The Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health

A/RES/58/173No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 117bHuman rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, published in 2004.

What other versions does this mandate have?

6 versions · 2004–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/60/10

2025A/HRC/RES/60/10The right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental healthLatestCompare with previous version
2022A/HRC/RES/51/21The right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental healthCompare with previous version
2019A/HRC/RES/42/16The right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental healthCompare with previous version
2016A/HRC/RES/33/9The right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental healthCompare with previous version
2013A/HRC/RES/24/6The right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental healthCompare with previous version

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

What does this mandate say?

17 operative paragraphs

Urges States to take steps, individually and through international assistance and cooperation, especially economic and technical, to the maximum extent of their available resources, with a view to achieving progressively, by all appropriate means, the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including, in particular, the adoption of legislative measures;

Calls upon the international community to continue to assist the developing countries in promoting the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including through financial and technical support as well as training of personnel, while recognizing that the primary responsibility for promoting and protecting all human rights rests with States;

Calls upon States to guarantee that the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health will be exercised without discrimination of any kind;

Reaffirms that the achievement of the highest attainable level of health is a most important worldwide social goal, the realization of which requires action on the part of many other social and economic sectors in addition to the health sector;

Affirms that good governance at all levels, sound economic policies and solid democratic institutions responsive to the needs of the people are also key to the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;

Calls upon States to pay special attention to the situation of vulnerable groups, including by the adoption of positive measures, in order to safeguard the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;

Also calls upon States to place a gender perspective at the centre of all policies and programmes affecting women’s health;

Further calls upon States to protect and promote sexual and reproductive health as integral elements of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;

Invites States to consider signing and ratifying the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control;9

Takes note with interest of the interim report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;

Also takes note with interest of the approach proposed by the Special Rapporteur to encompass the responsibilities of States at all levels in his future work on how to evaluate the progressive realization of the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, and of his efforts to apply this approach to specialized areas of health care, such as essential medicines, sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, children’s health and water and sanitation;

Welcomes the special attention given by the Special Rapporteur to the identification of good practices for the effective implementation of the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;

Recognizes the need for further international cooperation and research to promote the development of new drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tools for diseases causing a heavy burden in developing countries, and stresses the need to support developing countries in their efforts in this regard, taking into account that the failure of market forces to address such diseases has a direct negative impact on the progressive realization in these countries of the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;

Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to provide the necessary resources for the effective fulfilment of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur from within existing resources;

Calls upon Governments to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur in the implementation of his mandate, to provide all information requested and to respond promptly to his communications;

Notes the request of the Commission on Human Rights to the Special Rapporteur to submit annually a report to the Commission and an interim report to the General Assembly on the activities performed under his mandate;

Requests the Commission on Human Rights to continue consideration of this matter at its sixtieth session under the same agenda item.

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The Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health

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