HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL CONCLUDES INTERACTIVE DIALOGUE ON INDEPENDENCE OF JUDGES AND LAWYERS, FREEDOM OF OPINION AND EXPRESSION AND HEALTH
3 June 2009
The Human Rights Council this morning concluded its interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
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Interactive Dialogue
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IMAD ZUHAIRI (Palestine) welcomed the Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Anand Grover, and expressed appreciation for the presentation of his report. Intellectual property rights were important for innovation related to public health and were one factor in determining access to medicines. But neither innovation nor access depended on just intellectual property rights. The impact of the economic and political trends on global health was complex. While the relationship between poverty and globalization was beyond the scope of this report, evidence that linked poverty with high disease trouble was undeniable and stood at the centre of this issue that the Council was addressing. Poverty, disease and research capacity all intersected to create an amount of challenges and opportunities for developing countries in particular. In Palestine, the severe and harsh siege against the occupied Gaza Strip imposed a collective punishment against the Palestinian people, caused devastating damages especially on the right to health. It was very difficult if not impossible for the patients to have access to health care outside the occupied Gaza Strip. The Special Rapporteur was asked on the measures he would advocate promoting the free flow of technical advances and the access to care for people whose movements were restricted, whose trade exchanges were prevented, and whose potential of innovation was daily endangered.
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ANAND GROVER, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health, said that most comments needed a written response, for example comments on the role of non-state actors on the access to health in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. …
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For use of the information media; not an official record
HRC09070E
Download Document Files: https://unispal.un.org/pdfs/HRC09070f.pdf
Document Type: French text, Press Release
Document Sources: Human Rights Council
Subject: Armed conflict, Gaza Strip, Human rights and international humanitarian law, Incursions
Publication Date: 03/06/2009