Menstrual Hygiene Management, Human Rights and Gender Equality

A/HRC/RES/56/11View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2024.

What other versions does this mandate have?

2 versions · 2021–2024

2024A/HRC/RES/56/11Menstrual hygiene management, human rights and gender equalityLatestCompare with previous version
2021A/HRC/RES/47/4Menstrual hygiene management, human rights and gender equality

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Extracted automatically from each entity’s budget submission.

What subjects does this mandate have?

7 topics

Gender Equality Health Education Menstruation Right to Drinking Water Rural Women Sanitation Women's Rights

What does this mandate say?

17 operative paragraphs

Calls upon States to ensure that women and girls, including those living in rural and remote areas, have access to available, accessible and affordable facilities, information and products for optimal and effective menstrual hygiene management, including by taking measures:

To ensure that women and girls, including in particular those in vulnerable situations and those with disabilities, have equitable access to affordable, safe and clean water and adequate sanitation, hygiene and washing facilities with soap, including a choice of menstrual hygiene products, such as sanitary pads that are clean, available, accessible, acceptable, good quality and environmentally friendly;

To eliminate or reduce all taxes on menstrual hygiene management products, including sanitary pads, and provide support to women and girls in situations of economic vulnerability;

To promote national social protection policies, initiatives and partnerships that seek to achieve the regular and free distribution of menstrual hygiene products, including reusable (where feasible), safe, culturally appropriate and environmentally friendly sanitary pads, and teach women and girls in rural and remote areas how to make, use and follow the hygiene rules for these sanitary pads;

To develop safe and efficient infrastructure and transport for the delivery of sanitary protection and other menstrual hygiene products to rural and remote areas, including in humanitarian contexts, reduce the digital divide between and within countries and the gender digital divide to improve access to information about menstrual hygiene in these areas, provide training for women and girls living in rural and remote areas in digital skills and promote digital literacy courses for women and girls;

To ensure that women and girls, including those with disabilities, have access to separate and adequate basic sanitation facilities in public and private spaces, including affordable and accessible disposal options for used menstrual hygiene management products;

To ensure that women and girls and those in rural and remote areas have free access to health-care services and medicines to prevent, identify and treat health issues relating to menstruation;

To conduct publicity and awareness-raising campaigns, in the vernacular, where relevant, including establishing national menstrual hygiene days, to tackle the stigma, shame, taboos, stereotypes and negative social norms surrounding menstruation and menstrual hygiene, such as the requirement that women and girls isolate themselves during menstruation or wear dark school uniforms, in order to foster a culture in which menstruation is recognized as healthy and natural, and ensure that men and boys, as well as religious and community leaders and the family unit, are also included in all awareness- raising initiatives;

To design and implement national policies, programmes and legal mechanisms to promote and protect the full exercise by all women and girls, including those in rural and remote areas, of their human rights and fundamental freedoms, and establish an environment that does not tolerate violations, abuses and non-respect of these rights, including all forms of violence against women and girls, in rural and remote areas and in public and private spaces, as well as harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, and address the related root causes that contribute to the violation of their rights and to perpetuating the neglect of their needs;

To integrate menstrual hygiene management into relevant national policies, including water, sanitation and hygiene programmes, and promote women’s and girls’ access to adequate and accessible information and education on menstrual hygiene management, including within family units and out-of-school settings;

To ensure that universal health coverage includes the prevention and treatment of the health risks and complications associated with menstruation, including through access at the primary health-care level;

To ensure that all relevant duty bearers, such as health-care providers, teachers, religious leaders, traditional authorities, politicians and public and private employers comply with and uphold laws and regulations relating to menstrual hygiene and health care, in order to prevent and act against abuses or violations of the rights of women and girls and respect their dignity;

To ensure a more holistic and coordinated approach to the humanitarian-development nexus by integrating measures related to menstrual hygiene and health care into humanitarian preparedness and response plans and link them to longer-term investments, with particular attention to the protection needs of refugees, asylum-seekers, migrants and internally displaced women and girls, including by ensuring access to menstrual hygiene products, such as through the distribution of menstrual kits and products to improve access to products and supplies, including the United Nations Population Fund global programme for the distribution of “dignity kits” in the context of humanitarian crises;

To provide information on progress made and challenges encountered in the management of menstrual hygiene in relevant periodic reports submitted to the human rights treaty bodies and the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, as well as in the context of regional and other human rights review processes, as appropriate;

Urges States to ensure access to infrastructure and public services, including access to safe and affordable water and sanitation, as well as menstrual hygiene management, for all women and girls, and safe and affordable transportation, inter alia during humanitarian emergencies, including in rural and remote areas and informal settlements, settlements for internally displaced persons, refugee camps and migrant shelters;

Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in consultation with States, United Nations agencies, within their respective mandates, regional organizations, national human rights institutions, human rights experts and civil society organizations, including women’s rights organizations, youth-led organizations, organizations of persons with disabilities and other relevant communities, to prepare a report on good practices identified and problems encountered on menstrual hygiene management and to submit it to the Human Rights Council at its sixty-second session,

Decides to continue its consideration of the question of menstrual hygiene management in accordance with its programme of work.

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What does this mandate say?

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