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Occupational health 2012, para. 8
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- The ILO recognizes both the right to a safe and healthy working environment and the protection of the worker against sickness, disease and injury arising out of his employment to be fundamental human rights. The ILO defines its Decent Work agenda to require safe and healthy work that does not expose workers to health hazards. The ILO has adopted numerous instruments ratified by varying numbers of member States that directly address occupational health. These include the Convention on Occupational Safety and Health, the Occupational Health Services Convention, the Working Environment (Air Pollution, Noise and Vibration) Convention, as well as the Protection of Workers' Health Recommendations. The ILO defines "health" broadly in the context of work to indicate not merely the absence of disease or infirmity but also the physical and mental elements affecting health, which are directly related to safety and hygiene at work. "Industrial hygiene" (or occupational hygiene) encompasses all efforts to protect workers' health through control of the work environment, including the recognition and evaluation of those factors that may cause illness, lack of well-being or discomfort among workers or the community.
- 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)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to medicines in the context of the right-to-health framework 2013, para. 17
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- Lack of data on the price difference between locally produced and imported medicines is also a drawback in promoting local production. To help determine the affordability of locally produced medicines in the long term, States should also collect disaggregated data on the prices of imported medicines in comparison to locally produced medicines.
- 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)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Corruption and the right to health 2017, para. 15
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- The lesser form of corruption, namely, petty corruption, is quite common in the health sector and includes informal payments from patient to health-care provider, absenteeism of health personnel and preferential treatment. These forms of corruption are also sometimes called “survival corruption”, as they are exacerbated by a lack of resources in health-care settings, poor working conditions, low pay, and hierarchical structures, which drive people to engage in such acts. There is evidence that this “microform” of corruption has a particularly negative effect on the poor in society, as they are often unable to pay the bribes necessary for a certain service.
- 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)
- Economic Rights
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Unhealthy foods, non-communicable diseases and the right to health 2014, para. 7
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- The 1980s "structural adjustment programmes" of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank compelled developing countries to open up their markets, including the food sector, to foreign trade as a part of loan fulfilling conditions. Agreements negotiated at the World Trade Organization sought further market integration by reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade, curtailing export subsidies and removing protections of domestic industry to promote the freer flow of goods and services. These policies were implemented as a means of increasing the efficiency of the food system in producing the foods that people needed and wanted, but they had significant effects on the types of available foods and their costs. As a result, there has been a drastic increase in production of certain products relative to others. For example, there was a substantial increase in the global production of vegetable oils such as partially hydrogenated soybean oil, a source of trans-fats, and palm oil, a source of saturated fats. Similarly, grains such as corn are produced in larger quantities to cater to the food processing industry to produce sweeteners like high-fructose corn syrup, substantially increasing global calorie consumption from such sweeteners (A/HRC/19/59, pp. 13-14). Studies show that countries adopting market deregulation policies experience a faster increase in unhealthy food consumption and mean body mass index, an indicator of obesity. In furthering the goals of market expansion and profits, critical focus areas of health such as diets and nutrition have not been given due consideration.
- 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)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effective and full implementation of the right to health framework, including justiciability of ESCR and the right to health; the progressive realisation of the right to health; the accountability deficit of transnational corporations; and the current ... 2014, para. 51
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- The right to access information has been denied to affected communities on the grounds that disclosure of such information may harm the State's economic interest and should therefore be kept confidential. Disturbingly, the practice of withholding information from stakeholders such as civil society groups has been held to be non-discriminatory, even where the same information was provided to corporations with the justification that corporations have expertise in matters relating to free trade agreements. Such inequity in access to information can enable corporations to influence the content of an international investment agreement in their favour.
- 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)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to medicines in the context of the right-to-health framework 2013, para. 22
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- States which responded to the Special Rapporteur's survey reported on the use of price control mechanisms to promote affordability of medicines, particularly essential medicines. Accordingly, external reference pricing (ERP), therapeutic reference pricing (TRP), as well as the regulation of manufacturers' selling price and distributor's mark-ups, have been applied as the most common methods for setting a ceiling price for medicines. States also reported the use of competition law as the preferred indirect price control mechanism. Tax incentives to manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers and government subsidies to manufactures were indicated as other methods of indirect control used by States to control prices of medicines.
- 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)
- Economic Rights
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Occupational health 2012, para. 36
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- The right to health requires States to take steps to prevent, treat and control diseases related to work. Despite the well-established connection between work and disease, the nexus between factors in the work environment and workers' health outcomes is not always clear or easily defined. This is particularly the case with regard to diseases caused by multiple factors. The complex relationship between work and disease is recognized in the ILO classification of diseases related to work as "occupational diseases," which have a specific link to a causal agent within the work environment; "work-related diseases," which have multiple causal factors, one of which may include a factor in the work environment; and "diseases affecting working populations," which lack a causal relationship with work but may be aggravated by factors in the work environment.
- 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)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Occupational health 2012, para. 11
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- The informal economy stands in contrast to the formal economy in a number of critical ways, the most important being the relative absence of State regulation. The lack of regulation results in numerous insecurities and vulnerabilities for informal workers, such as the lack of collective bargaining and anti-discrimination protections. Further, informal workers are also often subjected to volatile, insecure work schedules and long hours. Many informal workers are involved in piece work, which encourages unsafe work habits and shifts the burden of responsibility to protect occupational health from employers to workers. Although there are some very high earners within the informal economy (such as self-employed professionals), the vast majority of informal workers come from marginalized backgrounds and work without adequate training, technology and health precautions for a small, insecure wage. Although not all persons involved in the informal economy are poor, and not all of the working poor are informal workers, there is a substantial overlap between poverty and the informal economy.
- 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)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Health financing in the context of the right to health 2012, para. 18
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- Under the right to health, consumption taxes must not disproportionately burden the poor. However, VAT may operate regressively, with the poor spending larger portions of their income on VAT than the wealthy. Raising the threshold for profits below which enterprises are not subject to VAT and distinguishing between luxury and necessity goods has been shown to increase the progressivity of VAT. Sin taxes may also be regressive and should be applied proportionately so that less expensive products used by the poor are taxed less than more expensive products used by the wealthy. Attention must also be paid to the financial impact sin taxes have on poor communities, who may purchase taxed products with greater frequency. VAT, sin taxes and other forms of consumption taxes that are primarily regressive are not in accordance with the obligation of States to respect 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)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
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