A/65/162 health care and programmes as provided to other persons, including in the field of sexual and reproductive health”. B. The human right to comprehensive sexual education and women’s human rights 32. Protection of the human right to comprehensive sexual education is especially important in ensuring the enjoyment of women’s right to live free of violence and gender discrimination, given the historically unequal power relations between men and women. 33. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women imposes on States the obligation to eliminate discrimination against women in all public and private spheres of their lives, including education. Article 5 of the Convention calls on States parties to take all appropriate measures to modify the patterns of conduct of men and women “with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices that are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women”. Comprehensive sexual education is an indispensable means of achieving that goal. Article 10 (h) of the Convention provides that States should ensure women’s “access to specific educational information to help to ensure the health and well-being of families, including information and advice on family planning”. 34. In its general recommendation No. 24, 30 the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women requested States to report on measures taken “to ensure timely access to the range of services which are related to family planning, in particular, and to sexual and reproductive health in general. Particular attention should be paid to the health education of adolescents, including information and counselling on all methods of family planning”.30 35. That Committee continually calls upon States parties to implement sexual education programmes 31 and has recommended the expansion of sexual and reproductive health programmes as a necessary means of addressing high abortion and maternal mortality rates. 32 It has encouraged States parties to provide systematic sexual education in schools 33 and has specifically called for increased efforts to prevent adolescent pregnancies, including educating children about responsible partnerships and parenthood. 34 36. In the Americas, article 6 (b) of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Belém do Pará) states that the right of women to be free from violence includes the right “to be valued and educated free of stereotyped patterns of behaviour and social and cultural practices based on concepts of inferiority or subordination”. __________________ 30 30 31 32 33 34 10 See document A/54/38/Rev.1. Ibid., para. 23. See documents CEDAW/C/VEN/CO/6, para. 32; A/56/38, para. 62; A/55/38, para. 280; A/54/38, para. 266; A/57/38, para. 112; A/56/38, para. 274; and A/54/38, paras. 309-310. See document CEDAW/C/ROM/CO/6, paras. 24-25. See document CEDAW/C/TKM/CO/2, paras. 30-31. See document CEDAW/C/CHI/CO/4, para. 18. 10-46213