The High-Level Working Group for the Health and Human Rights of Women, Children and Adolescents launched its report at the side-lines of the 70th World Health Assembly. The Working Group Co-Chair H.E. Tarja Halonen, former President of Finland, submitted the report to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein and the departing Director-General of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan. The report calls on governments to step up their action to uphold the right to health in national law; to adopt human rights-based approaches across the board and protect people who advocate for rights – including health workers; and to strengthen the collection of rights-sensitive data for better monitoring and reporting.
Speaking at the event Dr. Carmen Barroso, IAP Co-Chair, welcomed the report’s focus on strengthening evidence and public accountability: `For us the report represents the potential for a watershed moment in the urgent need to put human rights first in our collective efforts to achieve the SDGs and the Global Strategy aims`.
`We must have parliamentarians, independent oversight bodies, national human rights institutions, and the judiciary fully on board in the global movement for the health and rights of women, children, and adolescents everywhere. Transforming requires a radical, rapid shift for all of us`, she concluded, reaffirming the IAP’s mandate and commitment to track follow-up on the recommendations for strengthening accountabilities at all levels from the lens of human rights and equity.