A/HRC/RES/33/18 2. Requests States and other relevant actors to give renewed emphasis to maternal mortality and morbidity initiatives in their development partnerships and international assistance and cooperation arrangements, including by strengthening technical cooperation to address maternal mortality and morbidity, including through the transfer of expertise, technology and scientific data, and exchanging good practices with developing countries, while honouring existing commitments, and to integrate a human rights-based perspective into such initiatives, addressing the impact that discrimination against women has on maternal mortality and morbidity; 3. Urges States and encourages other relevant stakeholders, including national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations, to take action at all levels, utilizing a human rights-based approach to address the interlinked causes of maternal mortality and morbidity, such as lack of accessible, affordable and appropriate health-care services for all, and of information and education, poverty, all types of malnutrition, harmful practices, including child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, early childbearing, gender inequalities and all forms of discrimination and violence against women, and to pay particular attention to eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, especially adolescent girls, while ensuring the meaningful and effective participation of women and girls in the relevant processes; 4. Also urges States to take steps to ensure that laws, policies and practices respect women’s equal right to decide autonomously in matters regarding their own lives and health by repealing discriminatory laws and combating gender stereotypes and behaviours that discriminate against them; 5. Takes note of the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the follow-up on the application of the technical guidance on the application of a human rights-based approach to the implementation of policies and programmes to reduce preventable maternal mortality and morbidity;2 6. Calls upon all relevant actors, including Governments, regional organizations, relevant United Nations agencies, national human rights institutions and civil society organizations to, within their respective mandates, strengthen their efforts to reduce preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, including through, inter alia, the application of the technical guidance, as appropriate, when designing, implementing and reviewing policies and evaluating programmes to reduce preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, while ensuring the meaningful participation of women and girls in all decisions that affect them; 7. Calls upon all relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, within their respective mandates, to provide technical cooperation and assistance to States, upon their request, to support their efforts to implement commitments regarding maternal mortality and morbidity, and their efforts in the application of the technical guidance; 8. Calls upon States to assess accountability mechanisms, where they exist, in relation to maternal mortality and morbidity, including the monitoring of inequities, while ensuring access to justice for women and girls, and to build accountability into interventions and strategies, to monitor the functioning and effectiveness of those mechanisms and processes and to take remedial action to ensure they are responsive to human rights; 9. Encourages the High Commissioner to promote awareness and utilization of the technical guidance, as appropriate, by all relevant actors in order to accelerate the 2 4 A/HRC/33/24.