Mandate Holders
In 2002, the United Nations, through the Commission on Human Rights, established the mandate of Special Rapporteur on the right to physical and mental health. Since then, four independent experts have been appointed to lead the mandate as Special Rapporteurs:
- Paul Hunt (August 2002 — July 2008)
- Anand Grover (August 2008 — July 2014)
- Dainius Pūras (August 2014 — July 2020)
- Tlaleng Mofokeng (August 2020 – present)
Dainius Pūras
Former Special Rapporteur on the right to health
2014 - 2020
Dainius Pūras is a medical doctor and human rights advocate. He served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health from 2014 to 2020. He is also a professor at Vilnius University, Lithuania, and the director of the Human Rights Monitoring Institute, an NGO based in Vilnius.
Tlaleng Mofokeng
Special Rapporteur on the right to health
2020 - Present
Tlaleng Mofokeng is a medical doctor with expertise advocating for universal health access, HIV care, youth friendly services and family planning. Tlaleng Mofokeng is a member of the boards of Safe Abortion Action Fund, Global Advisory Board for Sexual Health and Wellbeing, Accountability International. She is also the Chair of the Soul City Institute board. She has experience in advocacy training for healthcare professionals and her areas of focus have been on gender equality, policy, maternal and neonatal health, universal health access, post violence care, menstrual health, and HIV management. Tlaleng Mofokeng has been Commissioner at the Commission for Gender Equality in South Africa and advisor to the Technical Committee for the National Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Framework Strategy in South Africa, successfully mobilizing across movements working on issues of children and adolescents, persons with disabilities, migrants and persons living with HIV/AIDS. She has briefed the United States Senate congressional staff on the impact of the Global Gag Rule globally and in the region. She has worked as a first responder on matters of gender-based violence, and has been an expert witness in court, leaning on the work of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to defend the rights of the abused with an interest to ensure access to post-violence care.