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Title | Date added | Template | Original document | Paragraph text | Body | Document type | Thematics | Topic(s) | Person(s) affected | Year |
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Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War 1949, para. undefined | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Art 16. Taking into consideration the provisions of the present Convention relating to rank and sex, and subject to any privileged treatment which may be accorded to them by reason of their state of health, age or professional qualifications, all prisoners of war shall be treated alike by the Detaining Power, without any adverse distinction based on race, nationality, religious belief or political opinions, or any other distinction founded on similar criteria. | International Committee of the Red Cross | International treaty |
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| 1949 | ||
Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War 1949, para. undefined | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Art 20. The evacuation of prisoners of war shall always be effected humanely and in conditions similar to those for the forces of the Detaining Power in their changes of station. The Detaining Power shall supply prisoners of war who are being evacuated with sufficient food and potable water, and with the necessary clothing and medical attention. The Detaining Power shall take all suitable precautions to ensure their safety during evacuation, and shall establish as soon as possible a list of the prisoners of war who are evacuated. If prisoners of war must, during evacuation, pass through transit camps, their stay in such camps shall be as brief as possible. | International Committee of the Red Cross | International treaty |
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| 1949 | ||
Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War 1949, para. undefined | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Art. 49. Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive. Nevertheless, the Occupying Power may undertake total or partial evacuation of a given area if the security of the population or imperative military reasons so demand. Such evacuations may not involve the displacement of protected persons outside the bounds of the occupied territory except when for material reasons it is impossible to avoid such displacement. Persons thus evacuated shall be transferred back to their homes as soon as hostilities in the area in question have ceased. The Occupying Power undertaking such transfers or evacuations shall ensure, to the greatest practicable extent, that proper accommodation is provided to receive the protected persons, that the removals are effected in satisfactory conditions of hygiene, health, safety and nutrition, and that members of the same family are not separated. The Protecting Power shall be informed of any transfers and evacuations as soon as they have taken place. The Occupying Power shall not detain protected persons in an area particularly exposed to the dangers of war unless the security of the population or imperative military reasons so demand. The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies. | International Committee of the Red Cross | International treaty |
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| 1949 | ||
European Social Charter (Revised) 1996, para. 2 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right of migrant workers and their families to protection and assistance in the territory of any other Party, the Parties undertake:
2. to adopt appropriate measures within their own jurisdiction to facilitate the departure, journey and reception of such workers and their families, and to provide, within their own jurisdiction, appropriate services for health, medical attention and good hygienic conditions during the journey; | Council of Europe | Regional treaty |
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| 1996 | ||
Implementing child rights in early childhood 2006, para. 24 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Access to services, especially for the most vulnerable. The Committee calls on States parties to ensure that all young children (and those with primary responsibility for their well being) are guaranteed access to appropriate and effective services, including programmes of health, care and education specifically designed to promote their well being. Particular attention should be paid to the most vulnerable groups of young children and to those who are at risk of discrimination (art. 2). This includes girls, children living in poverty, children with disabilities, children belonging to indigenous or minority groups, children from migrant families, children who are orphaned or lack parental care for other reasons, children living in institutions, children living with mothers in prison, refugee and asylum seeking children, children infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS, and children of alcohol or drug addicted parents (see also section VI). | Committee on the Rights of the Child | General Comment / Recommendation |
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| 2006 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 100 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Women's access to health services in many countries is not autonomous, affordable and effective, elements which are essential for States to respect, protect and fulfil women's and girls' rights to life, health, privacy, equality and human dignity. A major barrier is lack of affordability as a result of exclusion from insurance for treatments specifically needed by women and girls or exclusion of groups of women such as migrants. Non-affordability severely discriminates against women living in poverty. Barriers also include restrictive legislative requirements, biased and stigmatized provision of services and conscientious objection to providing services. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2016 | ||
Report on expert consultation on access to medicines 2011, para. 44 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health encompasses access to medical services and the underlying determinants of health, such as water, sanitation, non-discrimination and equality. As access to medicines is an integral and fundamental part of the right to health, Governments and the international community as a whole have a responsibility to provide access to medicines for all. Yet massive inequalities remain in access to medicines around the world, as up to 2 billion people (or one third of the world's population) lack access to essential medicines. Most of them live in low- and middle-income countries, where the needs of persons living in poverty, women, children and undocumented migrants, as well as other marginalized and vulnerable groups who are often discriminated against in terms of access to medicines, are ignored or underestimated. | Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2011 | ||
Right to health in conflict situations 2013, para. 60 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The right to health framework recognizes that international and non governmental organizations have particular importance in relation to disaster relief and humanitarian assistance in times of emergencies, including providing assistance to refugees and internally displaced persons. International and non governmental organizations may also be involved in conflict as monitors, mediators, peacekeeping forces and territorial administrators. Such organizations should ensure that they take due account of the right to health in their decisions and activities, including by adopting rights-based health policies, paying special attention to the needs of vulnerable groups and ensuring participation of affected communities. They should ensure that robust accountability mechanisms exist, particularly in peacekeeping and peace-enforcement situations. These include effective disciplinary systems, clear operational standards, systems for monitoring and data collection, and accessible independent dispute-resolution systems, especially for international organizations that enjoy immunity from domestic jurisdiction. | Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Migrant worker’s right to health 2013, para. 23 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | States are obligated to protect the right to health of individuals from interference by third parties. Recruitment agencies, which are mostly private enterprises, are typically the first point of contact in the formal migration process for low-skilled migrant workers, many of whom are illiterate and poor. They provide information to migrant workers about job opportunities and living and work conditions in receiving States for a fee. They also arrange documentation necessary for migration, thus playing a crucial role in guiding migrant workers through important phases of migration. Dependence on recruitment agencies may render migrant workers vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, necessitating regulation of recruitment agencies by sending States. | Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Migrant worker’s right to health 2013, para. 29 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Many receiving States require migrant workers to undergo compulsory medical testing for certain conditions such as HIV, tuberculosis and pregnancy as part of their immigration policy. Though quite a few countries have eased HIV-related travel restrictions, compulsory testing for HIV for residence and work, especially for low-skilled migrant workers, continues in over 40 countries. This is despite commitment by States to enact legislation eliminating all forms of discrimination against persons living with HIV and recommendations against compulsory tests for migrant workers. | Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Migrant worker’s right to health 2013, para. 30 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Justifications for compulsory testing revolve around protection and preservation of public health and resources in the receiving State. However, compulsory testing, especially for HIV, is not only counterproductive to the public health approach but is in violation of the right to health. Compulsory medical testing does not consider the window period required for an accurate test. Further, in cases of false negative results, individuals may engage in unsafe sexual practices, exposing sexual partners to increased risk. False positive results may lead to mental trauma among migrant workers, considering the stigma that may be associated with particular health conditions. Additionally, as both their immigration from sending States and stay in receiving States is dependent on these tests, migrant workers may avoid getting tested, forge documents or even stop treatment, thus driving the disease underground. Compulsory testing is also no guarantee against transmission of communicable diseases once migrant workers are inside the receiving State. | Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Migrant worker’s right to health 2013, para. 33 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Furthermore, test results are passed on to employers or recruitment agencies without the migrant worker's consent, breaching the requirement of confidentiality and contrary to international recommendations. Additionally, pre- and post-test counselling protocols may not be followed, even when required by law. A right to health approach, however, requires that counselling, voluntary testing and treatment be treated as a health-care continuum. Migrant workers who test positive for HIV may remain in an irregular situation, making them more vulnerable to abuse by employers and less likely to access medical treatment. In cases of pregnancy, women may resort to risky illegal abortion to avoid deportation. Further, compulsory testing stigmatizes those who are deported based on positive test results. | Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Migrant worker’s right to health 2013, para. 36 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Detention centres are often overcrowded, lack basic standards of hygiene, nutritious food and water. They have been described as centres of abuse and violence against migrant workers. Long periods of detention and poor living conditions in detention centres facilitate the transmission of communicable diseases and can have a devastating effect on the mental health of migrant workers. Health-care services in some detention centres are reportedly unavailable, difficult to access and of poor quality, which is particularly concerning for migrant workers detained due to health status. Migrant workers living with HIV have faced stigmatization and harassment as a result of lack of confidentiality in detention. Where States persist with immigration detention, they should, at the minimum, provide detainees with adequate living conditions, consensual medical check-ups and make quality and confidential physical and mental health facilities available and accessible in a timely manner. | Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Migrant worker’s right to health 2013, para. 71 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Domestic and sexual violence, lack of redress for rights violations and lower wages than male counterparts reflect gender-based discrimination and aggravate its negative effects in the health-care setting and access to health care faced by migrant workers generally. Furthermore, gendered power imbalances and lack of access to health services, information and redress affects the ability of women, especially sex workers, to negotiate safe sex, which increases their vulnerability to HIV. Sending and receiving States should therefore address the compounded vulnerability of female migrant workers, particularly those with irregular status, in the development and implementation of evidence-based and participatory health policies and strategies. | Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Migrant worker’s right to health 2013, para. 44 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Health-seeking behaviour can be influenced by a migrant worker's cultural background. Cultural misunderstandings and apprehension of procedures which they are not traditionally and culturally familiar with act as barriers to access. Migrant workers may therefore prefer doctors who practise their native traditional systems of medicines and who better understand their diseases, as opposed to the host State's health-care providers, who are perceived to lack cultural sensitivity to their health problems and sometimes racist and therefore discriminatory. | Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Migrant worker’s right to health 2013, para. 76h | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [The Special Rapporteur recommends that sending and receiving States take the following steps in order to realize the right to health of migrant workers:] Delink access to health facilities, goods and services from the legal status of migrant workers and ensure that preventative, curative and emergency health facilities, goods and services are available and accessible to all migrant workers, including irregular migrant workers, in a non-discriminatory manner. States should endeavour to prevent treatment interruption for migrant workers and remove barriers to accessing health care, such as those that are linguistic, cultural, administrative and employment-related; | Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Migrant worker’s right to health 2013, para. 76l | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [The Special Rapporteur recommends that sending and receiving States take the following steps in order to realize the right to health of migrant workers:] Prevent the detention and deportation of migrant workers based on their health status and ensure the provision of care and treatment to such migrant workers at the first instance. At minimum, States should ensure that migrant workers are not deported without referral for treatment or to States where the required treatment is not available and accessible; | Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2013 | ||
Migrant worker’s right to health 2013, para. 55 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Discrimination and prejudice based on gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status intersect, causing chronic stress and making migrant domestic workers a highly vulnerable and marginalized group. Owing to their vulnerability, isolation and dependence, migrant domestic workers experience a range of violations which negate their enjoyment of the right to health and its underlying determinants. Violations include food and sleep deprivation, denial of medical treatment, squalid living conditions, non-payment of wages, excessive work hours (increasing the risk of accidents) and psychological, physical and sexual abuse. Cardiovascular, endocrine, skin, musculoskeletal, and psychological conditions have also been documented among migrant domestic workers, with worst cases resulting in death, including suicide. | Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Migrant worker’s right to health 2013, para. 56 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Migrant domestic workers are frequently excluded or inadequately covered by the receiving State's labour laws and social protections, including health insurance. Sponsorship systems, debt, language barriers, fear of arrest, detention or deportation and a lack of effective recourse for violations interact to varying degrees in different receiving States to facilitate the systematic exploitation and abuse of domestic workers. The situation of some migrant domestic workers has even been described as "modern-day slavery". In order to fulfil the right to health, States are obligated to address the particular vulnerability of migrant domestic workers under labour, occupational health and safety and social protection laws. | Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Migrant worker’s right to health 2013, para. 57 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The Special Rapporteur is pleased to observe the adoption by the International Labour Office (ILO) in 2011 of Domestic Workers Convention No. 189 and Recommendation No. 201, which details requirements for protection from harassment and violence, occupational health and safety, written contracts and protection under labour laws. This follows general comment No. 1 (2010) on migrant domestic workers of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which pays particular attention to the vulnerability of migrant domestic workers throughout the different stages of migration. Implementation of these instruments would provide greater protection to migrant domestic workers at all stages of the migration process, thereby creating an enabling environment consistent with the obligation to fulfil the right to health. | Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2013 | ||
Human rights of internally displaced persons in the context of the Post-2015 development agenda 2015, para. 54 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | During his joint visit to the Central African Republic in February 2015, the Special Rapporteur deplored the living conditions of nearly 500 members of the Peulh minority group, trapped in an enclave in Yaloke. According to reports, the food being distributed in Yaloke does not meet the cultural and nutritional needs of the Peulh minority group. The Peulh, living largely on a diet of beef and milk from cattle, are not used to the rice and beans that humanitarian agencies distribute. As of December 2014, over 40 Peulh had died from malnutrition and other diseases, the majority of them children. | Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons
| Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Human rights of internally displaced persons in the context of the Post-2015 development agenda 2015, para. 56 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | IDPs frequently lose access to health care and medicines and rely heavily on humanitarian health-care assistance. The situation is particularly acute in the least developed countries where health-care provision is generally poor and in rural areas where facilities are sparse. In cases of large-scale displacement, the capacity of existing health-care services is often inadequate to respond to the psychological and physical health-care needs of IDPs. In urban settings, the challenges are also acute and include lack of capacity of health-care services, and challenges relating to documentation and possible discrimination. The costs of services and medicines frequently put adequate health care out of the reach of IDPs. | Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons
| Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Human rights of internally displaced persons in the context of the Post-2015 development agenda 2015, para. 57 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Médecins Sans Frontières has highlighted the health-care challenges facing IDPs, especially in the context of conflict, noting that "while programmes exist to provide surgical and other care to these victims, the vast majority will not receive the care they need because they live in regions where the health-care system has collapsed and where it is too dangerous for independent aid agencies to operate". To achieve that target "for all at all ages", requires resolving the health-care and well-being challenges experienced by IDPs. | Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons
| Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Human rights of internally displaced persons in the context of the Post-2015 development agenda 2015, para. 58 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | During his visit to Azerbaijan in May 2014, the Special Rapporteur highlighted the difficulties IDPs encountered in accessing health services due to limited availability and supplies in IDP communities. Limited access to reproductive health services was also raised. During his visit to Ukraine in September 2014, the Special Rapporteur learned that IDPs lacked access to essential medicines, which were not available free of charge. Those IDPs requiring urgent medical care or maternal health care and those with chronic health conditions are particularly vulnerable. Congested or cramped living conditions, poor hygiene and sanitation breed and spread diseases. The psychological impact of displacement and proximity to conflict often requires specialist care, rarely available to IDPs. | Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons
| Special Procedures' report |
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| 2015 | ||
Human rights of internally displaced persons in the context of the Post-2015 development agenda 2015, para. 87 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Examples of positive governance structures include dedicated ministries, departments or units responsible for IDP issues and for ensuring that attention to IDPs is mainstreamed across relevant governmental and other bodies in areas such as education, employment, health, housing and development policy. Such bodies can work to ensure that greater attention to IDPs is paid by development actors, and should be appropriately resourced and funded. High-level leadership, for example specialist bodies under the office of the president or prime minister, can ensure that IDPs are given and maintain high priority at the national level and by development actors. | Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons
| Special Procedures' report |
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| 2015 | ||
Enjoyment of the rights to health and adequate housing by migrants 2010, para. 10 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | In particular, the Special Rapporteur wishes to take this opportunity to draw the attention of Member States to a number of reports he received on violations of migrants' rights to health and adequate housing. He emphasizes that the enjoyment of these rights by all individuals in society regardless of their citizenship, nationality and immigration status is not only an end in itself as a matter of entitlement, but also a crucial means to ensure equitable human development and social integration of migrants in host societies. Migrants can play an active role in the social and economic development of host countries, particularly when their fundamental rights, such as the rights to health and adequate housing, are fulfilled in a manner that ensures equal opportunities and gender equity. | Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2010 | ||
Enjoyment of the rights to health and adequate housing by migrants 2010, para. 16 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The Special Rapporteur is also concerned about a general lack of comprehensive policies and measures aimed at protecting and promoting the rights to health and adequate housing for migrants. The absence of such policies and measures may give rise to violations of the States' obligation to take steps towards the full realization of these rights. For instance, newly-arrived migrants may face a variety of challenges in accessing health care or housing, given their limited command of the language of the host State and their lack of knowledge of the laws and systems in the host countries. The enjoyment of the rights to health and adequate housing by migrants would be effectively hampered in the absence of necessary support, such as the provision of language training or free information on relevant laws and regulations. | Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2010 | ||
Enjoyment of the rights to health and adequate housing by migrants 2010, para. 27 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Entitlements and access to health care for migrants and the level of such care vary enormously, depending on the State in focus as well as on immigration status. It may range from emergency care to expansive health coverage for all, including migrants in irregular situations. On one end of the spectrum, regular migrants satisfying certain conditions may have entitlements comparable to citizens of host States, although there may be differences between long-term and short-term migrants with regard to entitlements and access. On the other end, non-nationals may not be able to access life-saving medication, because facilities deny treatment on the basis of "being foreign" or not having a national identity document. What may exist between the two extremes is the payment for preventative and primary health care, including urgent or emergency care and free medical service on certain restricted grounds. Most countries, however, link access to non-emergency health care to migrants' immigration status. | Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2010 | ||
Enjoyment of the rights to health and adequate housing by migrants 2010, para. 28 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | While States have developed different criteria for what constitutes emergency health care, this regrettably does not address the fundamental issue of not conditioning health care to a person's immigration status. In this regard, mere commitment to emergency care is unjustified not only from a human rights perspective, but also from a public health standpoint, as a failure to receive any type of preventive and primary care can create health risks for both migrants and their host community. Experts have suggested that given the relatively small proportion of migrants in irregular situations and their underutilization of services, providing them with access to preventive and primary care rather than with delayed emergency intervention may actually lower the costs of the health system. In this context, the Special Rapporteur stresses the critical importance of providing migrants with essential primary health care, given that migrants may often have to self-medicate and use health services at a later stage in the progression of their ailments than members of the host community. | Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2010 | ||
Enjoyment of the rights to health and adequate housing by migrants 2010, para. 29 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Article 12 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women guarantees the right to access health-care services, including family planning services, on a basis of equality of men and women. This provision is particularly pertinent, as migrant women and girls face specific challenges in the field of health. They may be subject to sex- and gender-based discrimination, such as mandatory HIV/AIDS, pregnancy or other testing without their consent, as well as sexual and physical abuse by agents and escorts during transit. In host States, many female migrants are employed in relatively low-skilled jobs within the manufacturing, domestic service or entertainment sectors, often without legal status and little access to health services. They are often subject to exploitation and/or physical and sexual violence by their employers or clients. They may be particularly vulnerable to HIV and have few alternative employment opportunities. | Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2010 |