HRC 59: SRI Statement Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on health

59th session of the Human Rights Council

Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on health

Thank you, President.

Action Canada delivers this statement on behalf of the Sexual Rights Initiative.

We thank the Special Rapporteur for this timely, comprehensive, and intersectional report, which rightly affirms that the right to health requires the well-being, and support of healthcare workers.

States are failing in their obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to health and coverage alone is not enough. Even in countries with universal health care like Canada, over 6.5 million people lack access to a family doctor. As public health systems face mounting pressure from austerity measures, privatization, chronic funding cuts, and impact of foreign debt and economic sanctions, inadequate compensation and heavy administrative burdens are driving burnout and dissatisfaction among healthcare workers. These increasing barriers to access and the erosion of global health infrastructures are deepening inequities, especially for marginalized communities.

We welcome the report’s emphasis on confidentiality and structural inequalities, especially at a time when healthcare workers and facilities are increasingly being used as political weapons and deliberate targets. We condemn the attacks on healthcare workers and destruction of medical facilities in conflict settings, as well as policies that violate privacy rights by granting governments access to health care records, disproportionately targeting migrants and refugees, and deepening distrust. Under no circumstance should healthcare workers be compelled by harmful state mandates to act as immigration enforcement agents, nor should they be targets of violence. We call for stronger accountability measures to ensure both States and corporations are held responsible for their actions.

We urge all States to fulfill their human rights obligations by building and funding resilient, public health systems that rely on equitable and progressive taxation[1] rather than volatile, politically driven international aid. And, ensure that healthcare systems, and the workers that sustain them, are protected, supported, and equipped to deliver care that is available, accessible, acceptable, and of good quality.

Thank you.