A/HRC/12/22
page 9
(a) To ensure the right of access to health facilities, goods and services on a
non-discriminatory basis, especially for vulnerable or marginalized groups;
(b) To ensure access to the minimum essential food which is nutritionally adequate and
safe, to ensure freedom from hunger to everyone;
(c) To ensure access to basic shelter, housing and sanitation, and an adequate supply of
safe and potable water;
(d) To provide essential drugs, as from time to time defined under the WHO Action
Programme on Essential Drugs;
(e)
To ensure equitable distribution of all health facilities, goods and services;
(f) To adopt and implement a national public health strategy and plan of action, on the
basis of epidemiological evidence, addressing the health concerns of the whole population; the
strategy and plan of action shall be devised, and periodically reviewed, on the basis of a
participatory and transparent process; they shall include methods, such as right to health
indicators and benchmarks, by which progress can be closely monitored; the process by which
the strategy and plan of action are devised, as well as their content, shall give particular attention
to all vulnerable or marginalized groups”.19
21. In addition, in times of emergency, it is important to protect fundamental economic, social
and cultural rights, in particular those of the most vulnerable groups of society. It is also
important to ensure that all counter-terrorism measures conform to the legal framework
applicable at the time of their adoption. International human rights obligations, including
obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, must be
respected at all times, even when international humanitarian law applies.
22. In many countries, the justification for imposing a state of emergency has been largely
abused since 11 September 2001, and the exceptional measures taken to counter terrorism tend to
become permanent. Such measures usually curtail civil and political rights and affect the
economic, social and cultural rights of entire communities. As a result, they could lead to further
marginalization, discrimination and possibly radicalization within those communities.
23. Excluding the consideration of the impact of states of emergency on economic, social and
cultural rights is particularly problematic in States where long-standing states of emergency have
been imposed. In these cases, the socio-economic situation needs to be taken into account to
determine whether the measures adopted are proportionate, which may vary over time.
Therefore, there is a need for the concept of security to factor in such rights. In addition, if
situations which warrant the declaration of states of emergency are considered solely within the
framework of civil and political rights, any solution will also be framed from that perspective.
Such a limited perspective fails to recognize the role to be played by socio-economic rights in
any comprehensive solution.
19
Paragraph 43.
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