Part I Defining the issues to be monitored
UPDATE FROM AHN
Ahn lives in a lower-middle-income country. The country has enjoyed a long
period of robust economic growth. Nevertheless, the benefits of its economic
success have not been shared equally. Poverty rates are particularly high in the
rural northern part of the country, where the population is mostly indigenous.
This has resulted in an increased sense of injustice among the population and
heightened political instability. Gender inequality is a particularly stubborn
challenge facing the country.
The country’s National Development Plan, Vision: 2020, prioritizes improvements
in education, health and other social sectors. Ahn’s NHRI reviews progress made
under the Plan in its annual reports. She and her colleagues have noted that,
in recent years, there has been no improvement in some key health indicators,
especially in the maternal mortality ratio.
Ahn’s NHRI has recently committed itself to strengthening its institutional
capacity to promote and protect ESCR. During a recent strategic planning
process, the NHRI also recognized its role and responsibility to protect women’s
ESCR. For this reason, she and her colleagues decide to start a project
investigating women’s rights to sexual and reproductive health and, in particular,
indigenous women’s health.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
1. Does your NHRI have a mandate to address ESCR? Do you have the same
functions and powers to address ESCR as civil and political rights? What are
the differences?
2. If your NHRI does not have a mandate to work on ESCR, how do you bring
these issues into your work? For example:
• Through the lens of non-discrimination and equality, e.g. on gender or other
grounds?
• As part of the national development agenda?
• When interpreting relevant legislation (e.g. related to workplace relations,
tenancy, social security, public health)?
3. Does your country have a national development plan? If so, to what degree
does it demonstrate a human rights-based approach?
4. Is your commission involved in monitoring the plan? If so, how?
Chapter 1: Poverty, development and human rights: Making the connections | 15