A/HRC/33/57
11.
Article 25 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Indigenous and Tribal
Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), requires States to ensure that adequate health services
are made available to indigenous peoples and to provide resources to indigenous peoples to
allow them to design and deliver such services under their own control. It also requires
preference to be given to the training and employment of local community health workers.
The provision recognizes the importance of primary care and community-based health
services and of coordination with other social, economic and cultural measures.
Implementation of article 25 is supported by non-discrimination provisions (art. 3) and
provisions requiring States to consult with and ensure the effective participation of
indigenous peoples with the objective of achieving consent in relation to proposed
measures (art. 6).
12.
Health-related rights are also recognized in other binding international instruments,
including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 24), the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (arts. 10-14), the Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (art. 25) and the International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (art. 5). Certain regional instruments
also uphold the right to health, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’
Rights (art. 16), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (art. 14), the
Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in
Africa (art. 14) and the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (art.
XVII). The Pan American Health Organization too has passed a number of resolutions
concerning the right to health of indigenous peoples.1
13.
Treaty bodies and special procedures, including the Special Rapporteur on the right
of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental
health and the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, have examined the
right to health from an indigenous perspective. Key findings of these mechanisms are
referred to throughout the present report.
B.
Other key instruments, policy processes and documents
14.
In 2014, the States participating in the high-level plenary meeting of the General
Assembly known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples committed themselves to
ensuring that indigenous individuals have equal access to the highest attainable standard of
physical and mental health and to intensifying efforts to reduce rates of HIV and AIDS,
malaria, tuberculosis and non-communicable diseases and to ensure access to sexual and
reproductive health. The importance of indigenous peoples’ health practices and their
traditional medicine and knowledge was also recognized.2
15.
The Sustainable Development Goals, adopted in 2015, also touch on issues
concerning indigenous well-being.3 Goal 3 (to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being
for all at all ages) directs States to work towards achieving universal health coverage, which
will require States to extend services to indigenous peoples. The Goals on poverty, food
security, equitable and quality education, and gender equality are also relevant to
indigenous peoples’ well-being. Goals 13 (on climate change), 14 (on the protection of
ecosystems) and 15 (on sustainable development) are central to the realization of
indigenous peoples’ health rights, as they are closely interrelated with the rights to selfdetermination and to the use of traditional lands, territories and resources. Goal 16
1
2
3
For example, see resolution CD47.R18.
General Assembly resolution 69/2.
General Assembly resolution 70/1.
5