WUNRN
MATERNAL MORTALITY RESOLUTION -
ATTACHED - PASSED BY UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL SESSION 11 - 2009 - GENEVA
UNITED |
|
A |
General Assembly REVISED
TEXT TUES 16
JUNE |
Distr. LIMITED A/HRC/11/L.16 12 June 2009 Original: ENGLISH |
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Eleventh session
Agenda item 3
Reaffirming the
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Programme of Action of the
International Conference on Population and Development and their Review
Conferences and the targets and commitments regarding the reduction of maternal
mortality and universal access to reproductive health, including those
contained in the 2000 Millennium Declaration (General Assembly resolution
55/2) and the 2005 World Summit Outcome (General Assembly
resolution 60/1),
Reaffirming also the Millennium Development Goals,
in particular the Goals 5, 3, 4 and 8 on improving maternal health,
promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child and infant
mortality and the development of a global partnership,[1][1]
Recalling the
obligations of States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the
Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families,
Convinced that
increased political will and commitment, cooperation and technical assistance
at the international and national levels are urgently required to reduce the
unacceptably high global rate of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity,
Recognizing
the leading role of the World Health Organization on maternal health and
the work under the annual World Health Assembly agenda item on the monitoring
of the achievement of the health-related Millennium Development Goals,
Recognizing
also that the unacceptably high global rate of preventable maternal
mortality and morbidity is a health, development and human rights challenge,
and that a human rights analysis of preventable maternal mortality and
morbidity and the integration of a human rights perspective in international
and national responses to maternal mortality and morbidity could contribute
positively to the common goal of reducing this rate, with a view to eliminating
preventable maternal mortality and morbidity,
Welcoming the
ongoing efforts of the United Nations human rights treaty bodies to highlight the human rights aspects of
preventable maternal mortality and morbidity as a human rights issue,
including those of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women, the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on the Rights of the Child,
the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and of the special
procedures, in particular in the report of the Special Rapporteur on the right
of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and
mental health (A/61/338),
Recognizing that the
Council has a constructive role to play in raising awareness of the human
rights aspects of the unacceptably high global rate of maternal mortality and
morbidity and in supporting, promoting and enhancing existing national and
international efforts to reduce this rate,
Welcoming its
initiative to hold an interactive dialogue at its eighth regular session on
maternal mortality and the human rights of women, on 5 June 2008,
Recognizing that
preventable maternal mortality and morbidity affects women and their families
in all regions and cultures, and that it is exacerbated by factors such as
poverty, gender inequality, age and multiple forms of discrimination, as well
as factors such as lack of access to adequate health facilities and technology,
and lack of infrastructure,
1. Expresses grave concern at the
unacceptably high global rate of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity,
noting in this regard that the World Health Organization has assessed that over
1,500 women and girls die every day as a result of preventable complications
occurring before, during and after pregnancy and childbirth, and that,
globally, maternal mortality is the leading cause of death among women and of
girls of reproductive age;
2. Recognizes that most instances of
maternal mortality and morbidity are preventable, inter alia, through family
planning, skilled birth attendance and emergency obstetric care, and that
preventable maternal mortality and morbidity is a multidimensional issue
that also reflects a failure to promote and protect effectively the health,
development and human rights challenge, which also requires the effective
promotion and protection of the human
rights of women and girls, including
in particular their rights to life, to be equal in dignity,
to education, to be free to seek, receive and impart information, to enjoy the
benefits of scientific progress, to freedom from discrimination, and to enjoy
the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including sexual
and reproductive health;
3. Requests all States
to renew their political commitment to eliminating preventable maternal
mortality and morbidity at the local, national, regional and international
levels, and to redouble their efforts to ensure the full and effective implementation
of their human rights obligations, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action, the International Conference for Population Development Programme of
Action and their review conferences, and the Millennium Declaration and the
Millennium Development Goals, in particular the Goals 5 and 3
on improving maternal health and promoting gender equality and empowering women[2][2], including through
the allocation of necessary domestic resources to health systems;
4. Strongly encourages Requests
States to give renewed emphasis to maternal mortality
and morbidity initiatives in their development partnerships and
cooperation arrangements, including through honouring existing commitments and pronouncing
considering new commitments, and the exchange of effective
practices and technical assistance to strengthen national capacities,
as well as to integrate a human rights perspective into such initiatives,
addressing the impact that discrimination against women has on maternal
mortality and morbidity;
5. Encourages States and other relevant
stakeholders, including national human rights institutions and non-governmental
organizations, to give increased attention and resources to preventable
maternal mortality and morbidity in their engagement with the United Nations
human rights system, including with the human rights treaty bodies, the
universal periodic review and special procedures;
6. Requests the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a thematic study on
preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights, in consultation
with States, collaboration with the World Health Organization, and
the United Nations Population Fund, as well as all relevant stakeholders,
including the United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Bank, and all
other relevant stakeholders, and
requests that the thematic
study include identification of the human rights dimensions of preventable
maternal mortality and morbidity in the existing international legal
framework; an overview of initiatives and activities within the United
Nations system to address all causes of preventable maternal mortality and
morbidity; identification of how the Council can add value to existing
initiatives through a human rights analysis, including efforts
to identification of options for the Human Rights Council to support
and increase existing efforts in the United Nations system and to achieve
the Millennium Development Goal on improving maternal health, and recommended options and
recommendations for better addressing the human rights dimension of
preventable maternal mortality and morbidity throughout the United Nations
system;
7. Decides
to consider address the thematic study requested in
paragraph 6 above within the programme of work of its fourteenth
session, and to consider with a view to taking further possible
action on preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights at that
session, and invites the Office of the High Commissioner, the World Health
Organization, the United Nations Population Fund and the Special Rapporteur on
the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of
physical and mental health to participate in an interactive dialogue on the
study in the Council.
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