A/71/304
obligation to use resources at the national level and to seek resources through
international cooperation and assistance to realize the right to health.
35. The private sector has a significant bearing in the Sustainable Development
Goals as it plays a crucial role — at times positive and at times negative — as a
provider of health-care goods and services, as well as in research and development
for medicines in many countries. In line with international human rights standards,
States have an obligation to protect against interference and harm by the private
sector. The adoption and implementation of a robust legal, regulatory and policy
framework is critical, and accountability arrangements relating to the private sector,
including monitoring, review and remedies, must be in pla ce at the global, regional
and national levels.
36. Accountability, equality and non-discrimination are essential components of
the right-to-health framework and will be introduced in the following section.
IV. Issues in focus
37. The relationship between the Sustainable Development Goals and the right to
health gives rise to many issues of great importance. As space in the present report
is limited, the present section provides an introductory exploration of four features
of the 2030 Agenda that resonate with the right to health: addressing inequity and
equality; accountability; universal health coverage; and violence.
38. The commitments to leaving no one behind and ensuring accountability are
fundamental principles of human rights. Universal health coverage is crucial to
ensuring equity in implementing the right to health, while violence is a vital and
underattended underlying determinant of health and a systemic barrier to gaining
access to health care, improving well-being and meeting the Sustainable
Development Goals.
39. Each of the aforementioned issues represents a new focus compared with the
millennium agenda that requires operational engagement in both rich and poor
countries. The challenges reflected by those four issues in focus exist as mu ch
among certain segments of the population in developed countries as they do in
developing countries. The 2030 Agenda targets and indicators do not adequately
address those issues, creating uncertainties about how States are to carry out the
business of effective implementation. Human rights and the right to health can offer
a legally grounded and instructive framework to address the gaps. 16
A.
Leaving no one behind: equity, equality and non-discrimination
40. Inequality, discrimination and inequity are defining aspects of the global
community that shape and influence health policies and outcomes 17 and reflect a
__________________
16
17
10/26
Adams and others, Spotlight on Sustainable Development (see footnote 1); International Labour
Organization (ILO), Women at Work Report: Trends 2016 (Geneva, 2016); Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Center for Economic and Social
Rights, “Who will be accountable? Human rights and the post-2015 development agenda”
(New York and Geneva, 2013).
WHO, State of Inequality: Reproductive, Newborn and Child Health (Geneva, 2015);
A/HRC/29/31, paras. 29-42.
16-13597