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Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 12
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- Of grave concern are the impacts of chronic exposure to hazardous pesticides. Pesticide exposure has been linked to cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, hormone disruption, developmental disorders and sterility. They can also cause numerous neurological health effects such as memory loss, loss of coordination, reduced visual ability and reduced motor skills. Other possible effects include asthma, allergies and hypersensitivity. These symptoms are often very subtle and may not be recognized by the medical community as a clinical effect caused by pesticides. Furthermore, chronic effects of pesticides may not manifest for months or years after exposure, presenting a significant challenge for accountability and access to an effective remedy, including preventive interventions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Year
- 2017
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Embrace diversity and energize humanity 2017, para. 10
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- Fourth, precisely because so many issues under the mandate reach out to an array of sectors and professions, it is essential to broaden the discourse and vistas for cooperation. For example, change in the medical and scientific sector is pivotal in helping to prevent violence and discrimination relating to health concerns. Where the situation was once pathologized, giving rise to potential or actual abuse and stigma, there is now momentum towards depathologizing and destigmatizing in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity, with due regard to ensuring access to comprehensive and quality health care for all. If the issue is interrelated with employment, there is now a call to interlink increasingly with the business sector. Where there are issues of faith and religion, it is important to reach out to spiritual leaders and actors and seek interfaith cooperation to complement international standards. Where there is a quest to shun hate speech and incitement to violence, a key catalyst is the ever-growing presence of social media and its responsiveness to human rights.
- Body
- Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- During the 1970s, the pesticide DCBP was used extensively on banana and pineapple plantations around the world. In Davao, the Philippines, where the pesticide was used in the 1980s, high levels of sterility were scientifically proven to have resulted from exposure. Other conditions, including cancer, asthma, tuberculosis and skin disease, were also detected, but a linkage was not scientifically proven. While local authorities banned aerial spraying following community protests, the Supreme Court of the Philippines reversed the ban, allegedly under pressure from banana corporations. Further, suits brought by plantation workers have been dismissed, leaving victims without compensation. Twenty years on, despite a global ban on DBCP, soils and water sources remain contaminated.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Pesticides also present a serious threat to drinking water, particularly in agricultural areas, which often depend on groundwater. While it can take several decades before pesticides applied in fields appear in water wells, high levels of herbicides in agricultural areas have already caused health problems for some communities. For example, in the United States of America, where over 70 million pounds of atrazine are used annually, runoff into water supplies has been linked to increased risk of birth defects. While atrazine was banned in the European Union in 2004, some European countries still detect it in groundwater today.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Neonicotinoids are accused of being responsible for “colony collapse disorder” of bees worldwide. For example, heavy use of these insecticides has been blamed for the 50 per cent decline over 25 years in honeybee populations in both the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This decline threatens the very basis of agriculture, given that wild bees and managed honeybees play the greatest role in pollinating crops. According to estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), of some 100 crop species (which provide 90 per cent of global food), 71 per cent are pollinated by bees. The European Union, unlike the United States, restricted the use of certain neonicotinoids in 2013.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Corruption and the right to health 2017, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- The inclusion of new disorders in DSM-5 referred to above have led some to question whether the updated edition inadvertently functioned as a vehicle for high-profit patent extensions. It was found that in the majority of clinical trials testing drugs for new DSM disorders (e.g., “Binge-eating disorder”), there were commercial ties between DSM-5 panel members and the pharmaceutical companies that manufactured the drugs that were being tested for these new disorders. This is not to suggest any wrongdoing on the part of DSM panel members, but rather to emphasize the economies of influence at play and that transparency alone is an insufficient measure for systemic problems.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
The right to mental health 2017, para. 9
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- The modern understanding of mental health is shaped by paradigm shifts often marked by a combination of improvements and failures in evidence-based and ethical care. This began 200 years ago with the desire to unchain the “mad” in prison dungeons and moved to the introduction of psychotherapies, shock treatments, and psychotropic medications in the 20th century. The pendulum of how individual pathology is explained has swung between the extremes of a “brainless mind” and a “mindless brain”. Recently, through the disability framework, the limitations of focusing on individual pathology alone have been acknowledged, locating disability and well-being in the broader terrain of personal, social, political, and economic lives.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The income is “basic” in the sense that it is designed to guarantee a “floor” on which every recipient can stand. Because people’s needs are highly individualized and context-dependent, the amount that any specific individual requires will depend on factors such as local housing and living costs, the person’s health status, and whether there is any form of support network in place. But in its pure form, basic income would generally be assumed to be a uniform amount, which does not reflect those differentials. There are, however, different versions of the concept that envisage adjusting the amount over time, providing less money for children and more for the elderly, or adjusting for geography. The basis on which the floor is calculated and the amount to be paid will, of course, vary greatly from one country to another. Thus, while a national referendum on basic income in Switzerland proposed a payment of SwF 2,500 per month per adult, a South African initiative envisages a grant of US$15 per person per month, indexed to inflation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Corruption and the right to health 2017, para. 42
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- In the health sector, low-income and other groups in vulnerable situations are affected the most by corruption and a lack of transparency. Lower-income groups have the most difficulty affording the informal payments that are often required to receive the medical treatment they need. In health-care settings that face a high level of corruption, the poorer sections of the population and those who live in rural areas may suffer longer waiting periods at public health clinics and are also more frequently denied vaccines than rich and urban sections of the population. Health sector corruption can also lead to discrimination more directly when health-care providers and professionals treat patients differently according to their income and their contact with the medical profession.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
Corruption and the right to health 2017, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Health reforms introduce organizational changes that can mitigate corruption but may also open new channels for abuse. As discussed during the expert consultation held in Bangkok, transferring responsibility for public health facilities from national to local governments may make them more accountable and less corrupt, but it can also create opportunities for local officials to divert resources for personal gain. Deregulation can eliminate requirements that are exploited by public officials to charge bribes, but it can also eliminate rules and oversight that are necessary to protect the public against unscrupulous actors. Permitting doctors to combine public and private practices is often justified as assuring staffing of public facilities, but may create situations where patients cannot obtain treatment to which they are entitled in public facilities, either because doctors are unavailable or because they encourage patients to see them privately.
- 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
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Witchcraft and the human rights of persons with albinism 2017, para. 16
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- There are different types of albinism. The most common and visible type is oculocutaneous albinism, which affects the skin, hair and eyes. Within this type are subtypes that may reflect varying degrees of melanin deficiency in an individual. Lack of melanin in the eyes results in high sensitivity to bright light and significant vision impairment, with the level of severity varying from one person to another. This vision impairment often cannot be completely corrected. In addition, one of the most serious health implications of albinism is vulnerability to skin cancer, which remains a life-threatening condition for most persons with albinism. All human rights issues relating to albinism reported to date - attacks, mutilation and trafficking of body parts, among others - have been linked to its oculocutaneous form, which is also the most visible type of albinism.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Witchcraft and the human rights of persons with albinism 2017, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- The present report does not question the necessity, complementarity or usefulness of traditional medicine. However, the broad definition of the concept has led to situations where the difference between witchcraft practitioners and traditional doctors is difficult to establish in practice. For example, the Independent Expert has seen advertisements in newspapers posted by "traditional healers" offering to make clients richer, cure incurable diseases, secure release from prison, and making other claims that are more suggestive of witchcraft than traditional medicine. In this context, the ideological affinity found between patients and traditional medicine could facilitate witchcraft as a harmful practice because witchcraft can have a diagnostic objective that could implicate innocent third parties - for example, persons known to and disliked by the patient - as the source of a patient's problem.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Witchcraft and the human rights of persons with albinism 2017, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- In the absence of specific legislation covering trafficking of body parts, some States have been confronted with a legal gap when they arrest persons for trafficking body parts of persons with albinism such as bones, hair and limbs. In response to this situation, in Malawi for example, the judiciary has made creative use of the Anatomy Act, which was not drafted with the horrendous crimes perpetrated against persons with albinism in mind. The Act, which was drafted for a medical context, carries relatively light penalties but was, until recent reforms, the only instrument available to prosecute cases of possession of body parts of persons with albinism.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Violence
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The right to mental health 2017, para. 39
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- In view of that obligation, it is troubling that mental health is still neglected in development cooperation and other international policies on health financing. Between 2007 and 2013, only 1 per cent of international health aid went to mental health. In times of humanitarian crises, in both the relief and recovery stages, international support must include psychosocial support to strengthen resilience in the face of enormous adversity and suffering. Elsewhere, where cooperation has been provided, it has prioritized the improvement of existing psychiatric hospitals and long-term care facilities that are inherently incompatible with human rights.
- 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
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- While regulators are mostly concerned about health risks through pesticide residues, their effects on non-target organisms are hugely underestimated. For example, neonicotinoids, a commonly used class of systemic insecticides, are causing soil degradation and water pollution and endangering vital ecosystem services such as biological pest control. Designed to damage the central nervous system of target pests, they can also cause harm to beneficial invertebrates as well as to birds, butterflies and other wildlife.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Adequacy of the international legal framework on violence against women 2017, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- Some organizations highlighted that any new instrument should also promote communication for development and technology for development programmes and require States to establish a “femicide watch”.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Witchcraft and the human rights of persons with albinism 2017, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- Second are the inherent limits of self-regulation, weak law enforcement and the absence of a far-reaching oversight mechanism for both urban and rural areas. Further, self-regulation by organizations of traditional healers have done little to prevent purported practitioners of traditional medicine from establishing themselves on their own, with no oversight at all. Weak enforcement of government licensing systems has also led to similar situations.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 88
- Paragraph text
- Industry has also sought to dissuade Governments from restricting pesticide use to save pollinators. In Europe, a campaign was mounted preceding the decision by the European Union in 2013 to ban neonicotinoids. The chemical industry, allegedly with support from the Government of the United Kingdom, publicly contested findings of the European Food Safety Authority about the unacceptable risk of neonicotinoids to bees. Syngenta reportedly even threatened to sue individual European Union officials involved in publishing the Authority’s report. Bayer and Syngenta are still refusing to disclose their own studies that demonstrated the harmful effects of their pesticides on honeybees at high doses.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Access to rights-based support for persons with disabilities 2017, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- The United Nations, including all its programmes, funds and specialized agencies, should increase the awareness and expertise of its staff on the implementation of support systems to be able to cooperate more effectively with States, including through technical guidance, information and capacity-building.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The right to mental health 2017, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- Despite the right to health obligation to provide psychosocial interventions and support, they are sadly viewed as luxuries, rather than essential treatments, and therefore lack sustainable investment in health systems. That is despite evidence demonstrating that they are effective. These are essential interventions, which produce positive health outcomes and safeguard individuals from potentially harmful, more invasive medicalization. Importantly, they can include simple, low-cost, short-term interventions delivered within regular community health-care settings. Nurses, general practitioners, midwives, social workers and community health workers must be equipped with psychosocial skills to ensure accessibility, integration and sustainability. Psychosocial interventions, not medication, should be the first-line treatment options for the majority of people who experience mental health issues.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
Witchcraft and the human rights of persons with albinism 2017, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- Attacks against persons with albinism are characterized by the hacking off of body parts. This appears to be the primary purpose of a majority of attacks. Body parts such as limbs are removed from the body and transported to alleged witchdoctors for the purpose of concocting muti or juju medicines and potions.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The right to mental health 2017, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination, de jure and de facto, continues to influence mental health services, depriving users of a variety of rights, including the rights to refuse treatment, to legal capacity and to privacy, and other civil and political rights. The role of psychiatry and other mental health professions is particularly important and measures are needed to ensure that their professional practices do not perpetuate stigma and 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
- Health
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Witchcraft and the human rights of persons with albinism 2017, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- However, these efforts provide only limited control owing to several factors. First is the absence of a normative framework and legislative clarity on the difference between traditional medicine and witchcraft. This ambiguity is being abused by criminals posing as traditional healers, but also by genuine traditional healers who go beyond using herbs and animal body parts to using body parts of persons with albinism to attract a higher price for their services.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Witchcraft and the human rights of persons with albinism 2017, para. 90
- Paragraph text
- Finally, campaigns should engage faith-based organizations, traditional leaders, persons with albinism and their families. They should address witchcraft and related beliefs, as well as fundamental topics involving albinism, including biological and scientific information on the genetic origins of the condition and other objective facts to debunk myths and misbeliefs surrounding the condition.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Water contamination can be equally damaging. In Guatemala, for example, contamination of the Pasión River with the pesticide malathion, used on palm oil plantations, killed thousands of fish and affected 23 species of fish. This in turn deprived 12,000 people in 14 communities of their primary source of food and livelihood.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- States parties must take effective measures, to provide habilitation and rehabilitation services within the education system, including healthcare, occupational, physical, social, counselling and other services (article 26). Such services must begin at the earliest stage possible, adopt a multidisciplinary assessment of a student's strengths, and support maximum independence, autonomy, respect of dignity, full physical, mental, social and vocational ability and inclusion and participation in all aspects of life. The Committee stresses the significance of supporting the development of community-based rehabilitation, that addresses early identification, and peer support.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Preliminary survey on the root causes of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism 2016, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- The myth that persons with albinism naturally have a short lifespan is also prevalent. It appears to supply an explanation for the relatively high frequency of early deaths among persons with albinism. Such early deaths, which particularly correlate with the myth that persons with albinism disappear, also appear to be strongly linked to the prevalence of skin cancer and the high number of early to midlife fatalities recorded among them on account of this preventable disease. There is an urgent need to address this disease through the provision of both preventive and curative measures that are accessible and affordable or free, particularly in rural areas.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Preliminary survey on the root causes of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism 2016, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Witchcraft beliefs and practices as they relate to albinism have essentially capitalized on a myth-riddled situation, to the benefit of practitioners and willing believers. Further, the relative rarity of body parts of persons with albinism has been capitalized upon by the witchcraft beliefs which proffer that the body parts can attract equally rare minerals, such as gold or diamonds. The same argument with regard to rarity appears to have informed the market value of body parts, such that "the albino fetish has become the most expensive charm because it is perceived as harnessing spirits that are far more powerful than … a waganga [witchdoctor/traditional healer] could otherwise offer".
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Vision for the mandate 2016, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- There are different types of albinism. The most common and visible type is oculocutaneous albinism (OCA), which affects the skin, the hair and the eyes. Within this type, there are subtypes, which reflect varying degrees of melanin pigment deficiency in an individual. The main subtypes of OCA are tyrosinase negative albinism (OCA1) and tyrosinase positive albinism (OCA2). In OCA1, there is little or no production of melanin and it is often characterized by white hair and opaque or transparent irises. In the more prevalent, particularly in African countries, OCA2, some melanin is produced and it is characterized by yellow-blonde or sandy-coloured hair and grey to light brown irises. A less common form of albinism is ocular albinism which affects the eyes alone, while albinism accompanied by Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome is another less common form, which is characterized by bleeding disorders, bowel (colitis) and lung diseases.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- Global sales of breast milk substitutes total $44.8 billion and are expected to rise to $70.6 billion by 2019. The International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes places restrictions on the sale of such substitutes, through prohibiting public advertising, provision of free samples or promotion in health-care facilities. It also requires all information on artificial feeding to explain the benefits of breastfeeding and the hazards associated with artificial feeding. Although some progress has been achieved, violations of the Code are widespread and only 39 countries have laws enacting all provisions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Year
- 2016
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