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Extra-custodial use of force and the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- It should be noted that the above-mentioned principles govern the use of force, not only in extra-custodial settings, but also where riots, unrest or other violent incidents occur within places of detention. 20 Depending on the circumstances, they may also be relevant in determining the permissibility of invasive health and security procedures, such as the taking of bodily samples or a strip search. 21 In their relations with persons deprived of their liberty, law enforcement officials may not use force, except when strictly necessary for the maintenance of security and order within the institution or when personal safety is threatened, and they may not use firearms, except in self-defence or in the defence of others against the immediate threat of death or serious injury or when strictly necessary to prevent the escape of an inmate presenting a threat of death or serious injury.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
- 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
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Corruption and the right to health 2017, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- The right to health is recognized in the Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) and protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights treaties which are binding on States parties, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. Additionally, regional human rights treaties and many domestic constitutions protect the right to health. These international treaties and domestic laws obligate States to take action to respect, protect and fulfil the right to health and to address corruption where it interferes with their right-to-health obligations. They should inform responses to corruption alongside other legal instruments, such as the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
A world fit for children 2002, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- Promoting healthy lives, including good nutrition and control of infectious diseases, providing quality education, protecting children from abuse, exploitation, violence and armed conflict and combating HIV/AIDS are achievable goals and are clearly affordable for the global community.
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2002
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Children with albinism are at high risk of abandonment, stigmatization, and marginalization as a result of their appearance, and due to disability factors associated with their condition, such as impaired eyesight and sensitive skin.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 112
- Paragraph text
- A key to overcoming these challenges is continuous training, supported by standard operating procedures and clear guidance to protect the best interest of the child, and to facilitate preliminary assessments and evidence gathering.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 105
- Paragraph text
- The Study found that institutionalization creates an unnecessary financial drain on budgets and that institutionalization in a closed environment can be as much as 12 times the per capita cost of community-based care options.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- Studies suggest that restorative justice programmes that do not address the underlying reasons for offending, or fail to encompass rehabilitative and preventive measures, show a lower success rate in preventing recidivism.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2012, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- While some Governments mention statistical information gathered by certain departments, including health, labour, judicial and law enforcement institutions, very few have periodic analytical reports on children's exposure to violence.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Review of the standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners 2013, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- The revision of the Rules offers a good opportunity to insist on the obligation of authorities to ensure free, fair and transparent access to a facility's medical services by providing a sufficient number of qualified, independent physicians in all facilities. The Rules should insist on the obligation to guarantee the availability of prompt, impartial, adequate and consensual medical and psychological examination upon the admission of each detainee. Medical examinations should also be provided when an inmate is taken out of the place of detention for any investigative activity, upon transfer or release and in response to allegations or suspicion of torture or other ill-treatment. Likewise, medical examinations must take place if a victim makes a complaint or upon his or her lawyer's motion, subject to judicial review in the event of delay or refusal. It is essential that medical examinations be conducted in a setting that is free of any surveillance and in full confidentiality, except for when the presence of prison staff is requested by the medical personnel. Health personnel must be free from any interference, pressure, intimidation or orders from detention authorities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Report of the SR on the right to health and Agenda 2030 2016, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- Community empowerment initiatives working with poor and marginalized communities have achieved extraordinary health outcomes, for example in the global fight to end HIV/AIDS (target 3.3) (E/HLPF/2016/2, para. 107). Economic and social empowerment, such as the decriminalization of sex work and sex worker mobilization, have improved health and identified critical health gaps (Goals 3 and 5). Community mobilization to attain adequate and stable housing for homeless people living with HIV can have life-saving implications for their health (targets 3.3 and 11.1). Efforts to empower parents in vulnerable situations through participatory parental education initiatives reduce the risk of negative health outcomes for their children (Goal 3 and targets 4.2, 5.2 and 16.2). When young girls have access to education, child mortality rates and girls' long-term health improve (Goals 3, 4 and 5) (A/70/213, para. 9). Investments in such initiatives place the human rights principles of autonomy and participation at the centre of public health policy and are critical components of an open, inclusive and peaceful society.
- 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
- Girls
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to health in early childhood - Right to survival and development 2015, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Low birth weight, lack of breastfeeding, undernutrition, overcrowded living conditions, indoor air pollution, unsafe drinking water and food and poor hygiene practices are the main immediate risk factors for pneumonia and diarrhoea. However, while such diseases are proximate causes of death and are duly reflected in statistics, poverty and inequalities are the root causes, or underlying social determinants. Poverty increases young children's exposure to risks such as poor nutrition, violence, inadequate sanitation, lower levels of maternal education, inadequate stimulation in the home, increased maternal stress and depression and, at the same time, limits access to health and other services. In 2013 the under-5 mortality rate in low-income countries was more than 12 times the average rate in high-income countries. There are also significant disparities in under-5 mortality and morbidity within countries, driven by poverty, gender and other inequalities. Low levels of literacy and poor access to education among women correlate strongly with high rates of under-5 mortality.
- 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
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2015
- 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. 16
- Paragraph text
- Courts have enforced obligations to respect and protect with regard to the right to health. The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights elaborated, in Social and Economic Rights Action Center and Center for Economic and Social Rights v. Nigeria, that the obligation to respect within the right to health requires a State "to respect the free use of resources" of an individual or group "for the purpose of rights-related needs". In Marangopoulos Foundation for Human Rights v. Greece, the European Committee of Social Rights held that the State must engage in stronger regulatory practices to protect air quality, including the regulation of private actors, to protect its obligation under 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)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Occupational health 2012, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- The right to occupational health indicators and benchmarks must be developed with the participation of workers and trade unions, including those in the informal economy. Monitoring of occupational health laws and policies on the basis of these mechanisms must be done transparently and in partnership with workers and the civil society, and all information resulting from this process must be made publicly available and accessible. Moreover, States must ensure that workers are intimately familiar with the right to health indicators and benchmarks so they can participate in the monitoring and evaluation of occupational health laws and policies on the basis of these mechanisms. Workers are best positioned to determine whether laws and policies affecting their occupational health are meeting the right to health benchmarks, and they have the greatest stake in ensuring that these laws and policies comply with the right to health. Ensuring that workers are familiar with the right to health indicators and benchmarks will additionally facilitate prospective State accountability by allowing workers to ascertain whether their right to occupational health is being realized.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Occupational health 2012, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- The right to access information is central to the right to health and an essential component of active and informed participation. It includes the right to access health-related education and information and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas concerning health issues. States also have a positive obligation in this respect to provide workers with health and rights-related information and to ensure that third parties, including private employers, do not limit access to such information. The ILO also requires States to ensure that national health laws and policies provide workers with comprehensive information, education and training related to occupational health. The right to occupational health thus requires that employers make available and accessible information concerning all health and safety risks, including those related to production inputs and equipment, machinery and chemicals used in the work place. States must further ensure that workers' right to access information affecting their occupational health supersedes employers' rights to protect commercial information under commercial confidentiality, trade secret and other related laws.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Health financing in the context of the right to health 2012, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- General Comment No. 14 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes that investments in health should not disproportionately favour expensive curative care services, which are often accessible only to a small fraction of the population, over primary and preventive health care, which benefit a far larger part of the population. Primary health-care services are generally less costly than secondary and tertiary care, which by definition require health-care workers with specialized training, sophisticated diagnostic equipment and significant physical health infrastructure. Investment in primary health care is thus more cost-efficient in the long run because it prevents illness and promotes general health, which reduces the need for more costly secondary and tertiary care. The resulting savings may be reinvested in the health system, possibly in the form of additional health-care subsidies for the poor. The right to health thus requires an efficient allocation of health funds and resources between primary, secondary and tertiary care sectors, with an emphasis on primary health care.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The realization of the right to health of older persons 2011, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur believes that the dominant view, which considers ageing a biomedical problem, leads to the unfortunate perception of ageing as an abnormal or pathological phenomenon because it equates advanced age with illness. This position is not only inconsistent with the holistic approach to human health, but it also perpetuates a perception of older persons as dependent and sick. When considering the health of older persons, the Special Rapporteur is of the view that there must be a paradigm shift away from the perception of older persons as a "social burden" to one that emphasizes the process of "active ageing" and that will reorient our ideas about ageing to focus on the continuing contribution of older persons to society. According to WHO, active ageing aims to optimize opportunities for health, participation and security amongst older persons in order to enhance their quality of life. The word active therefore refers to continuing participation in social, economic, cultural and civic affairs, and not simply the ability to be physically active or to participate in the labour force.
- 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
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to health and development 2011, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- The historical evolution of the response to HIV/AIDS is a good example of a health problem with strong implications for human development contained most effectively by protecting and promoting human rights. Jonathan Mann described three clearly defined phases in the response to the epidemic: the first period concerned discovery of the illness and corresponding uncertainty surrounding its containment, while the second period largely focused on individual risk reduction and behavioural change, accompanied by the use of discriminatory prevention measures justified under a "public health rationale". It was not until the third period, in the late 1980s, that a societal dimension was included in the approach to the disease, and the concept of "vulnerability" arose in identifying barriers to individual control over health. The "traditional" public health approaches initially applied to HIV/AIDS, consisting of information, education and services targeted at changing individuals' behaviour and reducing risk, were effective but ultimately insufficient to contain the spread of HIV/AIDS, not least because they assumed a static social 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)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Other legal restrictions also contribute to making legal abortions inaccessible. Conscientious objection laws create barriers to access by permitting health-care providers and ancillary personnel, such as receptionists and pharmacists, to refuse to provide abortion services, information about procedures and referrals to alternative facilities and providers. Examples of other restrictions include: laws prohibiting public funding of abortion care; requirements of counselling and mandatory waiting periods for women seeking to terminate a pregnancy; requirements that abortions be approved by more than one health-care provider; parental and spousal consent requirements; and laws that require health-care providers to report "suspected" cases of illegal abortion when women present for post-abortion care, including miscarriages. These laws make safe abortions and post-abortion care unavailable, especially to poor, displaced and young women. Such restrictive regimes, which are not replicated in other areas of sexual and reproductive health care, serve to reinforce the stigma that abortion is an objectionable practice.
- 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
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Sexual education 2010, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- The right to comprehensive sexual education is also confirmed by recommendations and declarations of international bodies, as well as by documents reflecting the global consensus among States. For example, the Programme of Action adopted by the International Conference on Population and Development recognizes that sexual and reproductive health education must begin in primary school and continue through all levels of formal and non-formal education.3 The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has found that sexual education is more effective if given prior to first intercourse. The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that it is crucial for sexual education to start early, especially in developing countries. The Organization has also provided specific guidance on how to incorporate sexual education into school curricula and recommends that sexual education should constitute a separate subject, rather than being incorporated into other subjects. In addition, comprehensive sexual education is a basic tool for achieving many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), such as promoting gender equality and empowering women (Goal 3), reducing child mortality (Goal 4), improving maternal health (Goal 5) and combating HIV/AIDS (Goal 6).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- 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. 80
- Paragraph text
- As demonstrated by WHO data, criminalizing termination of pregnancy does not reduce the need for it. Rather, it is likely to increase the number of women seeking clandestine and unsafe solutions. Countries in Northern Europe, where women gained the right to termination of pregnancy in the 1970s or 1980s and are provided with access to information and to all methods of contraception, have the lowest rates of termination of pregnancy. Ultimately, criminalization does grave harm to women's health and human rights by stigmatizing a safe and needed medical procedure. In countries where induced termination of pregnancy is restricted by law and/or otherwise unavailable, safe termination of pregnancy is a privilege of the rich, while women with limited resources have little choice but to resort to unsafe providers and practices. This results in severe discrimination against economically disadvantaged women, which the Working Group has highlighted during its country visits.
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Article 12 of the Convention affirms that all persons with disabilities have full legal capacity. Legal capacity has been prejudicially denied to many groups throughout history, including women (particularly upon marriage) and ethnic minorities. However, persons with disabilities remain the group whose legal capacity is most commonly denied in legal systems worldwide. The right to equal recognition before the law implies that legal capacity is a universal attribute inherent in all persons by virtue of their humanity and must be upheld for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others. Legal capacity is indispensable for the exercise of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. It acquires a special significance for persons with disabilities when they have to make fundamental decisions regarding their health, education and work. The denial of legal capacity to persons with disabilities has, in many cases, led to their being deprived of many fundamental rights, including the right to vote, the right to marry and found a family, reproductive rights, parental rights, the right to give consent for intimate relationships and medical treatment, and the right to liberty.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
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
HIV/AIDS and the rights of the children 2003, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The obligations of States parties under the Convention extend to ensuring that children have sustained and equal access to comprehensive treatment and care, including necessary HIV related drugs, goods and services on a basis of non-discrimination. It is now widely recognized that comprehensive treatment and care includes anti-retroviral and other drugs, diagnostics and related technologies for the care of HIV/AIDS, related opportunistic infections and other conditions, good nutrition, and social, spiritual and psychological support, as well as family, community and home-based care. In this regard, States parties should negotiate with the pharmaceutical industry in order to make the necessary medicines locally available at the lowest costs possible. Furthermore, States parties are requested to affirm, support and facilitate the involvement of communities in the provision of comprehensive HIV/AIDS treatment, care and support, while at the same time complying with their own obligations under the Convention. States parties are called upon to pay special attention to addressing those factors within their societies that hinder equal access to treatment, care and support for all children.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2003
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Adolescent health and development in the context of the Convention of the Rights of the Child 2003, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- The Committee is concerned that early marriage and pregnancy are significant factors in health problems related to sexual and reproductive health, including HIV/AIDS. Both the legal minimum age and actual age of marriage, particularly for girls, are still very low in several States parties. There are also non-health-related concerns: children who marry, especially girls, are often obliged to leave the education system and are marginalized from social activities. Further, in some States parties married children are legally considered adults, even if they are under 18, depriving them of all the special protection measures they are entitled under the Convention. The Committee strongly recommends that States parties review and, where necessary, reform their legislation and practice to increase the minimum age for marriage with and without parental consent to 18 years, for both girls and boys. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has made a similar recommendation (general comment No. 21 of 1994).
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2003
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to sexual and reproductive health (Art. 12) 2016, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- The realization of the right to sexual and reproductive health requires that States parties also meet their obligations under other provisions of the Covenant. For example, the right to sexual and reproductive health, combined with the right to education (articles 13 and 14) and the right to non-discrimination and equality between men and women (articles 2 (2) and 3), entails a right to education on sexuality and reproduction that is comprehensive, non-discriminatory, evidence-based, scientifically accurate and age appropriate. The right to sexual and reproductive health, combined with the right to work (article 6) and just and favourable working conditions (article 7), as well as the right to non discrimination and equality between men and women, also requires States to ensure employment with maternity protection and parental leave for workers, including workers in vulnerable situations, such as migrant workers or women with disabilities, as well as protection from sexual harassment in the workplace and prohibition of discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, parenthood, sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to the highest attainable standard of health (Art. 12) 2000, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- By virtue of article 2.2 and article 3, the Covenant proscribes any discrimination in access to health care and underlying determinants of health, as well as to means and entitlements for their procurement, on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, physical or mental disability, health status (including HIV/AIDS), sexual orientation and civil, political, social or other status, which has the intention or effect of nullifying or impairing the equal enjoyment or exercise of the right to health. The Committee stresses that many measures, such as most strategies and programmes designed to eliminate health-related discrimination, can be pursued with minimum resource implications through the adoption, modification or abrogation of legislation or the dissemination of information. The Committee recalls General Comment No. 3, paragraph 12, which states that even in times of severe resource constraints, the vulnerable members of society must be protected by the adoption of relatively low-cost targeted programmes.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2000
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- Women and adolescent girls who have been, or are at risk of being, subjected to harmful practices face significant risks to their sexual and reproductive health, in particular in a context where they already encounter barriers to decision-making on such issues arising from lack of adequate information and services, including adolescent-friendly services. Special attention is therefore needed to ensure that women and adolescents have access to accurate information about sexual and reproductive health and rights and on the impacts of harmful practices, as well as access to adequate and confidential services. Age-appropriate education, which includes science-based information on sexual and reproductive health, contributes to empowering girls and women to make informed decisions and claim their rights. To this end, health-care providers and teachers with adequate knowledge, understanding and skills play a crucial role in conveying the information, preventing harmful practices and identifying and assisting women and girls who are victims of or might be at risk of being subjected to them.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1995, para. 115
- Paragraph text
- Acts of violence against women also include forced sterilization and forced abortion, coercive/forced use of contraceptives, female infanticide and prenatal sex selection.
- Body
- Fourth World Conference on Women
- Document type
- Declaration / Confererence outcome document
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 1995
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The girl child 1998, para. g
- Paragraph text
- [Actions to be taken by Governments, civil society and the United Nations system, as appropriate:] Recognize and protect from discrimination pregnant adolescents and young mothers and support their continued access to information, health care, nutrition, education and training;
- Body
- Commission on the Status of Women
- Document type
- CSW Agreed Conclusions / Declaration
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Girls
- Infants
- Youth
- Year
- 1998
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph