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Witchcraft and the human rights of persons with albinism 2017, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- In addition, the common belief that persons with albinism are a bad omen or a curse on their family or on the community, although not, stricto sensu, a witchcraft accusation, does attribute evil qualities to a newborn, with an impact on the mothers and family members in a manner that is strongly analogous to the impact stemming from witchcraft accusations. Consequently, infanticide, abandonment of children with albinism and exclusion of the children and their mothers from community life (either structural expulsion or exclusion from participation) have been reported to the Independent Expert.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Infants
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Report of the SR on the right to health and Agenda 2030 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- The right to health includes a right to health care. Health care is closely connected to all the targets in Goal 3 and directly reflected in the targets to achieve universal health coverage (target 3.8) and ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services (target 3.7). The relationship between universal health coverage and the right to health is explored further below, while the right to sexual and reproductive health care has been elaborated in general comments Nos. 14 and 22 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as in a number of previous reports by the mandate holder (see E/CN.4/2004/49, A/66/254, A/HRC/14/20 and A/HRC/32/32). The right to health can also support and be supported by such targets as the reduction of maternal and newborn and under-5 mortality rates (targets 3.1 and 3.2) and of the incidence of communicable and non-communicable diseases (targets 3.3 and 3.4), the promotion of mental health (target 3.4) and the reduction of the number of deaths from road traffic accidents (target 3.6).
- 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
- Infants
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing the growing threat of malnutrition in all its forms and its negative impacts on economic development, universal health and efforts to reduce inequality, the international community has taken major initiatives to ensure global policy action. The World Health Organization (WHO) global targets to improve maternal, infant and young child nutrition by 2025, the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases 2013-2020 and the political commitments made at the Second International Conference on Nutrition, in 2014, to ensure the right of everyone to safe, sufficient and nutritious food are encouraging responses. It is now also recognized that nutrition plays a crucial role in fulfilling the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Children and pregnant and lactating women enjoy even further protections. The Convention on the Rights of the Child confirms that, to ensure the full implementation of a child's right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health, States must take appropriate measures to combat disease and malnutrition through, inter alia, the provision of "adequate nutritious foods" (art. 24 (2) (c)) and that in case of need they must provide material assistance and support programmes, including with regard to nutrition (art. 27 (3)). The Convention also calls for the protection and promotion of exclusive breastfeeding for infants up to 6 months of age, and for breastfeeding to continue alongside appropriate complementary foods preferably until 2 years of age.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Water, sanitation and hygiene needs are critical to prevent high maternal and newborn mortality rates. In its recently adopted general comment No. 22 (2016) on the right to sexual and reproductive health, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights notes that access to safe and potable water and adequate sanitation, as well as access to health-related education and information, are the underlying determinants to that right. Collaboration among sectors makes it possible to exchange information on how to deliver education on culturally taboo topics and to give greater priority to female-specific needs, in a manner that the water, sanitation and hygiene sector alone cannot achieve.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Infants
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 106h
- Paragraph text
- [The Working Group recommends that States:] Prevent instrumentalization of women in the birthing process and ensure that penalties are incurred for gynaecological or obstetrical violence, including performing abusive caesarean sections, refusing to give women pain relief during birth or surgical termination of pregnancy and performing unnecessary episiotomies;
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 39d
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should safeguard the right of rural women and girls to adequate health care, and ensure:] The systematic and regular monitoring of the health and nutritional status of pregnant women and new mothers, especially adolescent mothers, and their infants. In case of malnutrition or lack of access to clean water, extra food rations and drinking water should be provided systematically throughout pregnancy and lactation;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 106g
- Paragraph text
- [The Working Group recommends that States:] Regulate birthing facilities to ensure respect for women's autonomy and privacy and human dignity, including respect for women's choice regarding home deliveries provided there are no specific medical contraindications;
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- In the technical guidance on the application of a human rights-based approach to the implementation of policies and programmes to reduce and eliminate preventable mortality and morbidity of children under 5 years of age (A/HRC/27/31) Member States are urged to regulate private actors over which they exercise control, including producers and marketers of breast milk substitutes and other relevant companies (para. 70 (g)). The Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its general comment No. 15, also calls upon private companies to comply with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and relevant World Health Assembly resolutions. In its most recent resolution on ending inappropriate promotion of foods for infants and young children, adopted in May 2016, the World Health Assembly called upon manufacturers and distributors of foods for infants and young children to end all forms of inappropriate promotion.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Report of the SR on the right to health and Agenda 2030 2016, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- Universal health coverage is a key dimension of the 2030 Agenda commitment towards achieving healthy lives and well-being for all at all ages. Goal 3 includes an explicit commitment to "achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all" (target 3.8) and to "ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes" (target 3.7).
- 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
- Infants
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Gender perspectives on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment 2016, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- In many States, children born with atypical sex characteristics are often subject to irreversible sex assignment, involuntary sterilization and genital normalizing surgery, which are performed without their informed consent or that of their parents, leaving them with permanent, irreversible infertility, causing severe mental suffering and contributing to stigmatization. In some cases, taboo and stigma lead to the killing of intersex infants.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Gender perspectives on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment 2016, para. 72b
- Paragraph text
- [With regard to abuses in health-care settings, the Special Rapporteur calls upon States to:] Decriminalize abortion and ensure access to legal and safe abortions, at a minimum in cases of rape, incest and severe or fatal fetal impairment and where the life or physical or mental health of the mother is at risk;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Infants
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- At the same time, there were 41 million overweight children under the age of 5. If this trend continues, 70 million infants and young children will be overweight or obese by 2025. Economic and cultural factors contribute to childhood obesity. Energy-dense foods are often more affordable and aggressively marketed towards children, while some cultures may associate higher weights in children with being healthy.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Vision for the mandate 2016, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Studies often link the prevalence of skin cancer to factors such as the lack of basic understanding of albinism, particularly by persons with albinism and their families. For example, it is not uncommon for parents to put a newborn with albinism out in the sun for hours. Displaced persons with albinism are exposed to a heightened risk of skin cancer as they are mostly outside of their usual environment and have limited means to address their health needs. Also at particular risk of developing skin cancer are persons with albinism who work outdoors, such as farmers or traders. Such outdoor occupations also emphasize the link between the risk of contracting skin cancer and poverty.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Infants
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination is sometimes manifested in humiliating treatment women that may face in facilities that are dedicated exclusively to them, such as birthing facilities where, as repeatedly stressed by United Nations human rights mechanisms and WHO, they are too often subjected to degrading and sometimes violent treatment.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 99m
- Paragraph text
- [With a view to respecting, protecting and fulfilling the right to adequate food and nutrition, the Special Rapporteur recommends that:] The Human Rights Council endorse the WHO guidance on ending the inappropriate promotion of foods for infants and young children, presented at the World Health Assembly in May 2016.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Quality standards must take into account the fact that the amount of toxic substances to which a person can be safely exposed differs widely depending on the individual. Pregnant women in particular can be at higher risk of waterborne diseases from an intake of contaminated water. Standards on water, sanitation and hygiene quality must take into account the fact that women, especially when pregnant, have a lower tolerance for toxic substances.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Right to health in early childhood - Right to survival and development 2015, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- The different elements that form article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular paragraph 24 (d), (e) and (f), including pre- and postnatal care for mothers; access to education and information on child health and nutrition, advantages of breastfeeding, hygiene and sanitation and prevention of accidents; and the development of preventive health care demonstrate that during the process of adopting the Convention there was a broader understanding of how to promote and protect 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)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Work of the mandate and priorities of the SR 2015, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- However, current rates of preventable deaths among newborns, children under 5 and adults are still unacceptably high. Universal health-care coverage is still a dream for many. The realization of the right to health is impeded by many factors, and most of them are related to inequalities, and selective approaches to human rights principles and existing scientific evidence. This can and must be addressed with the strong commitment by States and concerted efforts by all stakeholders.
- 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
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Right to health in early childhood - Right to survival and development 2015, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- International human rights law places particular and explicit emphasis on the obligation of States to guarantee a number of relevant health and health-related services. For example, it places an obligation on States to provide appropriate pre and postnatal health care for mothers as well as appropriate services at birth and to newborns. The Convention on the Rights of the Child has clarified the interventions that should be made available across this continuum which are, for the most part, important for optimal child development as well as survival. Children affected by congenital anomalies or malnutrition, chronic illnesses or severe and life-limiting diseases should be referred to specialized paediatric palliative care services, which can be provided in tertiary care facilities, in community health centres and in children's homes.
- 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
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Right to health in early childhood - Right to survival and development 2015, para. 101
- Paragraph text
- Certain "core obligations" are not subject to progressive realization and must be implemented immediately. Core obligations include: (a) elaboration of a comprehensive national plan for the right to health, including development, in early childhood; (b) non-discriminatory access to health and other relevant services; (c) equitable distribution of health and other facilities for the right to health in early childhood; and (d) access to a minimum "basket" of health-related services and facilities (A/HRC/7/11, para. 52).
- 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
- Infants
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Economic inequalities not only impair civil and political rights but also negatively affect the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. A good example is the right to health. According to the World Bank, "infants from poorer families and children from rural areas are more likely to die than their peers from richer families and urban areas" and the poor are "considerably less likely than the non-poor to have access to high-impact health services, such as skilled delivery care, antenatal care, and complementary feeding." The Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission found that "people from lower occupational classes who have less education and income tend to die at younger ages and to suffer, within their shorter lifetimes, a higher prevalence of various health problems" and that "these differences in health conditions do not merely reflect worse outcomes for people at the very bottom of the socio-economic scale but extend to people throughout the socio-economic hierarchy, i.e. they display a 'social gradient'". The World Health Assembly, in its resolution WHA62.14, has also affirmed the recommendation of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health on the need "to tackle the inequitable distribution of power, money and resources".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Infants
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Right to health in early childhood - Right to survival and development 2015, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes the links between health, survival and development: article 12 on the right to health obligates States parties to take steps necessary for, among other things, the "provision for the reduction of the stillbirth rate and of infant mortality and for the healthy development of the child". In other words, in the Covenant, development is part of the right to health. Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes the right to health of the child and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. This approach underlines that the spectrum of essential health-related services should not be limited to medications and vaccines, but should also include effective public health and psychosocial interventions.
- 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
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Right to health in early childhood - Right to survival and development 2015, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- According to article 12, the child has a right to express his or her views freely in all matters affecting him or her and to have them taken into account. Research shows that a child is able to form views from the youngest age, even when he or she may be unable to express them verbally. Very soon after birth newborn babies can recognize their parents, engage actively in various forms of non-verbal communication and develop strong mutual attachments with their parents or primary caregivers. Child-appropriate communication must be ensured to respect the child's right to information and the right to be heard at all times.
- 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
- Infants
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Right to health in early childhood - Right to survival and development 2015, para. 90
- Paragraph text
- Second, in accordance with their evolving capacities, young children, including infants, have a right to express their views freely in all matters affecting them and to have these views taken into account. Infants and very young children have particular forms of expression, which, because of their age, are sometimes non-verbal. Young children should be active participants in the promotion, protection and monitoring of their rights within the family, the community and society, in accordance with their evolving capacities. States must therefore ensure the necessary institutional arrangements for the participation of young children and their caregivers.
- 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
- Infants
- Youth
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Right to health in early childhood - Right to survival and development 2015, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- In September 2015, the General Assembly is to adopt a set of sustainable development goals that will replace the Millennium Development Goals as the focus of the international development agenda. At the same time, a new global strategy for women's, children's and adolescents' health is to be launched. The ending of preventable deaths of newborns and children under five is a target of the "zero draft" of the sustainable development goals.
- 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
- Adolescents
- Children
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Work of the mandate and priorities of the SR 2015, para. 90
- Paragraph text
- The launch of the technical guidance on the application of a human rights-based approach to the implementation of policies and programmes to reduce and eliminate preventable mortality and morbidity of children under 5 years of age (A/HRC/27/31) in 2014 is a serious attempt to put an end to the unacceptable epidemics of preventable deaths of infants. The human rights-based approach is critically important in that regard since child mortality is intimately linked with human rights of women and the widespread discrimination against vulnerable groups of population.
- 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
- 2015
Paragraph
Right to health in early childhood - Right to survival and development 2015, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Infants and young children are holders of all rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as other international human rights treaties. The Convention affords special protection for early childhood in recognition of the important and particular challenges facing this age group and the progressive exercise of their rights, in accordance with their evolving capacities.
- 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
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Right to health in early childhood - Right to survival and development 2015, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- In this regard, the rights of the newborn, as a rights holder, need to be addressed. Newborn children are too often not considered as deserving the status of autonomous individuals and rights holders and therefore not deserving respect and dignity. Young children, from the first days of their lives, are not only exposed to the environment in which they live but are actively shaping their surroundings by means of their presence and different forms of communication. In paragraph 10 of the recommendations adopted on its day of general discussion on implementing child rights in early childhood, held in September 2004, the Committee on the Rights of the Child underlined that the concept of the child as rights holder is "anchored in the child's daily life from the earliest stage" (para. 10).
- 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
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Rights of indigenous women and girls 2015, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- Many countries do not have birth registration systems that robustly provide certification of the births of all indigenous children, which exacerbates the lack of monitoring and disaggregated data. Such lack of birth registration systems places indigenous children and people in a situation of increased vulnerability because they are invisible within the State system. Other consequences include no or limited access to social, health and educational services and increased vulnerability to statelessness or trafficking.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Infants
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph