A/75/185 requirements of non-discrimination, under articles 2 and 3 of the Covenant. 1 In particular, the Committee considered that “indigenous peoples have the right to specific measures to improve their access to health services and care”, entailing, among other things, that “health services should be culturally appropriate, taking into account traditional preventive care, healing practices and medicines”, that “States should provide resources for indigenous peoples to design, deliver and control such services” and that “vital medicinal plants, animals and minerals necessary to the full enjoyment of health of indigenous peoples should also be protected”. In that regard, the Committee considered that “development-related activities that lead to the displacement of indigenous peoples against their will from their traditional territories and environment, denying them their sources of nutrition and breaking their symbiotic relationship with their lands, has a deleterious effect on their health”. 2 10. Furthermore, under, for instance, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (art. 6), the obligation of States to respect and ensure the right to life extend to reasonably foreseeable threats and life-threatening situations that can result in loss of life. 3 The Human Rights Committee has held this to include general conditions such as “degradation of the environment”, “deprivation of indigenous peoples’ land, territories and resources” and “the prevalence of life -threatening diseases”. Measures required can include access without delay to food, water, shelter, health care, electricity, sanitation and effective emergency health services, as well as contingency plans and disaster management plans to prepare for and address life threatening disasters, whether of natural or human origin. 4 The Committee has emphasized that “the right to life must be respected and ensured without distinction of any kind”, including “membership of an indigenous group”. 5 For indigenous women, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women additionally requires protection from discrimination against women in accessing health care services (art. 12) and social security (art. 11), including for women in rural settings (art. 14). 11. At the regional level, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ rights provides for the right to health with no discrimination (art. 16). The American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples also recognizes both the collective and the individual right of indigenous peoples to enjoy the highest level of physical, mental and spiritual health and to maintain their own health systems (art. XVIII). 12. Many States have imposed temporary confinement measures restricting the rights to freedom of movement and association of the general population; pre -existing inequalities mean that indigenous persons have been particularly affected by such measures. Moreover, the scope for States to impose such measures on indigenous peoples is restricted by the rights of self-determination and autonomy of indigenous peoples on their traditional lands (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, arts. 3 and 4). __________________ 1 2 3 4 5 6/27 See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 14 (2000) on the right to the highest attainable standard of health, para. 18. Equal access for indigenous peoples is also provided for by United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (art. 24) and the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), art. 20. States must also ensure employers provide safe and healthy working conditions without discrimination (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 7; and Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), art. 20). See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 14, para. 27. See Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 36 (2018) on the right to life, para. 7. Ibid., para. 26. Ibid., para. 61. 20-09737