A/HRC/14/39 practice),39 to ensure that seemingly neutral measures and approaches do not have a discriminatory effect in real terms,40 and in certain contexts to actively recognize and take account of difference.41 2. Application in the context of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity 16. There are a number of ways in which non-discrimination and equality-related obligations come into play in the context of efforts to prevent women’s death and disability from pregnancy-related causes. Ensuring gender equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex 17. As research indicates, preventable maternal mortality and morbidity is related to a lack of provision and prioritization of health care42 that only women need due to the fact that reproduction takes place in their bodies. Though all human beings are affected in significant ways by preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, by definition it is the lives and health of women and adolescent girls that are directly and immediately impacted. But while interventions and services needed to combat maternal mortality do exist, “there is no single cause of death and disability for men between the ages of 15 and 44 that is close to the magnitude of maternal mortality”.43 To ensure gender equality and nondiscrimination on the basis of sex, States must address this. Specifically, States are obligated to ensure that their laws, policies and practices meaningfully address the specific needs of women due to their ability to become pregnant and give birth.44 This includes, among other things, an obligation to ensure women’s access to emergency obstetric care and to other sexual and reproductive health information and services, such as family planning.45 18. Obligations related to equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex also explicitly request States to confront a number of underlying factors that contribute to preventable maternal mortality and morbidity. For example, States should take measures to effectively reduce and ultimately eliminate gender-based violence and other harmful practices against women and girls,46 which exacerbate the risks of a woman’s death or disability as a result of pregnancy-related causes.47 Action is also required to eliminate 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 GE.10-12949 CESCR, general comment No. 16, paras. 6–8; CESCR, general comment No. 20, para. 8; CEDAW, general recommendation No. 25, paras. 4–10. CEDAW, general recommendation No. 25, para. 7; CESCR, general comment No. 16, paras. 5, 12– 13; CESCR, general comment No. 20, para. 10. CEDAW, general recommendation No. 25, para. 8. UNICEF, State of the World’s Children 2009, p. 2. A/61/338, para. 9. ICESCR, art. 12, para. 2 (a); Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 12, para. 2; CESCR, general comment No. 14, paras. 14, 21 and 44 (a); CEDAW, general recommendation No. 24, paras. 26–27. CEDAW, general recommendation No. 24, para. 27; CESCR, general comment No. 14, para. 14. General Assembly resolution 48/104 on the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, art. 4 (c); CEDAW, general recommendation No. 19: Violence against women (1992); CESCR, general comment No. 14, para. 21. See also: Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Bélem do Pará), art. 7; InterAmerican Court of Human Rights, Case of González and Others (Campo Algodonero) v. Mexico, 16 November 2009; European Court of Human Rights, Case of Opuz v. Turkey, judgement of 9 June 2009, application No. 33401/02. UN Millennium Project 2005, Taking Action: Achieving Gender Equality and Empowering Women (London, Task Force on Education and Gender Equality, 2005), chapter 9. See also: WHO, Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation: An Interagency Statement (OHCHR, UNAIDS, UNDP, 9