International Legal Accountability for the Human Right to Health

One of the core components of the International Covenant on Economic, Cultural, and Social Rights (ICESCR), the human right to the highest attainable standard of health has evolved under international law, most notably through the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Committee).  States parties to the ICESCR, legally committed to the implementation of international human rights obligations, are required to report to the Committee on their efforts to progressively realize the human right to health.  Where state self-reporting serves as the primary accountability mechanism within the UN human rights treaty body system, critics are concerned with the system's ability to effectively monitor human rights implementation for health in all policies. This research assesses human rights treaty monitoring for the right to health, focusing on both the evolution of state reporting on the right to health and the concluding observations published by the Committee in response to state reports. The presenters employ qualitative coding methods both to compare the changing content of state reports over time as well to examine state responsiveness to the comments and criticisms in the Committee's concluding observations. Coding Committee documents on the basis of the normative content of the right to health, human rights principles, populations addressed, and contexts of reference, this analysis provides understanding and insight into the effectiveness of changing norms on the right to health and the impact of dialogue between the Committee and state governments, emphasizing the need for continued interactions to improve human rights treaty monitoring on public health.