Ref: 215173
Friday, 28 January 2022
David Adamson
By email to
[FYI request #17988 email]
Tēnā koe David,
Response to your request for Official Information
On 17 December 2021, you requested from the Human Rights Commission (“the
Commission”) the following information:
1. Provide details of any health or medical qualifications held by the Human Rights
Commissioner or his staff that have helped inform the public statements made by
the Commission/ Commissioner on COVID-19 vaccine mandates or other health
regulations related to COVID-19.
Response to your request
The Chief Human Rights Commissioner holds the following health qualifications and
experience, which informs his and the Commission’s COVID-19 work in general,
including public statements:
▪ Honorary doctorate by the Nordic School of Public Health.
▪ Experience as the first UN Special Rapporteur on the highest attainable standard
of health. In this independent capacity, he reported, orally and in writing, to the
UN General Assembly, UN Commission on Human Rights and UN Human Rights
Council on right to health issues. He submitted thematic reports on a wide range
of right to health issues, such as sexual and reproductive health, neglected
diseases, maternal mortality, and the health-rights responsibilities of
pharmaceutical companies and developed frameworks on how to measure the
progressive realisation of the right to health. He also undertook country missions
in India, Peru, Sweden, and Uganda.
▪ Member of a Working Group of the UN Commission on Information and
Accountability on Women's and Children's Health. (2010-2011)
▪ Founded the International Initiative on Maternal Mortality and Human Rights.
▪ Senior Human Rights Advisor to the Assistant Director-General, WHO, Flavia
Bustreo, and directed a project which researched whether there was evidence of
impact of a human rights approach to health. (2011-2013)
Stantec House, Level 1, 10 Brandon Street, Wellington
PO Box 10424, Wellington Central, Te Whanganui a Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand
Waea Telephone +64 4 473-9981 Waea Whakaahua Facsimile +64 9 377-3593
Infoline Toll free 0800 496 877 / TT
Y [Human Rights Commission request email] www.hrc.co.nz
▪ Has sat on a number of expert groups, boards and inquiries in relation to health
including:
o UN Secretary-General’s independent Expert Review Group on Information
and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health (iERG).
o Statutory human rights inquiry into emergency health care established by
the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.
o Board of the National Health Service (NHS) England initiative, Sexual and
Reproductive Health Rights, Inclusion and Empowerment (SHRINE).
o United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)'s External Advisory Panel
o Editorial Boards of the
Health and Human Rights Journal and
International
Journal on Human Rights and Drug Policy.
▪ Has provided expert testimony to the European Court of Human Rights, via the
Centre for Reproductive Rights, and Inter-American Court of Human Rights on
right to health issues.
▪ Co-edited a Special Issue of Harvard's
Health and Human Rights Journal which
deepened analysis on the topic of health of women and children (2015)
▪ Has authored vast publications on health – including co-author a major landmark
study on health systems and the right to health in 194 countries published in the
Lancet in 2008.
Additionally, a senior staff member involved in the Commission's COVID-19 work
has extensive experience in developing health communications, including public
health campaigns aimed at Pacific, Māori and the general population across a wide
range of health issues.
They have also completed the following courses run by Otago University’s Public
Health Summer School:
▪ Update on Rheumatic Fever prevention and control (2017)
▪ Emerging issues in Pacific Health research (2018)
▪ Digital health – Informatics for population health gain and equity course (2019)
Alternative avenues
If you are unhappy with this response, under the Official Information Act you are
entitled to complain to the Ombudsman’s Office. Information about how to make a
complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or on freephone 0800 802
602.
If you have any further queries about this response, please feel free to contact me
directly.
Nāku noa, nā
Joanne van Heerden
Services Coordinator