In April 2002, the Commission on Human Rights established the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the right to physical and mental health. Since then, four Special Rapporteurs have been appointed to lead the mandate. On July 3, 2020, the Human Rights Council appointed Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng to succeed Dr. Dainius Pūras (2014-2020) as the current Special Rapporteur on the right to health.

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Handover meetings serve a critical role in ensuring a smooth transition between mandate holders. These conversations explore the transformative capacity of the right to health and the critical role of UN special procedures. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, this tradition was reimagined as a series of virtual conversations: the Handover Dialogues.

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This dialogue focuses on the need to reframe dominant punitive and biomedical models of community safety and well-being and suggest possible futures: state control of populations through medicalization, coercion and social surveillance; or participatory, rights-based approaches that place social justice at its core. The series will close with recognition of the importance of the mandate in helping ensure the second alternative is achieved.