Monitoring Women's Right to Health Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The author of this article argues that the monitoring of women's right to health under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) is hampered by several factors, including the lesser priority on economic, social and cultural rights, conceptual and methodological problems in monitoring, and severe limitations on the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This article suggests a new approach to monitoring women's right to health based on the identification of three types of potential and actual violations of this right: violations resulting from governmental actions, laws and policies, violations based on discrimination, and violations related to the failure to fulfill a minimum core of obligations of enumerated rights. [Descriptors: Applying Human Rights Law - International, International]