A/HRC/23/59 28. Jonas pointed out that children could help each other on issues relating to the right to health. The majority of parents believed that issues relating to sex and sexual relations were taboo and there was discrimination against children with HIV/AIDS or adolescents who were pregnant. All children should be respected and should respect each other. Jonas and Tama thanked all present for the opportunity to participate in the annual day discussion. III. Implementation of the right of the child to health and accountability mechanisms 29. The afternoon panel discussion started with a message read out by the Special Rapporteur on sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography on behalf of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, Anand Grover, followed by the video “Our health, our right and our action” produced by Save the Children and World Vision. Panellists in the afternoon session were Professor of Law at the University of Essex, Paul Hunt; a member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Maria Herczog; the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, Marta Santos Pais; the Principal Adviser with Special Interest in Public Health of the Directorate-General Health and Consumers, European Commission, Isabel de la Mata; the Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children, India, Thomas Chandy; and Senior Staff Attorney of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Oscar Parra. A. Remarks by the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health 30. The Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health stated that the rights of the child to health did not merely entail access to health care; that right also contained such freedoms as the right to control one’s health and body, and entitlements, including the right to a system of health protection that provides equality of opportunity for every child to enjoy the highest attainable level of health. This imposed three levels of obligations on States, including not to interfere with the enjoyment of the right; the obligation to ensure that third parties would not interfere; and the obligation to fulfil. The obligation to fulfil required States to take whatever measures necessary – legislative, administrative, budgetary and judicial – to achieve the full realization of the right of the child to health. This right should be interpreted in the light of the general principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 31. The Special Rapporteur stressed the crucial role of national laws and policies. National legislation should be in line with the State’s obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the right of the child to health. Too often, however, laws, regulations and policies were barriers to the full realization of that right; for example, criminal laws and other legal restrictions could prevent adolescents from having access to certain sexual and reproductive health-care goods (such as contraceptive methods), directly outlaw a particular service (such as safe abortion) or ban the provision of sexual and reproductive information through school-based education programmes. Such criminal laws and other legal restrictions affecting the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents could amount to violations of the right to health and should be revoked. The right to sexual and reproductive health was a fundamental part of the right of the child to health, and States should ensure its full realization by providing comprehensive sexuality education and full and affordable access to quality and confidential, age-friendly and evidence-based reproductive and sexual health services. The Special Rapporteur stressed that accountability was central to ensuring that 9