In its latest session, the Human Rights Council appointed Mr. Dainius Puras from Lithuania as the third Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
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“The activities of transnational food and beverages companies, which account for one third of the food sales and are increasingly implicated in the global obesity and NCD epidemics needs to be regulated more closely. Their accountability for right to health violations leaves much to be desired. In this context, I welcome the recent resolution by the UN Human Rights Council, which moves in the direction of formulating international, legally binding standards on businesses with respect to human rights. It is also open to the World Health Organization to use its mandate as a treaty-making body to negotiate a framework convention on unhealthy diets, recognizing the inextricable link between unhealthy foods and NCDs as it has done for the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. A specific binding framework convention on unhealthy diets would be more effective in responding to the global NCD disease burden. I call upon General Assembly to take this upon consideration in their outcome document.”CLICK HERE for OHCHR website where the statement should appear soon.