A/HRC/2/2 A/HRC/Sub.1/58/36 page 35 22. In the event of hunger or famine and where welfare assistance is provided in the form of food, distributions of food or similar measures, peoples’ dignity must be fully respected, organized arrangements being made for distribution that encourage active participation by the population groups concerned. 23. Corruption, food smuggling, theft of international humanitarian aid, wilful adulteration of food intended for the general public, distribution of perished foodstuffs and all other similar misconduct must be regarded as criminal behaviour of the gravest order - as a violation of poor peoples’ and others’ human rights in particular - and made subject to exemplary punishment. F. Right to health 24. Persons living in extreme poverty have a right to health, and the State must guarantee the appropriate exercise of that right. 25. All persons living in hardship have a right to be treated with dignity, respect and humanity by health-care systems. Health-care personnel must be acquainted with the day-to-day circumstances of highly underprivileged individuals and families and trained in forging partnerships with such people. 26. Poor people living in areas of extreme poverty where pandemics, epidemics and widespread illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy or typhus occur have a right to health and to active involvement in the design and execution of eradication programmes. The State is under an obligation to uphold the right to health of the entire population, including those living in extreme poverty. Where situations overwhelm its capacity to respond, the State is under an obligation to seek assistance from the international community, and the international community must grant such assistance immediately. 27. The right to health is closely linked to the right to life. Those responsible, nationally and internationally, for any negligence in the execution of preventive or health-care programmes, or for any ill-informed, inappropriate or ill-intentioned planning that results in human deaths, must be put on trial and punished. 28. Theft, corruption, trafficking, black-marketeering and any other criminal activity involving vaccines, medical supplies, surgical or other equipment originally intended as medical aid must be severely punished and, depending on the scale of the activity, regarded as a crime of the utmost seriousness subject to prosecution and trial before the competent courts. Victims or their legal heirs and successors are entitled to reparation. G. Right to drinkable water 29. Persons living in extreme poverty have a right to drinkable water, and the State is duty-bound to provide this service to them free of charge. In areas of widespread rural poverty, the State must provide drinkable water whenever climatic conditions culminate in drought. If the State cannot do so by itself, it is under an obligation to seek the assistance of the international community, and the international community is obliged to provide such assistance.