A/HRC/RES/33/18
Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International
Conference on Financing for Development, 1
Recognizing the positive contribution that the work of the Human Rights Council,
including its universal periodic review mechanism, may make to national, regional and
global efforts in relation to preventable maternal mortality and morbidity,
Reaffirming that States parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights have an obligation to take steps to achieve the full realization of the
right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental
health, including sexual and reproductive health as an integral part of this right, while also
having an obligation to guarantee the exercise of this right without discrimination,
Recognizing that sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights are, in
accordance with the Beijing Platform for Action and the Programme of Action of the
International Conference on Population and Development, and their review conferences and
outcome documents, integral to the progressive realization of the right of everyone to the
enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, and that
comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care and services contain the interrelated and
essential elements of availability, accessibility, affordability, acceptability and quality, on
the basis of non-discrimination and formal and substantive equality, while including the
need to address multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination,
Emphasizing that realizing the rights of women and girls, which are equal to those of
men and boys, in the context of health and safety requires the provision of differential
services, treatment and medicines in accordance with their specific needs throughout their
life cycle, which are distinctively different to those of men, and the elimination of the social
and economic barriers that may make them more vulnerable;
Reaffirming that the human rights of women include a woman’s right to have control
over, and to decide freely and responsibly on, matters related to her sexuality, including
sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence, and that equal
relationships between women and men in matters of sexual relations and reproduction,
including full respect for the integrity of the person, require mutual respect, consent and
shared responsibility for sexual behaviour and its consequences,
Recognizing the importance of identifying, within the framework of the Sustainable
Development Goals, appropriate national indicators in reducing maternal mortality and
morbidity, with full respect for States’ relevant human rights obligations and commitments,
Bearing in mind the need to take measures, such as collecting disaggregated data
and conducting surveys, to ensure that no one is left behind, especially women experiencing
multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, and that everyone is accounted for in
official statistics,
Deeply concerned that, despite the impressive reductions in maternal mortality rates
achieved since 1990, according to the World Health Organization, in 2015, there were an
estimated 303,000 maternal deaths of women and girls, which were largely preventable,
and that many more women and girls suffer serious and sometimes lifelong injuries, which
have severe consequences for their enjoyment of their human rights and their overall wellbeing,
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General Assembly resolution 69/313.