Mainstreaming Human Rights across WHO

This chapter describes the efforts undertaken since 2013 to mainstream gender, equity, and human rights into the programs, policies, and practices of the World Health Organization (WHO). With a largely medical and public health staff, for whom the language of rights remains unfamiliar, and an organization focused on providing technical and normative support, WHO is thought to be ill-equipped to make human rights a core part of its activities. However, there are signs that this is changing. Starting with the adoption of an integrated approach to gender, equity, and human rights in 2012, this chapter explores how these cross-cutting values are being mainstreamed into the Organization, and also how norms and principles of human rights and the core attributes of a right to health are finding resonance across a wide range of health programs.

Equity (law) · Human rights · Mainstream · Mainstreaming · Normative · Political science · Public relations · Right to health · Human Rights and Development · Law