Right to health
Standing against rights abuses
Health and human rights must always go hand in hand. People have a right to healthcare, and to be treated with dignity and respect when they access it. Yet, harmful laws, policies and practices – including discrimination and abuse directed against health workers - too often prevent people from getting the care they need, and can cause serious mental and physical health harms.
Certain groups – including women and girls, those living in poverty, people with disabilities, migrants and displaced populations, and sexual and gender minorities - are more likely to experience abuses, and be exposed to harmful or degrading treatment and practices.
WHO is working with those involved in health – from policy-makers to healthworkers, patients and communities – to ensure we are all playing a role in protecting people’s human rights and dignity, and standing up to abuses whenever they occur. These include efforts to:
End unlawful medical detention
Detention of patients and family members for non-payment of medical bills is harmful to health and contrary to international law.
Hospital detention for financial reasons amounts to unlawful detention and is contrary to international human rights law. It can also have serious health consequences as it may negatively impact on the physical or mental health of detainees, by exposing them to infection, by triggering psychological trauma, or by discouraging people from seeking much-needed healthcare. WHO recommends that the practice of detaining patients, and the bodies of patients, for non-payment of bills be prohibited.
Ending hospital detention for non-payment of bills: legal and health financing policy options
End the institutionalization of children
From institutionalization to community inclusion: we all have the same rights.
Institutionalization causes physical and psychological harm to many children worldwide, yet in 2015, it was estimated that over 2 million children around the world live in institutional settings. WHO works with member states to end segregated residential mental health institutions, large psychiatric hospitals and other segregated services. A human rights approach to children with disabilities focuses on removing social, physical and other barriers that prevent their full inclusion in the community, alongside community-based services and support.
Promoting rights and community living for children with psychosocial disabilities
End attacks on healthcare
Attacks on healthcare violate international law, endanger the lives of health workers and patients, and deprive people of urgent medical care. Health workers, hospitals, and ambulances should NEVER be targets.
Attacks on health workers, ambulances and facilities are immoral and illegal. They violate the sanctity of healthcare, the right to health, and international humanitarian law. WHO is working to ensure that health workers are protected and can provide care in a safe and protected environment, that patients have access to health care when they need it most, that parties to conflict understand and uphold their legal responsibilities and that all forms of violence against healthcare stop.
End violence against women
1 in 3 women worldwide will experience sexual or physical violence in her lifetime - with consequences for health and wellbeing. It is ALWAYS a violation of human rights and should NEVER occur.
Violence against women is a major public health and human rights concern. It happens in ALL countries and is among the most pervasive violations of women’s human rights, affecting their rights to freedom from discrimination, to life, to integrity and security of the person, and to the highest attainable standard of health. Under human rights treaties, there is a clear responsibility to prevent, investigate and punish all forms of violence against women, including those that take place within the home.
End abuse during pregnancy and childbirth
Women have the right to care that is free from physical or verbal abuse, discrimination and neglect.
Every woman has the right to dignified, respectful health care throughout pregnancy and childbirth, as well as the right to be free from violence and discrimination. Yet, evidence has shown the range and pervasiveness of mistreatment to which women are too often subjected during childbirth globally, including physical and verbal abuse; discrimination and neglect; and breaches of privacy and confidentiality. These types of treatment amount to a violation of a woman’s fundamental human rights, and should never occur.
End pseudo "therapies" to change sexual orientation
Purported “therapies” aimed at changing a person’s sexual orientation lack medical justification, are not based in evidence, and are unethical. They represent a serious threat to people’s mental and physical well-being and should NEVER be performed.
Efforts aimed at changing non-heterosexual sexual orientations lack medical justification since homosexuality cannot be considered a pathological condition. While every expression of homophobia is regrettable, harms caused by health professionals as a result of ignorance, prejudice, or intolerance are absolutely unacceptable and must be avoided by all means. “Reparative” or “conversion therapies” represent a severe threat to the health and human rights of the affected persons. They constitute unjustifiable practices that should be denounced and subject to adequate sanctions and penalties.
Cures for an illness that doesn’t existJoint United Nations statement on ending discrimination in health care settings
End virginity testing
Virginity testing, also called “two-finger testing”, is unscientific, harmful, and a violation of women and girls’ human rights
“Virginity testing”, also called “two-finger testing” has no scientific or clinical basis. The practice is a violation of the human rights of girls and women, and can be painful, humiliating and traumatic. Such practices also reinforce stereotyped notions of female sexuality and gender. It is unethical for doctors or other health providers to ever undertake such procedures, and they should never be performed.
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End female genital mutilation
Female genital mutilation is a violation of human rights and must never be performed, not even by a healthcare provider.
Female genital mutilation (also called "female genital cutting") refers to all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. It has no known health benefits, is harmful to girls, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination. In addition to being a violation of girls’ rights, health professionals who perform female genital mutilation are also violating the fundamental ethical principle: “do no harm”.
An interagency statement issued by WHO calls on all states, international and national organizations, civil society and communities to uphold the rights of women and girls, and support specific and concrete actions towards ending FGM.
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End coercion and non-consent
Individuals have the right to be fully informed about any treatment, intervention or any other health services that they undergo.
Informed consent refers to a process of giving patients sufficient and relevant information to enable them to make decisions for themselves on their health. People should never be pressured, forced, coerced or in any other way persuaded to undergo treatment or interventions against their will. Marginalized or criminalized populations, including people with mental health disorders, may be particularly vulnerable to coercion or to being persuaded to undergo certain procedures.
End child marriage
Child marriage violates human rights. It endangers health, disrupts education and development, and increases risks of violence and abuse.
Child marriage is a widespread, harmful traditional practice. Every year, about 12 million girls from around the world are married before the age of 18. Adolescents married before 18 have a higher risk of intimate partner violence, and adolescent pregnancies are associated with a range of negative health outcomes. In addition, child marriage undermines secondary school attendance with lifelong consequences.
States have obligations under human rights law to prevent and address harmful traditional practices such as child marriage, including through legislation.
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Standing up for human rights also means standing up for programmes that protect rights such as...
Provide comprehensive sexuality education
All children and adolescents have the right to age-appropriate, scientifically-accurate sexuality education, which helps them grow up healthy and empowered.
There is strong evidence that well-designed and well-delivered comprehensive sexuality education contributes to improved knowledge and understanding, to positive attitudes and to healthy sexual behaviours. There is no evidence that it contributes to early, increased or more sexual risk taking. Based on the evidence of its impacts and the human rights rationale, WHO recommends the provision of age-appropriate, scientifically-accurate comprehensive sexuality education within and outside schools.
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Ensure access to contraception
Access to contraception is a fundamental right. It contributes to improved health outcomes, with direct benefits for individuals, families, communities and wider society.
Couples and individuals have a right to decide freely and responsibly if, when and how many children to have, which means that contraceptive services must be available, accessible, acceptable, of good quality, and provided without discrimination. Whilst here is increasing momentum to promote and protect human rights in contraceptive services and programmes, the unmet need for contraception remains staggeringly high, especially among vulnerable groups such as adolescent girls.
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Prevent maternal deaths and ill health
Maternal health is a rights issue. It requires empowerment and respect for the rights of women and girls and the provision of a full range of reproductive health services.
UN monitoring bodies and regional and national courts have called upon states to provide comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information and services to all women and adolescents. If they do not do so, states may not meet their treaty and constitutional obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to life, to health, and to non-discrimination. In addition to quality services, priorities to tackle maternal deaths and ill health must also include: the education and empowerment of all women and girls, gender equality, and poverty reduction.
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