The World Health Organisation have produced another Universal Periodic Review (UPR) which provides a unique forum for member States to provide recommendations to their peer States on all aspects of human rights, including the right to health.
The report reviews the extent to which health was addressed during the first cycle of the UPR, and to a lesser extent the second cycle.
- Gender-based violence undermines the enjoyment of the right to health and impedes realisation of a broad spectrum of other human rights. It was the health issue that recommendations most frequently addressed during the UPR’s first cycle
- Despite the focus on maternal health, only 28 of all health-related recommendations addressed safe abortion, and 11 of these were addressed to a single country. Most encouraged the decriminalisation of abortion where it was criminalised in all circumstances