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The issue of trafficking in persons for the removal of organs 2013, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- In 2000, the flow of organs was believed to follow the modern route of capital: from the South to the North, from the Third World to the First World, from poor to rich, from black and brown to white, and from female to male. Data reviewed by the Special Rapporteur generally confirmed the key points of this assertion, except in relation to the gender aspect. The trade in organs sharply reflects economic and social divisions within and, most particularly, between countries. Recipients are generally independently wealthy or supported by their Governments or private insurance companies. Victims are inevitably poor, often unemployed and with low levels of education, rendering them vulnerable to deception about the nature of the transaction and its potential impacts. Available information indicates that, while trafficking in persons for the removal of organs can occur within a single country, it may involve legitimate regional cooperation or, most commonly, potential recipients travelling to another country for a transplantation that would be unlawful or otherwise unavailable at home (known as "transplant tourism"). Intermediaries, including brokers and health-care providers, arrange the recipients' travel and recruit "donors".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Movement
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Review of the standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners 2013, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur has noted that inappropriate conditions of detention, including conditions characterized by structural deprivation and the non-fulfilment of rights necessary for a humane and dignified existence, amount to a systematic practice of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (E/CN.4/2004/56, para. 41, and A/HRC/13/39/Add.5, para. 230). A considerable amount of jurisprudence at the international and regional levels has also consistently found that conditions of detention can amount to inhuman and degrading treatment. Overcrowding, lack of ventilation, poor sanitary conditions, prolonged isolation, the holding of suspects incommunicado, frequent transfers from one prison to another, the non-separation of different categories of prisoners, the holding of persons with disabilities in environments that include areas inaccessible to them and the holding of persons without means of communication could constitute or lead to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or torture. The Rules could benefit from adhering to the requirement established by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights regarding services in places of detention (see general comment No. 19 of the Committee, especially paras. 1, 9, 31 and 46).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2013
- 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. 54
- Paragraph text
- International investment agreements may provide for exceptions that can be used by States to defend laws in the public interest, such as public health laws. Even where international investment agreements contain such exceptions, however, investor rights may trump them. After Uruguay had entered into a bilateral investment treaty with Switzerland, it adopted public health measures on the packaging and advertisement of cigarettes, in accordance with local laws, which were enacted pursuant to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Although those measures accorded with the public health exception in the bilateral investment treaty, Phillip Morris International initiated a dispute against Uruguay, claiming that its law was unreasonable and breached the guarantee of fair and equitable treatment.
- 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)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development 1994, para. 13.14b
- Paragraph text
- [Basic reproductive health, including family-planning services, involving support for necessary training, supplies, infrastructure and management systems, especially at the primary health-care level, would include the following major components, which should be integrated into basic national programmes for population and reproductive health:] In the basic reproductive health services component - information and routine services for prenatal, normal and safe delivery and post-natal care; abortion (as specified in paragraph 8.25); information, education and communication about reproductive health, including sexually transmitted diseases, human sexuality and responsible parenthood, and against harmful practices; adequate counselling; diagnosis and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and other reproductive tract infections, as feasible; prevention of infertility and appropriate treatment, where feasible; and referrals, education and counselling services for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, and for pregnancy and delivery complications;
- Body
- International Conference on Population and Development
- Document type
- Declaration / Confererence outcome document
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Year
- 1994
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Parties to conflict must consider the long-term impact of attacks on health care. When a community is recovering from conflict it can take decades to reinstall skilled doctors, nurses, and the physical infrastructure to provide health care. Even a short period of hostilities can have a lasting impact, in particular because efforts to repair damage from attacks are sorely lacking.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The issue of trafficking in persons for the removal of organs 2013, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Some 100 illegal kidney transplants were allegedly performed at a hospital in an African country from 2001 to 2003; most of the recipients came from the Middle East. The organs were sourced from persons from Eastern Europe and South America. Investigations revealed the existence of an international organ trafficking syndicate and brought into public view a long-standing and flourishing transplant tourism business.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The issue of trafficking in persons for the removal of organs 2013, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- While persons travelling abroad to receive purchased organs come from many countries and from all regions of the world, "a heavier reliance on overseas transplantation and transplant tourism is believed to exist in Asia and the Middle East than in other regions". Recently, some countries have been identified as organ-importing, or "demand", countries in which criminal prosecutions for trafficking in persons for the removal of organs have been initiated.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Movement
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The issue of trafficking in persons for the removal of organs 2013, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Available information on trafficking in persons for the removal of organs is incomplete and often unverified. Scholarly research in this area is not yet well developed and anecdotal reports from civil society organizations and the media remain the primary source of information. Part of the problem lies in the clandestine nature of the trafficking. Even more so than other forms of trafficking in persons, those involved in trafficking in persons for the removal of organs (including victims) have very little incentive to come forward to researchers and criminal justice authorities with information and evidence. Victims are also unlikely to be identified through the multitude of channels that are now used to identify other victims of trafficking such as those subject to forced labour or sexual exploitation. Health-care providers who end up treating persons who have obtained organs abroad may be inhibited from sharing information with the authorities owing to concerns over patient privacy, their own obligations of confidentiality, uncertainty as to whether any laws have been breached or, indeed, their own complicity in the arrangement. Furthermore, definitional problems and confusion contribute to poor reporting and analysis and render comparisons between countries and between transplantation practices extremely difficult.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Movement
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Torture, ill-treatment and coercion during interviews/ Universal protocol for non-coercive, ethically sound, evidence-based and empirically founded interviewing practices 2016, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- The training of interviewers encompasses several components, beginning with effective training in international human rights law, including the prohibition of torture, ill-treatment and other form of duress; where applicable, training on the Geneva Conventions should also be provided. Training should include but not be limited to theoretical knowledge about international and national standards and guidelines relating to questioning, in addition to practical information, preparation and practice in the steps of investigative interviews and exercises designed to facilitate skills development. The use of scenario-based exercises and the recording and review of interviews constitute best practices in this respect. References to empirical and scientific evidence on the unreliability and counterproductiveness of torture and coercion will also help to effect the needed change in mindsets and interviewing culture. Underlining the adverse impact of mistreatment on memory retrieval would be especially beneficial. Training should also include awareness-raising activities on effective protection of and adaptation to the specific needs of vulnerable persons.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Role of forensic and medical sciences in the investigation prevention torture and other ill-treatment 2014, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- In certain selected cases it can be necessary to conduct a computerized tomography (CT)-scan if there have been head concussions or other internal injuries. However, a thorough neurological examination can be sufficient and body CT-scans are only necessary in very severe cases and in connection with intensive care or with autopsies. CT-scanning is also available in most countries and not very costly. The only test that might not be available in some countries is electromyography (EMG), to diagnose neurological damage in the peripheral nervous system (e.g., paralysis secondary to trauma). The Special Rapporteur notes that this test is also not expensive, but it requires a neurologist or neurophysiologist to conduct and interpret the results. Properly trained personnel may be in short supply. Finally, bone scintigraphy (bone-scan), a modified X-ray test for the diagnosis of fractures that are invisible in traditional X-ray images, requires the injection of contrast in the wounded bone. This test is indicated almost exclusively in the case of the torture method known as "falanga" and is neither difficult to conduct nor expensive. However, the test seems to be unavailable in a number of countries. In cases of sexual abuse, DNA detection may be required. The diagnosis of electrical lesions is also possible and methods do exist.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Immediately after the publication of the panel's report in May 2011, a United Nations spokesperson was dismissive of the report on the grounds that it did "not present any conclusive scientific evidence linking the outbreak to the MINUSTAH peacekeepers or the Mirebalais camp". Senior officials have continued to rely on this defence. However, the more detailed and official response provided in a letter dated 25 November 2014 from Assistant Secretary-General Pedro Medrano Rojas, Senior Coordinator for the Cholera Response in Haiti, addressed to the special procedures mandate holders took a different tack. Although the letter is long and detailed, it curiously makes no mention of the panel's principal finding, which was, as noted above, that that "the source of the Haiti cholera outbreak was due to contamination of the Meye Tributary of the Artibonite River with a pathogenic strain of current South Asian type Vibrio cholerae as a result of human activity". In other words, MINUSTAH was indeed the source. Instead, after citing the panel's reference to poor water and sanitation conditions and inadequate medical facilities, Mr. Medrano suggested that the main outcome of the inquiry was the statement that the outbreak "was not the fault of, or due to deliberate action by, a group or individual". Similarly, regularly updated fact sheets describing the United Nations response continue to make no mention of the panel's principal conclusion in relation to MINUSTAH. It has been airbrushed out of the picture.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Minorities and discrimination based on caste and analogous systems of inherited status 2016, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- Studies in South Asia demonstrate patterns of discriminatory behaviour against individuals from lower castes, particularly in health care, including denial of or restrictions on services, lack of treatment and longer waiting periods. Health-care providers spend less time with them, and staff use derogatory or demeaning words and avoid physical contact when examining them.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on minority issues
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Detention of migrants in an irregular situation 2012, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which apply to all categories of prisoners, both criminal and those imprisoned under any other non-criminal process, set out minimum standards for, inter alia, accommodation, personal hygiene, clothing, bedding, food, exercise, access to newspapers, books and religious advisers, communication with the outside world and medical services.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Sports and healthy lifestyles as contributing factors to the right to health 2016, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Finally, States should refrain from interfering with athletes' health rights by means of laws, policies or programmes involving forced or coercive medical treatments or experimentation, such as doping, conducted in order to enhance sporting ability among athletes.
- 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
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Report of the SR on the right to health and Agenda 2030 2016, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- Such costs often have a significant and disproportionate impact on the poor, who pay a considerably larger portion of their total income on health. In turn, they drive many households into poverty or deepen the poverty of those already poor. Such fees could bar those without the means to pay from receiving needed care, as well as discourage people from seeking care in the first place.
- 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
- Poverty
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Work of the mandate and priorities of the SR 2015, para. 88
- Paragraph text
- In line with the life-cycle approach, the Special Rapporteur will dedicate his next thematic report to the challenges to, opportunities for and best practices in promoting the right to health in early childhood. He will analyse two interdependent and indivisible rights directly related to the right to health: the right to survival and the right to development during first five years of life.
- 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
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Work of the mandate and priorities of the SR 2015, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- However, after more than a decade since the publication of the landmark World Health Report 2001, mental health remains hostage to outdated attitudes and inadequate services. Studies show that, in many instances, there is either no access to mental health services at all, or those services are stigmatizing and violate 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)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to health in early childhood - Right to survival and development 2015, para. 103
- Paragraph text
- As the global health agenda moves from a survival to a survival and development agenda, the Special Rapporteur urges high-income States to support low-income States in their endeavour to enhance the promotion and protection of the right to health in early childhood, including its developmental dimensions.
- 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)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to health in early childhood - Right to survival and development 2015, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Moreover, States should mobilize more political will and resources and facilitate the meaningful involvement of all relevant stakeholders, in particular civil society actors, in the realization of goals and targets of the sustainable development goals related to early childhood.
- 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
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to health in early childhood - Right to survival and development 2015, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- These elements can be safeguarded through best practices such as planned, safe pregnancy and childbirth; exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months followed by appropriate complementary feeding and responsive parenting; preventive interventions such as vaccines for the treatment of diseases; protection from violence, neglect and abuse; and the reduction of environmental risks.
- 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
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to health in early childhood - Right to survival and development 2015, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Health, survival and development are not sequential but are intrinsically linked and simultaneous processes. Early childhood programmes should continue to pursue objectives that include survival and health in the short term, but they should more consistently go beyond to embrace healthy development and health throughout life.
- 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)
- Education
- Health
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to medicines in the context of the right-to-health framework 2013, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Pricing policies of pharmaceutical industries greatly impact the affordability of medicines. Under the right to health, pharmaceutical companies have a shared responsibility to ensure that the prices of their medicines do not put them out of the reach of a majority of the population. Earlier tiered pricing of essential medicines was the norm, whereby essential medicines were sold systematically at a lower price in developing countries as compared to developed countries. Later many multinationals however opted for universal tiered prices. Tiered pricing policies have now re-emerged. Some multinational companies now engage in tiered pricing between and within countries, based on income levels (equity based pricing), which can be profitable for companies due to increases in volume and attractive to developing countries due to reductions in prices. In practice, however, tiered pricing has been limited to certain medicines such as ARVs, vaccines and contraceptives. Moreover, given the lack of guarantee of low prices and the diminished role for government decision-making in such pricing policies, alternatives such as promoting robust market competition have been recommended as good practices with a view to lowering the 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
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to health in conflict situations 2013, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- The majority of contemporary conflicts are non-international armed conflicts involving one or more non-State armed groups. These non-State armed groups may significantly affect the enjoyment of the right to health in conflict. One study has found that non-State armed groups are as likely as State forces to attack or interfere with health facilities, and nearly twice as likely to enter hospitals for illegitimate purposes.
- 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
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to health in conflict situations 2013, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Moreover, acceptability requires health facilities, goods and services to be in line with medical ethics. This includes provision of impartial care and services by health professionals to people affected by conflict. Medical impartiality in treating wounded people is also mandated by international humanitarian law. Therefore, health professionals have obligations vis-à-vis provision of health services to people affected and/or involved in conflict.
- 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
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to health and development 2011, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- These processes - participation-based empowerment intervention strategies - are grounded in the right to health framework, and had a broad impact on factors reducing vulnerability of sex workers to infection with HIV and other STDs. Outcomes of these processes also included improved knowledge of STDs and condom protection and the establishment of social support amongst sex workers.
- 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)
- Gender
- Health
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The implementation of the right to social protection through the adoption of social protection floors 2014, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Scholars have argued that for both ILO and the World Bank, the social protection floor is closely linked to the objectives that inspired the drafters of the respective mandates they were given at the end of the Second World War. For the Bank, the Bretton Woods negotiations in 1944 are said to have been motivated in part by commitments to freedom from want and promoting social security, while the Declaration of Philadelphia of 1944 committed ILO to contribute to the achievement of extended "social security measures to provide a basic income to all in need of such protection and comprehensive medical care". However, the harmony implied by this historical perspective is quickly dispelled by detailed accounts of competition and non-cooperation between the two agencies. Various authors have described how, over the past couple of decades, there has been a "fundamental clash of approaches, ideologies and policies" between the ILO Social Security Department (now the Social Protection Department) and the Social Protection and Labor Division of the World Bank. Those conflicts have played out especially "in the fields of pension policy, of safety net versus universal cash benefits policies, [and] of even the definitions and purposes of social protection".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Micronutrient deficiency describes a condition in which there is a lack or shortage of vitamins and minerals. Also referred to as "hidden hunger", it increases vulnerability to infection, birth defects and impaired development and can lead to premature death. For example, iron deficiency leads to anaemia, vitamin A deficiency weakens the immune system, and iodine deficiency interferes with brain development.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph