A/HRC/41/34/Add.2 schooling (by 3.0 years). Canada ranks higher when the index is associated with indicators on the quality of health, but falls to 0.852 when inequality is factored in. 8. While income inequality in Canada is within the average for countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), significant disparities remain, notably among indigenous peoples and recent immigrants. Disparities also persist among regions with large differences in terms of safety, health and housing. Nunavut, Prince Edward Island and Yukon are located at the bottom of several of those indicators.4 The relative poverty rate in Canada is above the OECD average.5 9. Canada made progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals that relate to the right to health and has committed to promote the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It achieved progress in two of the three right-to-health and related Millennium Development Goals, namely Goal 4 (Reduce child mortality) and 6 (Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases) but not in Goal 5 (Improve maternal health). Whereas the adolescent birth rate per 1,000 women was halved from 25 in 1990 to 12.6 in 2011, the maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 live births was 7 in 2015, the same as it was in 1990.6 10. In terms of Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages), official assessments7 highlight the pending tasks as: (a) addressing indigenous peoples’ poor health outcomes; and (b) tackling health inequalities linked to socioeconomic indicators, including income, education levels, employment and occupation status. B. Normative and institutional framework 11. Canada is party to seven international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which enshrines the right to health. However, it has not yet ratified a few additional but significant instruments, including the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. If ratified, the Optional Protocol would allow individuals to submit complaints on alleged violations of, inter alia, the right to health for consideration by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 12. Canada has, however, accepted the same complaint procedure for other international treaties. Individuals in-country may submit complaints of alleged violations of rights protected under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The right to health is directly protected under the latter two, and some provisions are protected under the International Covenant through the right to life.8 13. In April 1999, Canada issued a standing invitation to the special procedure mandate holders of the then Commission on Human Rights and has received visits from many of them. It has further ratified the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the main United Nations conventions related to drug control. 4 5 6 7 8 4 See www.oecd.org/cfe/CANADA-Regions-and-Cities-2018.pdf. See https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics/oecd-economic-surveys-canada-2018_eco_surveys-can2018-en#page86. See http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/data.aspx. See Global Affairs Canada, Canada’s Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Voluntary National Review (Ottawa, 2018), available at https://sustainable development.un.org/content/documents/20312Canada_ENGLISH_18122_Canadas_Voluntary_Natio nal_ReviewENv7.pdf. See Human Rights Committee general comment No. 36 (2018) on article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, on the right to life.