41 Health rights Alicia Ely Yamin Health is so fundamental to human existence and fulfilment that it is both a precondition to and a by-product of the enjoyment all other rights. The health of minorities and indigenous peoples depends on the rights to education, work, housing and food, but also on the enjoyment of civil and political rights. But health is also a right in itself under international law, which is critically important for indigenous peoples and minorities. Health is perhaps the most radical of all rights, because it questions more than any other the boundaries of what is ‘natural’. When health is understood to be a human right, patterns of ill-health among minorities and indigenous peoples cannot be explained away as matters of fate, cultural practices or individual behaviour. The state bears responsibility for promoting and protecting the health of disadvantaged populations, including minorities and indigenous peoples. Also, the early mortality and greater morbidity faced by so many minorities and indigenous peoples becomes a matter of pressing social justice for which the state and other actors must be held accountable. Standards The core provision regarding the right to health is found in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which announces four steps states should take in fulfilling the highest attainable standard of health. These were updated and elaborated on in Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comment No.14. The right to health, as for all human rights, is to be realized without discrimination and with particular consideration for marginalized and vulnerable groups, including minorities and indigenous peoples. Both health and the right to be free from discrimination with respect to health are set out in a broad array of international treaties.1 Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) adopts a similar definitional approach to that of the ICESCR with respect to children. As women often face double discrimination as members of minority or indigenous groups (who often live in rural areas), ICEDAW is especially important and speaks to the obligation of state parties to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of health care, as well as mentioning pregnancy-related protections and eliminating disparities between rural