Council of Europe

The Revised European Social Charter refers to health in Article 11, which states that “everyone has the right to benefit from any measures enabling them him to enjoy the highest possible standard of health attainable”. Article 13 states that “anyone without adequate resources has the right to social and medical assistance”.

United Nations 

Health is a fundamental human right, protected by Article 25 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which relates the right to health to the right to an adequate standard of living: Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

The same article also acknowledges the right of children to “special care and assistance”. This right is further developed in several international human rights instruments, in particular in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).