A/69/299
32. Monitoring is critical for the full implementation of complex judgements. The
writ of continuing mandamus has been used by the Supreme Court of India to
provide continuous judicial oversight of agencies when a traditional writ of
mandamus could not overcome agency inertia. 21 The Constitutional Court of
Colombia developed a special monitoring chamber to oversee the implementation of
T-760/08 and devoted a section of its website to all the orders enforcing the
judgement. 22 To maximize implementation, monitoring by the court sho uld be done
in conjunction with public participation. 23
33. Meaningful participation by affected communities and other stakeholders,
together with access to health information, is not only an essential element of the
right to health, 24 but also a critical tool for monitoring implementation. Courts are
positioned to promote access to information as part of implementation monitoring,
or even to find a constitutional right to receive accurate health -related information
from public officials. 25 Participating stakeholders can support implementation
jointly with the State by providing technical expertise and communicating the
interests of affected communities.
34. States are encouraged to ratify the Optional Protocol to the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and recognize the competence of
the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to receive and consider
inter-State communications. Enforcement through the Optional Protocol will further
develop the content and jurisprudence of the right to health. Health-related cases
have been adjudicated at the international level, for example in the Alyne da Silva
Pimentel v. Brazil and L.C. v. Peru cases before the Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination against Women. 26 While the Committee adopted decisions calling
for specific remedies for the complainants in those cases, it also adopts general
recommendations that promote policy change. General recommendations are
necessary to promote the enjoyment of the right to all similarly affec ted people, not
only the authors of communications. They should be incorporated into friendly
settlements between the parties, with input from third parties, because States can use
friendly settlements to provide remedies not only for the author but for al l similarly
affected people.
35. States, whether directly or indirectly, may have an impact on the enjoyment of
the right to health within another State. If a State is unable to protect the right to
health of its people from foreign actors using domestic mechanisms, it is
encouraged to use the inter-State communications mechanism under the Optional
Protocol to do so.
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22
23
24
25
26
14-59014
See Vineet Narain and others v. Union of India and another, 1998.
See Constitutional Court of Colombia, Seguimiento al cumplimiento de la Sentencia T-760 de
2008 (Monitoring compliance with judgement T-760 of 2008).
See César Rodríguez-Garavito, “Beyond the courtroom: the impact of judicial activism on
socioeconomic rights in Latin America”, Texas Law Review, vol. 89, p. 1694.
See general comment No. 14, para. 12 (b) (iv).
See Constitutional Court of Colombia, T-627/12, judgement of 10 August 2012, p. 125.
Communication No. 17/2008, views adopted on 25 July 2011, and communication No. 22/2009,
views adopted on 17 October 2011.
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