T E N Y E A R S O F T H E C O M M I S S I O N I N R E T RO S P E C T The Commission has construed these requirements to mean that the State has an obligation to ensure that these rights are respected. It has taken the view that, in the Indian context, the provisions of Article 21 of the Constitution have been judicially interpreted to expand the meaning and scope of the right to life to include these rights and to make the latter guaranteed fundamental rights which are enforceable by virtue of the remedy provided under Article 32 of the Constitution. The Commission has, therefore: ● Monitored, since 1997, the situation in the "KBK" districts of Orissa particularly in respect of the manner in which recurrent allegations of death by starvation have been handled both in that State and elsewhere in the country; ● Insisted, since 1994, on the right to free and compulsory education, not least as a means of ending child labour; ● Emphasized, in a Workshop organized in April 2000, the need to end iron and iodine deficiency and maternal anaemia, which were adversely affecting the right to health of women, and the mental and physical health of the unborn and infant child; ● Held a major Regional Consultation on Public Health and Human Rights in April 2001, dealing inter alia with access to health care, tobacco control and nutrition; ● Held a National Consultation on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights in November 2000. 2.29 On each of these matters, the recommendations of the Commission have been pursued with Government at the highest level. 5) The Rights of Women and Children 2.30 The Commission's efforts to protect and promote the rights of women and children have involved in a variety of inter-connected ways over the past decade. Thus: ● Issues relating to discrimination against women and children and genderrelated violence were examined in some detail in the annual report for 1993-94. ANNUAL REPORT 2002-2003 ... ... 19 ... ... ..