A/HRC/27/31 23. Article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child highlights States parties’ obligation to ensure the survival, growth and development of the child, including the physical, mental, moral, spiritual and social dimensions of their development. Article 24 recognizes the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, explicitly requiring States parties to take appropriate measures to reduce infant and child mortality and to ensure the provision of necessary medical assistance and health care for all children. 24. Taking account of the indivisibility, interdependence and interrelatedness of all human rights, a human rights-based approach recognizes that fulfilment of the child’s rights to health and survival depends on the realization of other related rights, including the rights to life, non-discrimination, an adequate standard of living, water and sanitation, food, education, birth registration and social security. 25. States are required to progressively realize those rights to the maximum extent of available resources and, where needed, within the framework of international cooperation.10 While recognizing the principle of progressive realization and acknowledging constraints due to the limits of available resources, States have certain immediate obligations in relation to the right to health, such as the guarantee that the right will be exercised without discrimination of any kind and the obligation to take deliberate, concrete and targeted steps towards the full realization of this right.11 26. Child mortality and morbidity are also linked to women’s rights and the ability of women to survive pregnancy and childbirth and to exercise autonomy over decisions relating to their reproductive lives and optimal infant feeding practices. Investment in women’s health and education, and in the empowerment of the poorest and most marginalized population groups, including women, is vital to ensure an effective response to under-5 mortality.12 The present technical guidance on a human rights-based approach to reducing preventable maternal morbidity and mortality can help guide work in this area.13 27. A human rights-based approach requires that States focus efforts to reduce child mortality and morbidity on marginalized children and those in under-served areas, and take all appropriate measures to ensure equality and protect children against discrimination. Discrimination, in law and in practice, is an important factor underlying much preventable child mortality and morbidity, with the most marginalized groups bearing a disproportionate burden of mortality and morbidity.14 Discrimination is proscribed on the grounds of a child’s, parent’s or legal guardian’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.15 Disproportionate vulnerability and ill health of certain groups of children can also exist beyond the proscribed grounds for discrimination.16 The collection, analysis, dissemination and use of disaggregated data is a precondition for revealing where discrimination is occurring, which groups of children are not realizing their rights to health and survival and how remedial action might be taken. 28. Human rights provide a legal imperative for participation: in order to fulfil their human rights obligations, States must ensure stakeholder participation in priority-setting, in 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 6 Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 4; CRC/C/GC/15, paras. 71-72. Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 2; E/C.12/2000/4. A/HRC/24/60. A/HRC/21/22 and Corr .1 and 2. M. Chopra and others, “Ending of preventable deaths from pneumonia and diarrhoea: an achievable goal”, in The Lancet, Vol. 3, Issue 9876, 27 April 2013. Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 2. A/HRC/22/31 and Corr. l.