A/HRC/34/48 including the safeguarding of the function of reproduction, and call for special protections to be accorded to mothers before and after childbirth. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women also calls on States to take appropriate measures to provide special protection to women during pregnancy. Such obligations clearly extend to minimizing the risks of maternal exposure to pesticides. 45. The Convention on the Rights of the Child also includes specific provisions to protect children from environmental contaminants and supports childhood development. Article 6 highlights the obligation of Governments, to the maximum extent possible, to ensure that children survive and develop in a healthy manner. 46. Appropriately, article 24 (2) (c) of the Convention makes the explicit link between food, water and the right to the highest attainable standard of health. States must combat disease and malnutrition through the provision of adequate, nutritious foods and clean drinking water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution. In articles 24 (4) and 32 (1), the Convention also calls for international cooperation to help developing countries achieve this, and requires States to protect children from work that may be hazardous to their health or physical or mental development, such as work where they use or may otherwise be exposed to hazardous pesticides. It is clear that ensuring protection from pesticides falls within the parameters of the Convention. 47. Furthermore, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the International Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and other international human rights instruments all contain provisions that require States to provide adequate protection, information and remedies in the context of pesticide use. 48. While international human rights laws provide substantive protections against excessive and unsafe pesticide practices, implementation and enforcement remain major challenges. Most commonly, a human right that contemplates the negative effects of pesticides is implicit in the right to health. For example, in the African system, which does not recognize the right to food, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has interpreted the right to health to require Governments to take action to prevent third parties from destroying or contaminating food sources. 50 49. The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provides individuals with a grievance mechanism at the international level to claim violations of any of the rights set forth in the Covenant and to submit complaints to the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. 50. Certain voluntary guidelines and recommendations are also relevant in the context of human rights and pesticides. The Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security, which provide non-binding guidance for States on operationalizing the right to adequate food, promote State action in the realm of food safety and consumer protection. For example, guideline 9 calls for States to develop food safety standards on pesticide residues. Guideline 4 advocates that States should ensure adequate protection for consumers against unsafe food and encourages the development of corporate social responsibility policies for businesses. 50 12 Communication No. 155/96, Social and Economic Rights Action Center and Center for Economic and Social Rights v. Nigeria, decision adopted on 27 May 2012.