A/HRC/38/37 political support for the implementation of the human rights-related measures required by the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (2016–2030), indicated that a human rights-based approach was essential for the following reasons: (a) it supports States in meeting their obligations under international human rights law; (b) it offers a principled basis for universal access to health services, emphasizing that interventions must be non-discriminatory, transparent and participatory, and founded on strong public accountability; (c) it requires focus on both the empowerment of rights holders and the responsibilities of duty bearers; (d) it aims to enhance the capacity of duty bearers at the local, district and national levels to meet their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights in transparent, effective and accountable ways; (e) it requires full and informed participation by all those affected by any action or policy; and (f) it builds true sustainability into health systems and towards improving health outcomes by requiring that the underlying determinants of health be tackled, including through the realization of health-enabling rights.20 19. The Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights observed that human rights provided a context and a detailed and balanced framework that: invoked the specific legal obligations that States had agreed upon in the various human rights treaties; emphasized that certain values were non-negotiable; brought a degree of normative certainty; and brought into the discussion the carefully negotiated elaborations of the meaning of specific rights that had emerged from decades of reflection, discussion and adjudication.21 Crucially, in view of the people-centred underpinnings of the 2030 Agenda, the language of rights recognizes the dignity and agency of all individuals (regardless of race, gender, social status, age, disability or any other distinguishing factor) and it is intentionally empowering.22 This is particularly true for the right to health. B. Addressing key challenges 20. The following section contains a consideration of a selection of key challenges connected with the effective implementation and achievement of the health-related Sustainable Development Goals, and the contribution of the right to health framework in addressing them. 1. Realizing health and health-related rights 21. The realization of the right to health is dependent on the exercise, without discrimination, of other human rights, be they civil, political, economic, social or cultural. When the right to health is protected, the enhanced enjoyment of other rights necessary to preserve dignity, realize potential and assert autonomy becomes possible. 23 However, while the right to health framework is well established, health policymakers often miss the opportunity to integrate human rights principles, norms and standards into policy development, implementation and monitoring, as well as into mechanisms for accountability, which would improve process and policy outcomes for rights holders. The Special Rapporteur on health refers, in this regard, to an implementation gap, noting that while the fundamental principles and the main processes and mechanisms of the right to health are well identified, there still remains a significant gap between the formulation of health policies and their effective implementation in everyday practice. This is so even where the formulation of health policy is satisfactory from a human rights standpoint. 24 A number of factors account for this implementation gap, and some of the most significant include: a growing trend that favours a narrow and selective approach to human rights that 20 21 22 23 24 More information in this regard is available from www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WRGS/Pages/MaternalAndChildHealth.aspx. See A/70/274, para. 65. Ibid. World Health Organization (WHO), Leading the realization of human rights to health and through health: Report of the High-Level Working Group on the Health and Human Rights of Women, Children and Adolescents (2017), p. 10. See A/HRC/29/33, para. 40. 7