Press release: Human rights talks survive and advance despite EU’s pro-business attempts to derail

Geneva, July 10 — The first session of the historic United Nations negotiations towards a treaty on Transnational Corporations (TNCs) and other business enterprises with regards to human rights concluded today, following five days of inspiring talks on the need for a legally binding instrument. Civil society, expert panelists and many States engaged constructively in the negotiations, despite intense EU efforts to derail the process.

During the opening session of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) the EU objected to the agenda for the meeting, suggesting last minute changes, and demanded an extension of the IGWG mandate agreed in UN Human Rights Resolution 26/9. The last minute demands, clearly lacking in good faith and contrary to democratic procedure, caused an impasse that was finally overcome when it became clear there was no consensus around the EU proposal.

Given the European Union’s recent position towards Greece in support of the rights of financial institutions along with its decision to protect the rights of Transnational Corporations through the ISDS provisions in the TTIP, it is clearly prioritizing business interests over human rights.

“The Treaty Alliance organizations came to Geneva to call for constructive State engagement and to ensure any future treaty will focus on accountability for TNCs and access to remedy and justice for people affected. With the shameful exceptions of the EU, USA and several other rich countries, the States who were present should be commended for their engagement with this vital process,” said Anne van Schaik, Sustainable Finance Campaigner with Friends of the Earth Europe. “People cannot wait for their rights. With our presence here in Geneva, we are reminding engaged States to stay the course, and insisting that absent or obstructive States get on board. We’re here to remind them that the world is watching!”

“The EU is working more as an ambassador of big corporations than a defender of international human rights law. A clear example of this disturbing position is the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the U.S. and Europe that could contain an investment protection mechanism giving economic interests primacy over human rights,” said Lola Sánchez, Podemos MEP. “But today we are full of hope because democracy can not be stopped. The referendum in Greece has shown that people are rejecting more austerity and are turning their backs on more neoliberal politics”.

“States should now continue meaningful intercessional consultation, particularly with people affected by TNC abuses, to ensure real progress in the next round of negotiations,” said Brid Brennan of the Transnational Institute and the Global Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity. “As civil society organizations and social movements, present here at the UN, we protest the disruptive behavior of the EU, and we challenge its member states to declare their position on this matter. The wellbeing of millions of people globally who have endured systematic corporate violations of their human rights depend on the IGWG to be able to continue and to fulfill its mandate, despite EU actions,” she added.

The first session of the IGWG on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights convened in Geneva on July 6th to begin the task of elaborating a treaty for business and human rights.

For Media Enquiries please contact:

Anne van Schaik, anne.vanschaik@foeeurope.org +31 6 243 43968

Dominic Renfrey, drenfrey@escr-net.org

Brid Brennan, bridbrennan@tni.org

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Useful links:

• Treaty Alliance website: www.treatymovement.com
• Joint written submission by Friends of the Earth Europe, Brot für die Welt, SOMO, CIDSE IBFAN, IBFAN-GIFA and Global Policy Forum: http://www.gifa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IGWG-contribution-FoEE-BftW-GPF-CIDSE-IBFAN-SOMO_July-2015-FINAL.pdf

IBFAN’s oral statements:

• IBFAN’s oral statement – General Comments: http://www.gifa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/GIFA-Oral-Statement_GENERAL-COMMENTS1.pdf
• IBFAN’s oral statement on Panel IV – Scope-human rights coverage:http://www.gifa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/GIFA-Oral-Statement_PANEL-IV_HR-COVERAGE.pdf
• IBFAN’s oral statement on Panel V – ETOs: http://www.gifa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/GIFA-Oral-Statement_PANEL_V_CONTENT_ETOs.pdf

Oral statements by other organizations delivered on behalf of IBFAN:

• CIDSE’s oral statement on Panel II – Principles: http://www.gifa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/CIDSE-oral-statement_Principles-1.pdf
• SOMO’s oral statement on Panel III – Scope/coverage of the instrument (TNCs vs all enterprises): http://www.gifa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/SOMO-oral-statement-joint-submission-in-Panel-II-on-scope_final.pdf
• CIDSE’s oral statement on Panel IV – Scope/human rights coverage:http://www.gifa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/CIDSE-oral-statement_Scope_Rights.pdf
• Friends of the Earth Europe’s oral statement on Panel V – ETOs: http://www.gifa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/FoEE-and-others_panel-V_ETOs.pdf
• Friends of the Earth Europe’s oral statement on Panel VI – Content: Obligations of TNCs and other business enterprises: http://www.gifa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Panel-VI-content-FOEE-with-others.pdf
• SOMO’s oral statement on Panel VII – Content: standards for legal accountability TNCs and what conduct? http://www.gifa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Panel-VII-on-liability-SOMO1.pdf
• SOMO’s oral statement on Panel VIII – Content: Mechanisms for Access to Remedy, including international cooperation: http://www.gifa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Panel-VIII-on-Remedy-SOMO-FOEE-CIDSE-BfdW-IBFAN-GPF.pdf

IBFAN Oral Statement on Panel IV - Scope: Human rights to be covered under the binding instrument

1st session of IGWG on TNCs and human rights, July 7, 2015, 3-6PM

Thank you Chairperson. I am speaking on behalf of the International Baby Food Action Network and the Pesticide Action Network Asia, both members of the Treaty Alliance. 

As highlighted by human rights experts as well as by our networks engaged with communities on the ground, corporate abuses affect the whole range of human rights defined in the core human rights instruments, from civil and political to economic, social and cultural rights. 

Our organizations have documented a great number of cases in which people’s health has been negatively affected, children’s development has been jeopardized, food and water have been contaminated and natural resources depleted by activities of business enterprises. Their activities, which include the production and use of highly hazardous chemicals and pesticides, do not only cause direct harm to populations and damage the environment. They also lead to long-term negative impacts on health that are sometimes irreversible and intergenerational. 

Misleading marketing causes long-term effects on people’s health and development. For example, when baby food companies promote their breastmilk substitutes in violation with the WHO Code, they undermine breastfeeding optimal practices, therefore exposing infants and young children to a greater risk of mortality and compromising their future health, growth and wellbeing. 

We would like to reiterate that all human rights are universal and inalienable as well as interdependent and indivisible. A treaty that would cover only a narrow scope of human rights would be meaningless to the affected people. Therefore, the future treaty should incorporate all human rights contained in the core human rights conventions as well as the relevant ILO conventions, in particular those related to labour rights, maternity protection, rights of indigenous people, and agricultural and migrant workers. Thank you.

SOMO Oral Statement on Panel III - Scope/coverage of the instrument (TNCs vs all enterprises)

1st session of IGWG on TNCs and human rights, July 7, 2015, 10AM-1PM

Thank you Madam Chair. 

I am speaking on behalf of SOMO, CIDSE, Brot für die Welt, IBFAN, IBFAN-GIFA and Global Policy Forum, who together with Friends of the Earth Europe made a joint submission to this intergovernmental working group. Our organizations are also members of the Treaty Alliance, and are among the nearly 400 organizations from around the world who have signed the Treaty Alliance joint statement. 

With regard to the scope of the businesses the treaty would cover – the footnote discussion – we have identified a hybrid option that we would like to share with you. Before explaining this hybrid option, I would like to thank Dr. Surya Deva for advising us and developing this idea. In short, the hybrid option entails that, conceptually, the treaty would NOT exclude any specific type of business, but, in its substance, it would focus on developing provisions for transnational operations, thereby addressing the current challenges to hold transnational corporations to account. 

Let me briefly explain this idea. First of all, it is important to stress that the very reason to start negotiating the treaty is to address governance gaps related to transnational business operations and problematic home-host state dynamics that come with it, and that the bulk of the human rights impacts we seek to address occur in relation to such transnational operations. 

Nevertheless, the footnote poses a number of challenges. First of all, it lacks conceptual clarity, for all companies – even TNCs – are registered under domestic law of some country. A second and more problematic aspect is that any attempt to define TNCs is likely to prove futile, because an entity could be considered “transnational” in view of multiple alternative variables, such as shareholding, operations, business relations, location of offices, nationality of shareholders and directors. 

Our organisations fear that any attempt to limit the treaty’s scope by providing a definition of targeted corporations - thereby excluding a subset of companies - will inevitably result in lawyers advising enterprises how to bypass the given definitional contours, and would thus provide loopholes in the protection against business related human rights abuse. Therefore, the proposed international instrument in our view should not exclude any business category. 

That having said, the treaty’s main objective and focus needs to be on provisions for transnational operations of business, such as the obligation of states to regulate the extraterritorial activities of business, and to provide mutual assistance between states in investigating violations and in enforcing judgements. It is these types of provisions we are looking for in the treaty, which clearly go beyond the domestic level. 

To conclude: in our view this hybrid option could effectively avoid double standards and loopholes to escape the foreseen treaty regulation, while at the same time it would but put the energy where most of the pain is: at the level of transnational operations and TNCs. We hope this idea will constructively contribute to the debate. Thank you Madam Chair.

CIDSE Oral Statement on Panel I: Principles for an international legally binding instrument on transnational corporations (TNCs) and other business enterprises with respect to human rights

1st session of IGWG on TNCs and human rights, July 6, 2015, 1-3PM

Thank you Madam Chair. I am speaking on behalf of CIDSE, the international alliance of Catholic justice and solidarity organizations, who together with the organizations Friends of the Earth Europe, Brot für die Welt, SOMO, IBFAN and IBFAN-GIFA and Global Policy Forum, made a joint submission to this intergovernmental working group. We are also members of the Treaty Alliance, and are among the nearly 400 organizations from around the world who have signed the Treaty Alliance joint statement, many of whom are present this week both inside this room and outside in a wider mobilization. 

First I wish to say that our organizations have been calling for constructive engagement by all States in this process. Therefore we are pleased at the openness shown yesterday for an inclusive process, and as a number of our members are based in Europe we very much welcome the presence and a constructive participation from the EU and its Member States in this group’s work. 

We wish to highlight 3 sets of principles we believe to be fundamental to this treaty process. These have also been strongly raised in several cases during yesterday’s side event on the impact of transnational corporations and other businesses on grassroots communities, co-organized by several of our organizations.

The first is Accountability.

States have the duty to protect human rights by regulating the behavior of private (non-State) actors. States are expected to take all measures that could reasonably be taken, in accordance with international law, in order to prevent private actors from adopting conduct that may lead to human rights violations. I want to underline this aspect of prevention. Yesterday our colleague speaking about mining in Colombia emphasized that communities’ rights are being violated from the very beginning of corporate activities, for example their right to land by forced displacement for big mining projects, not to speak of their right to health by environmental contamination and their very right to life. Therefore the duty to protect includes both a duty to provide access to remedy, as well as a duty of preventative regulation and sanction.

The obligation of a State to control the conduct of non-State actors where such conduct might lead to human rights violations also outside its territory has been explicitly affirmed by various United Nations human rights treaty bodies, and in several opinions of the International Court of Justice related to environmental harms. 

The second is Equality and non-discrimination. 

As stated in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” The prohibition against discrimination is at the heart of human rights law and is clearly established in numerous human rights texts. Each State must ensure that all individuals subject to its jurisdiction are protected against corporate human rights abuse, without distinction of any kind.

Of key relevance here is the need to redress the current power imbalances between both States and affected peoples vis-à-vis transnational corporations. Affected communities face huge imbalances in trying to defend their rights and also in litigation against transnational companies, it was said yesterday, with unlimited resources and influence. States also experience such power imbalances in negotiating investment/trade agreements and attracting foreign direct investment. Here I want to underline the message from affected communities expressed in yesterday’s side event, that human rights for all must take primacy over the rights of some investors in the context of trade and investment agreements. 

The third is Participation and transparency. 

People have a right to participate in how decisions are made regarding protection of their rights. Affected people are also actors, not just States and companies. Transparency means that governments must be open about all information and decision-making processes related to rights. This should empower concerned actors by equipping them with information and creating a precondition for holding power-holders to account. Transparency has arguably already become a general principle of international law, for example within international environmental law and disarmament treaties.

Of key relevance here is Free, Prior and Informed Consent. As we heard yesterday from Victoria Tauli Corpuz, the very survival of indigenous peoples around the world is threatened by corporate activity. During the side event yesterday, we heard that the damages to cultures, to nature, are increasingly becoming irreversible and irreparable, so we must act urgently so that companies respect the autonomy of communities and their own, other conceptions of development and progress. International law has now recognized that FPIC is a legal norm imposing clear affirmative duties and obligations on States with regard to indigenous rights. The recent development of FPIC in national and international law is demonstrative of its widespread support as a principle of international law by the international community.

Madame Chair, our organizations work with communities and individuals currently suffering abuses and violations of their human rights a result of business activity. Our colleague from an indigenous communities in Canada put it very eloquently yesterday, when she said that this process is about “shining light where there’s only darkness on abuses of human rights.” Concrete measures are urgently needed to protect women and men seeking to defend their rights and the environment in the face of harmful corporate practice, and to address the denial of access to justice to communities in numerous countries. Thank you Madam Chair.

IBFAN Oral Statement - General Comments

1st session of IGWG on TNCs and human rights, July 6, 2015, 10AM-1PM

Thank you Chairperson. I am speaking on behalf of the International Baby Food Action Network, the Pesticide Action Network Asia and Pacific, Friends of the Earth Europe, SOMO and the Global Policy Forum, members of the Treaty Alliance. 

We welcome the opening of the first session of the open-ended intergovernmental working group for the elaboration of an International Legally Binding Instrument on Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises with respect to human rights. We are very glad to see countries and civil society taking part in this crucial process and would like to encourage all States to engage constructively in the discussions. 

This is a historical step for all citizens, particularly for those affected by corporate abuses, who have struggled for many years for justice. Therefore, we urge you to ensure meaningful involvement of these affected communities in the treaty process in order to ensure that their needs are met. 

To date, millions if not billions of people are negatively affected by corporate activities. Abuses are more frequent and apparent in the South, although communities from the North are also suffering from corporate misconduct such as chemical contamination and promotion of unsafe or unhealthy food. In addition, negative external costs related to corporate activities, including adverse and irremediable impacts on health and environment, are often borne by affected communities themselves as well as by public institutions and national governments. Whenever the affected communities organize to claim their rights and seek for remedies, their leaders regularly face threats to their security and even to their life. 

Besides, whistle-blowers are often harassed or fired for having reported or disclosed information on a threat or harm to the public interest. Human rights defenders and whistle-blowers are at the forefront to get corporations accountable and thus should be provided special protection by the treaty. During a side event that took place yesterday, we had the opportunity to hear about the experience of a whistle-blower, Dr Yasmine Motarjemi, former executive in charge of global food safety at Nestlé, who denounced existing corporate strategies to continue putting business interests ahead of human rights with impunity. 

Therefore, we would like to stress the necessity to put in place adequate safeguards to guarantee that the treaty process is not unduly influenced by the private sector and thus, to ensure its independence, integrity and credibility. These safeguards should be set up as a priority, in a transparent manner, and should include concrete measures that help identify and eliminate risks of personal or institutional conflicts of interests. 

In conclusion, we would like to reiterate our support to this treaty process. We will continue to provide information to the intergovernmental working group and mobilize our respective networks at international, regional and national levels. Thank you.

Treaty Alliance Press Release - June 27, 2014

Yesterday, a resolution was adopted in the UN Human Rights Council that will begin the process of elaborating an international legally binding instrument on business and human rights. Despite strong opposition from the EU and US, the resolution received affirmative votes from 20 member States on the Human Rights Council, while 13 States abstained.

This victory in the promotion of human rights is welcomed by the Treaty Alliance, a group of networks and campaign organizations collectively working to organize advocacy in support of developing binding international regulation to address corporate human rights abuses. A statement calling for an international legally binding instrument has been signed by 610 civil society organizations and social movements and 400 individuals from 95 countries. Additionally, the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament and the Vatican have made statements supporting the creation of such an instrument.

This adoption will result in the establishment of an open-ended intergovernmental working group that will have the mandate of elaborating a binding instrument to regulate the activities of Transnational Corporations (TNCs) and Other Business Enterprises. Some States opposing the resolution made attempts to come to a
compromise, but were not willing to provide a concrete path towards the drafting of a binding instrument to prevent human rights abuses by TNCs and other business enterprises and allow for the provision of remedy to victims.

While companies have a responsibility to respect all human rights, as reaffirmed in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, they are currently not held legally accountable. Thus, the implementation of the Guiding Principles at the national level has been slow and the Guiding Principles remain insufficient to prevent human rights violations. In the meantime, many victims around the world continue to suffer without access to justice.

Members of the Treaty Alliance emphasize that the establishment of a binding instrument is complementary to the implementation of the Guiding Principles and necessary to ensure glaring gaps in protection are addressed. Notably, an intergovernmental process will also contribute to addressing current imbalances under international law, particularly in light of protections companies can obtain under Bilateral Investment Treaties and Free Trade Agreements, which have allowed corporations to sue States.

While the US and EU have repeatedly stated that they will not participate in the intergovernmental open-ended working group established by the resolution, the Treaty Alliance hopes for their involvement in this process that will be critical to ensuring effective protection of human rights in the context of business activities.

Recommendations related to breastfeeding by the 66th Committee on the Rights of the Child

The 66^th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC Committee) took place in Geneva from 26 May to 13 June 2014. The Committee reviewed the progress of the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 5 countries: India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan and Saint Lucia. IBFAN submitted alternative reports on the situation of infant and young child feeding for each of the reviewed countries. The reports on India and Indonesia were written in collaboration with IBFAN groups in the countries. In its Concluding Observations, the CRC Committee referred specifically to breastfeeding in only 3 out of the 5 countries (India, Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan). Jordan and Saint Lucia did not receive any direct recommendation on breastfeeding, although they received recommendations on various topics indirectly related to breastfeeding.

General measures of implementation

The Committee has put an emphasis on the improvement of the data collection system in all of the 5 countries under review (India, Indonesia, Jordan and Kyrgyzstan), stressing the importance of collecting disaggregated data for the formulation, evaluation and monitoring of policies, programmes and projects for the effective implementation of the Convention.

The Committee also called for the development of a national plan for action in India and Saint Lucia, and insisted on the necessity to include time-bound and measurable goals and targets to effectively monitor progress in the implementation of child’s rights at national level (Saint Lucia).

Health resources and budget

The Committee also called for strengthening of resources allocated to health by urging Indonesia to substantially increase its allocations in the area of health to adequate levels and by recommending India to ensure that appropriate resources be allocated to health sector in order to improve the health situation of children, in particular to respond to high rates of acute respiratory infections, malnutrition and diarrhoea.

Besides, the Committee urged India to provide all professionals working with children, including health workers, with adequate and systematic training in children’s rights.

Preventive health

The importance of preventive health care has been highlighted in several recommendations.

Indonesia has been requested to ensure provision of postnatal care for all women with the focus of reducing preventable and other diseases, particularly diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections and undernutrition, and to promote good infant and young child feeding practices. It has also been requested to strengthen and expand access to preventive health for all pregnant women and children, and to take all necessary efforts to reduce maternal mortality.

Kyrgyzstan has been asked to take measures to prevent deaths of children as a result of preventable and curable diseases.

Saint Lucia has been recommended to ensure adequate provision of postnatal care, as well as address the issues of low birth weight, increasing infant mortality rate, and obesity among children through awareness-raising efforts, and to continue dissemination of health information and the promotion of health education regarding basic child health to all segments of society.

Malnutrition

While India has been urged to ensure effective implementation of its National Security Food Act (2013) which contains provisions aiming at combating children’s undernourishment, Jordan has been asked to address child malnutrition and infectious diseases and Kyrgyzstan has been recommended to ensure that no child in the country is undernourished and that all children have access to adequate and sufficient food.

HIV/AIDS

The Committee has issued specific recommendations on the prevention of mother-to-child HIV/AIDS transmission (India, Indonesia) as well as a recommendation on antiretroviral therapy and prophylaxis for HIV-infected pregnant women and children (India).

In addition, general recommendations on the prevention of HIV/AIDS transmission by raising awareness of the public have been issued (Jordan, Kyrgyzstan).

Breastfeeding protection

Full implementation of the International Code on Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes has proven to be an effective intervention to protect breastfeeding and to ensure that mothers are provided with adequate information on the best way to feed their infants and young children. Therefore, the Committee has insisted on the need for Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan to adopt the Code, and has requested India to ensure effective implementation of, and compliance with, the Code, as well as establish a monitoring and reporting system to identify Code violations and implement stringent measures against identified violators.

More generally, in the light of the CRC General Comment No. 16 on State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children’s rights, India has been requested to establish a clear regulatory framework for the industries to ensure that their activities do not negatively affect human rights, especially in relation to children’s rights. Yet, it is of serious concern that despite the systematic infringements of the Code committed by baby food companies in India, the Committee urged the country to implement more partnerships with the private sector with focus on health. According to IBFAN-GIFA, this call for an increase in number and thus importance of health projects and programmes modeled as “public-private partnerships”, is likely to lead to risks of conflicts of interest in both policy-making sphere as well as in programme implementation and, most importantly, may undermine the existing legally binding instruments and threaten development of clear and comprehensive regulatory framework.  Therefore, the recommendations of the Committee regarding the role of the private sector can be seen as conflicting.

Breastfeeding promotion

The Committee expressed concern over the insufficient rates of exclusive breastfeeding in India and Indonesia, and the poor implementation of the law on the promotion of breastfeeding in Kyrgyzstan, leading to inadequate information as well as free samples of baby food products provided to mothers.

Therefore, India has been specifically requested to promote exclusive breastfeeding practices, including the promotion of breastfeeding from birth, complementary feeding strategies with or without provision of food supplements as well as micronutrient interventions for mothers. Meanwhile, Indonesia has been urged to strengthen the promotion of breastfeeding, including by establishing a specific programme on the topic. Finally, Kyrgyzstan has been recommended to implement its legislation on the promotion of breastfeeding practices and ensure that mothers receive adequate information on the benefits of their breastmilk.

Breastfeeding support

However, no specific recommendation on breastfeeding support (e.g. inclusion of knowledge on optimal breastfeeding practices in health curricula) has been issued by the Committee following its 66th session.

Table 1. CRC Committee - Session 66 / 2014 -Summary of Concluding Observations on IYCF

Country		IBFAN report	Summary of specific recommendations on IYCF
7	India (3rd-4th periodic report)	yes	Indirect – General measures of implementation (para 14 (a); 20; 26; 30 (a)): prioritize the development of the National Plan of Action to implement the 2013 National Policy for Children; expeditiously improve its data collection system; provide all professionals working for and with children with adequate and systematic training in children’s rights. This includes in particular […] health workers […]; establish a clear regulatory framework for the industries operating in the State party to ensure that their activities do not negatively affect human rights or endanger […] other standards, especially those relating to children’s rights. Health (para 63; 64; 68): strengthen its efforts to address […] the existing disparities in access to and quality of health services, including by establishing partnerships with the private sector […]; ensure that appropriate resources be allocated to the health sector, with particular attention to specific maternal and child health care policies, programmes and schemes to improve the health situation of children, in particular to respond to high rates of acute respiratory infections, malnutrition and diarrhoea; ensure the effective implementation of the National Food Security Act. Direct (para 54): enhance efforts to promote exclusive breastfeeding practices, including the promotion of breastfeeding from birth, complementary feeding strategies with or without provision of food supplements as well as micronutrient interventions for mothers; ensure the effective implementation of, and compliance with, the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, and establishment of a monitoring and reporting system to identify violations of the Code, as well as of stringent measures in all situations of violations of the Code. Violations include the promotion and distribution of samples and promotional materials by the private sector institutions involved in the Infant Formula marketing and distribution.
8	Indonesia (3rd-4th periodic report)	yes	Indirect – General measures of implementation (para 7): continue to upgrade its system of data collection to cover all areas of the Convention; ensure that all data and indicators are used for the formulation, monitoring and evaluation of policies, programmes and projects for the effective implementation of the Convention. Health (para 48; 52): increase its health budget and expand access to primary health-care services across all provinces; ensure the provision of primary health-care services for all pregnant women, including […]  postnatal care, and children, focusing on interventions to reduce preventable and other diseases, particularly diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections and undernutrition, as well as promote good infant and young child feeding practices; strengthen and expand access to preventive health care […] for all pregnant women and children, particularly infants and children under the age of 5; take all necessary efforts, including emergency obstetric care, to reduce maternal mortality; sustain the measures in place to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS as well as provide for counselling and improve follow-up treatment for HIV/AIDS-infected mothers and their infants. Direct (para 54): strengthen the promotion of breastfeeding, including by establishing a programme to promote and enable all mothers to successfully breastfeed exclusively for the first six months of the infant’s life; adopt the International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes.
9	Jordan (4th-5th periodic report)	no	Indirect – General measures of implementation (para 8 (b)): strengthen its mechanisms for data collection by establishing a central database on children and ensure that data are collected on all areas of the Convention and disaggregated. Health (para 44; 48): ensure equal access to quality health services by all children […] by addressing child malnutrition and infectious disease; improve access to quality, age-appropriate HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health information and services.
10	Kyrgyzstan (3rd-4th periodic report)	yes	Indirect – General measures of implementation (para 7 (b)): develop a comprehensive system for collecting disaggregated data to cover all those under the age of 18 years. Health (para 48; 50): take measures to prevent deaths of children as a result of preventable and curable diseases, by educating parents and providing easy access to early medical intervention; take measures to ensure that no child in the country is undernourished and that all children have access to adequate and sufficient nutritious food; take all necessary measures to prevent transmission of HIV/AIDS by raising awareness of the public. Direct (para 54): take all necessary measures to implement its legislation promoting breastfeeding practices and ensure that all mothers receive adequate information on the benefits of their breast-milk;  adopt the International Code for Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes.
11	Saint Lucia (2nd-4th periodic report)	no	Indirect – General measures of implementation (para 11; 13; 17): develop and implement a comprehensive national plan of action for the full implementation of the Convention; to establish the Central Database Registry […] ensuring a comprehensive and integrated data collection system on children. Health (para 43(a) and (b)): ensure adequate provision of prenatal and post natal care, as well as address the increasing number of children born with low birth weight, the increasing infant mortality rate, and obesity among children, through awareness-raising efforts, and the reasons for these trends; dissemination of health information and the promotion of health education regarding basic child health to all segments of society.