, which has the potential to strengthen health systems.
- 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
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The realization of the right to health of older persons 2011, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Accountability is one of the central features of the right to health. It requires effective, transparent and accessible monitoring and accountability mechanisms. Accountability requires the incorporation of continuous monitoring into all aspects of policy development and implementation. In the context of the right to health, accountability is the process that provides individuals and communities with an opportunity to understand how the government has discharged its right to health obligations, while providing the government with the opportunity to explain what it has done and why (A/63/263, paras. 8-18). There are many different types of accountability mechanisms, including national human rights institutions, health commissioners, democratically elected local health councils, public hearings, patients' committees, impact assessments, judicial proceedings and others (see A/63/263, para. 11). And when mistakes have been made, accountability requires redress.
- 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
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Health financing in the context of the right to health 2012, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- The obligation to prioritize funding or health in State budgets is closely linked to the principle of progressive realization, which establishes a specific and continuing obligation for States to move as expeditiously and effectively as possible towards the full realization of the right to health of all persons, without discrimination and taking into account constraints due to the limits of available resources (General Comment No. 14, paras. 30 and 31, and General Comment No. 3, para. 9). In order to facilitate progressive realization of the right to health for all persons, States should make use of the maximum available funds and resources to realize the right to health, which requires successfully raising funds and ensuring that they are allocated to health through budget prioritization. States unwilling to utilize the maximum of their available resources towards realization of the right to health are in violation of their obligations under the right (General Comment No. 14, para. 47).
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Health financing in the context of the right to health 2012, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- The right to health approach to health financing requires that taxation to fund health be levied progressively in order to ensure equitable revenue generation. Progressive taxation requires taxpayers to contribute according to their ability to pay. For example, progressive income taxation requires wealthy taxpayers to contribute a higher percentage of their income than poorer taxpayers. In contrast, regressive taxation involves greater proportional contributions from those with less financial resources than from wealthier taxpayers. Regressive taxation is thus an inequitable financing mechanism for health and not in accordance with the right to health.
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Health financing in the context of the right to health 2012, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- At a more targeted level, community-based health insurance pools funds collected from members of small communities and includes a variety of financing mechanisms, such as community health funds, mutual health organizations and rural health insurance. Community-based health insurance programmes may operate in complement or supplement to single or multiple payer systems. These programmes generally exist in poor and other vulnerable or marginalized communities and may increase access to health facilities, goods and services for vulnerable or marginalized groups and facilitate the participation of communities in decision-making processes affecting their health.
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Occupational health 2012, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- The obligation to fulfil the right to health requires States to formulate and implement a national health policy towards realizing the right to health. General comment No. 14 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights explains that it is a core obligation to formulate, implement and periodically review a coherent national policy to minimize the risk of occupational accidents and diseases, as well as to provide a coherent national policy on occupational safety and health services (para. 36). ILO conventions on occupational safety and health and on occupational health services call on States to do the same. General comment No. 14 states that a national policy on occupational health, amongst other things, should include the identification, determination, authorization and control of dangerous materials, equipment, substances, agents and work processes; the provision of health information to workers and the provision, if needed, of adequate protective clothing and equipment; and the enforcement of laws and regulations through adequate inspection (para. 36, ftn. 25).
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Occupational health 2012, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- The right to health requires the participation of those affected in all decision-making processes affecting their health during the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all health laws and policies. This means that workers must participate in the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of laws and policies affecting their occupational health. While established trade unions must also participate fully in this process, in some instances, they may not adequately represent the interests of some communities of affected workers. Moreover, workers in the informal economy are seldom organized, and may not be recognized by employers or by the State when they are. Thus the right to health requires the direct participation of informal workers, which may be achieved through the recognition and promotion of member-based organizations.
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph