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The right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health 2013, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Exclusive breastfeeding for infants up to 6 months of age should be protected and promoted and breastfeeding should continue alongside appropriate complementary foods preferably until two years of age, where feasible. States' obligations in this area are defined in the "protect, promote and support" framework, adopted unanimously by the World Health Assembly. States are required to introduce into domestic law, implement and enforce internationally agreed standards concerning children's right to health, including the International Code on Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and the relevant subsequent World Health Assembly resolutions, as well as the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Special measures should be taken to promote community and workplace support for mothers in relation to pregnancy and breastfeeding and feasible and affordable childcare services; and compliance with the International Labour Organization Convention No. 183 (2000) concerning the revision of the Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Work of the mandate and priorities of the SR 2015, para. 89
- Paragraph text
- The right to survival relates to the prevention of infant and under-5 mortality. Despite many achievements in the field of medicine, 6 million children under 5 die every year in the world. Those children do not die of unknown or incurable diseases or illnesses; they die because of the conditions in which they and their parents live and poor governance and accountability.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Indigenous children and their rights under the Convention 2009, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- States parties are obliged to ensure that all children are registered immediately after birth and that they acquire a nationality. Birth registration should be free and universally accessible. The Committee is concerned that indigenous children, to a greater extent than non-indigenous children, remain without birth registration and at a higher risk of being stateless.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Infants
- Year
- 2009
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health 2013, para. 114a
- Paragraph text
- [The element of accessibility has four dimensions:] Non-discrimination: Health and related services as well as equipment and supplies must be accessible to all children, pregnant women and mothers, in law and in practice, without discrimination of any kind;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to adequate food (Art. 11) 1999, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Accessibility encompasses both economic and physical accessibility: Economic accessibility implies that personal or household financial costs associated with the acquisition of food for an adequate diet should be at a level such that the attainment and satisfaction of other basic needs are not threatened or compromised. Economic accessibility applies to any acquisition pattern or entitlement through which people procure their food and is a measure of the extent to which it is satisfactory for the enjoyment of the right to adequate food. Socially vulnerable groups such as landless persons and other particularly impoverished segments of the population may need attention through special programmes. Physical accessibility implies that adequate food must be accessible to everyone, including physically vulnerable individuals, such as infants and young children, elderly people, the physically disabled, the terminally ill and persons with persistent medical problems, including the mentally ill. Victims of natural disasters, people living in disaster-prone areas and other specially disadvantaged groups may need special attention and sometimes priority consideration with respect to accessibility of food. A particular vulnerability is that of many indigenous population groups whose access to their ancestral lands may be threatened.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Infants
- Year
- 1999
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health 2013, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- Private health insurance companies should ensure that they do not discriminate against pregnant women, children or mothers on any prohibited grounds and that they promote equality through partnerships with State health insurance schemes based on the principle of solidarity and ensuring that inability to pay does not restrict access to services.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Enjoyment of the rights to health and adequate housing by migrants 2010, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- In general, the constraints on the rights of adult migrants immediately have an adverse impact on the rights of their children, and in the long term, may inhibit the children's development. Reports suggest that poor working and economic conditions for migrant adults affect the general health and welfare of their children, as manifested in the birth of premature babies and increased risks of serious illness or death. Further, where migrant parents are deprived of health care, their children will also likely be deprived of such care.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Infants
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health 2013, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Recommended packages of services should be used, for example the Essential Interventions, Commodities and Guidelines for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. States have an obligation to make all essential medicines on the World Health Organization Model Lists of Essential Medicines, including the list for children (in paediatric formulations where possible) available, accessible and affordable.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- In general, food and nutrition security policies continue to treat women primarily as mothers, focusing on the nutrition of infants and young children or pregnant women, rather than addressing constraints on women's economic and social participation. Teenage mothers, women without children and women of post-reproductive age with specific nutritional needs are generally not considered within those policies, and this must change.6
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Enjoyment of the rights to health and adequate housing by migrants 2010, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- The Convention on the Rights of the Child extensively provides for the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health (art. 24). In that same article, obligations are placed on States to make every effort "to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services" by, inter alia, providing children with "necessary medical assistance and health care" and ensuring "appropriate prenatal and post-natal healthcare for mothers".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph