UN News/Elizabeth Scaffidi In New York, people celebrate LGBTI Pride Month.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, said today at the Human Rights Council that in the digital age, the privacy of personal health data is increasingly threatened, and for already vulnerable populations, the leakage of data can lead to dire consequences.
Mofoken noted that technology makes sensitive health data accessible to adolescents, immigrants and people who are discriminated against on their sexual orientation or health status. Access to information through digital tools should not compromise the right to confidentiality of personal health data.
Technology is used to prosecute abortionists
Mofoken emphasized that some state and non-state actors, such as some U.S. states, use technologies such as mobile communications, geolocation and searching for historical data to track people seeking contraception or abortions, leading to prosecutions, arrests, and further stigmatization. Because these jurisdictions criminalize the provision of medical services in question.
She also noted that while technologies such as telemedicine have expanded access to healthcare, the global digital divide has led to significant inequalities across countries, genders and social age groups.
Poverty hinders women's empowerment
In a relevant discussion at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls highlighted the disastrous impact of poverty and socio-economic inequalities on women's health as one of the clear injustices.
The report presented to the Council by Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, the chair of the panel, shows that women and girls are overrepresented in poverty globally. They often face stigma and criminalization when seeking reproductive health services, including abortion.
"When women and girls lack access to sexual and reproductive health education, information, goods and services, family planning services, gender inequality and poverty become further entrenched and likely to perpetuate for generations," she warned. ”
Exclusion of sexual minorities in the name of religion
Discrimination against sexual minorities is high on the agenda of the Human Rights Council, which on Wednesday heard opinions that LGBTI rights are not incompatible with religious freedom.
In presenting his latest report to the Council, the Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, said that LGBTI people are often marginalized, stigmatized and excluded from religious groups because of their sexual orientation and gender identity.
He warned against using religious narratives to justify the denial of human rights for LGBTI people, and said inclusive spiritual and religious beliefs belong to all, including those with different sexual orientations and gender identities.
The world's most pressing human rights issue
During its fifty-third session, the Council will continue to address the world's most pressing human rights issues. Since the beginning of this session on Monday, members have discussed the situation in Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka and the Sudan.
During the weeks, the Council will also examine the human rights impacts of climate change, with a focus on human rights in Belarus, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela.
Before the closure of its session on 14 July, the Human Rights Council will also take action on draft resolutions submitted by 47 member States.
