This chapter addresses the international organizations that have accepted human rights obligations as a way of framing their global health policies, programs, and practices. International organizations within the United Nations (UN) system are engaged in implementing human rights—in both the mission they carry out and the way in which they carry out that mission. The UN has called on all programs, funds, and specialized agencies to mainstream human rights across their efforts, and various agencies have taken up this call to advance human rights for public health – beginning with the evolving role of the World Health Organization and expanding to encompass a sweeping set of international organizations that address health determinants. While there remain obstacles to the systematic operationalization of human rights across the global health governance landscape, international organizations are seeking to integrate their efforts to mainstream human rights in global health.

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