HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

2nd session
Geneva , Switzerland

Statement by the International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific on the report of Special Rapporteur on Health

• Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am Anuradha Rao and I speak on behalf of The International Women's Rights Action Watch (IWRAW) which is based in Malaysia , and builds capacity for the realisation of the human rights of women through the lens of CEDAW and other international human rights treaties.
• We endorse the human rights based approach to health proposed by the Special Rapporteur on Health including an integrated approach to health and the development of indicators for monitoring progressive realisation of the right to health. We also support his emphasis on the integration of disaggregation, participation and accountability into health policies and programmes.
• While the above is an excellent prescriptive framework, our question to the special Rapporteur on Health is whether he has had enough opportunity to make country visits, to observe country-specific situations in relation to the above framework, and to dialogue with governments and civil society on the adoption of the human rights based approach, or whether he has faced difficulties in making such visits. Also, has he had adequate opportunity to hold consultations with civil society, particularly representatives of vulnerable sections of society?
• We would also like to know if the Dr. Hunt has had opportunity to observe issues such as corruption in health services; and increasing costs of healthcare and medicines under the current impetus of governments to privatise health services. We urge the Special Rapporteur to focus on these issues in his subsequent reports.
• We request the Special Rapporteur to integrate a gender perspective into the monitoring and reporting dimensions of his mandate, recognizing the indivisibility of rights. The multiple forms of discrimination that women face and the linkages between access to health services and other issues such as violence against women; economic rights; restrictions placed on women by religious and customary laws etc, that deny large sections of women their right to health must be reflected in his report. Such an approach is necessary for all mandate holders to follow to highlight the vulnerable position that multiple discrimination places women in; and to mainstream gender in their work, as is the stated objective of the UN.
• We would like to know what links the Special Rapporteur has with treaty bodies, in particular CEDAW, to ensure that his findings and recommendations are utilized by these bodies during the review of state party reports.  We urge the Special Rapporteur to develop stronger links with the treaty bodies and to integrate the Concluding Comments of the treaty bodies into his reports.
• Another question we have is whether, in recommending policy guidelines, the special Rapporteur can identify the need for temporary special measures (under article 4.1 and GR 25 of CEDAW), and whether he has established links between other rights such as the right of women to political participation and participation in public policy formulation, to their enjoyment of the right to health.
• Clearly the scope of further action by the Special Rapporteur on health is vast and critical, we urge Members of the Council to continue to support this mandate, and to honour their pledges by extending open invitations to all Special Rapporteurs for country visits in order to carry out their work effectively. We also urge Members to adopt the human rights based approach to health services proposed by the Special Rapporteur.
  

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