A/HRC/27/20 III. Utilization of the technical guidance 23. Information gathered via OHCHR’s existing work, via the submissions for the present report and via interviews with key stakeholders working with the technical guidance reveal that the technical guidance is being used in various ways — all directed towards the ultimate end of ensuring women’s human rights, especially sexual and reproductive health and rights. A. Assessing and influencing legislation, policies, strategies and programmes 24. Several stakeholders report using the technical guidance as an assessment or monitoring tool to examine existing policies. For instance, the submission from the Government of Mexico included a detailed table comparing the provisions of the technical guidance to existing policy provisions, in order to assess compliance. The submission from Guatemala also included details about how certain aspects of its action plan to reduce maternal and child mortality are aligned with the principles of the technical guidance. 25. The Committee for the Promotion of Safe Motherhood, in Mexico, which is a government and civil society network, has embarked on efforts to strengthen its human rights focus, explicitly on the basis of the technical guidance. In this regard, the Committee is monitoring national programmes such as the Health Sector Programme, the National Programme for Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination against Women, the Education Sector Programme and the Specific Action Programme on Maternal and Perinatal Health, on the basis of the provisions in the technical guidance. Committees have also been formed at the State level, which have exposed various human rights concerns relating to pregnancy and childbirth. 26. The technical guidance has been used at the working level by staff of the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) in order to reflect upon their existing support to the health sector. It was reported that assessing existing Danish support against the provisions of the technical guidance helped to better value, and improve upon, the contribution a rights-based approach to providing pooled funds to the sector. In particular, the technical guidance highlighted to the staff of the Agency the importance of supporting sector- and system-wide improvements as a core human rights obligation. This required attention to improved planning, budgeting and reporting processes; ensuring more equitable World Health Organization, Ensuring Human Rights in the Provision of Contraceptive Information and Services: Guidance and Recommendations (2014); World Health Organization and Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, A Policy Guide for Implementing Essential Interventions for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (2014); Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Knowledge summary #23: human rights and accountability (2013); and Knowledge summary #27: death reviews: maternal, perinatal and child (2013); Rebecca Cook, “Human rights and maternal health: exploring the effectiveness of the Alyne decision”, Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, vol. 41, issue 1 (April 2013), pp. 103–123; Louise Finer and Johanna Fine, “Abortion law around the world: progress and pushback”, American Journal of Public Health, vol. 103, issue 4 (April 2013), pp. 585–589; Paul Hunt and Tony Gray, eds., Maternal Mortality, Human Rights and Accountability (Routledge, 2013), pp. 150–155; Alicia Yamin, “From ideals to tools: applying human rights to maternal health”. PLOS Medicine, vol. 10, No. 11 (2013). 8