A/HRC/27/20 lens for many years. In 2006, this issue was placed on the human rights agenda of the United Nations, when the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health devoted part of his report to the General Assembly to this topic. Subsequently, the Human Rights Council organized a panel discussion in 2009 on this issue, and the three reports of the High Commissioner were produced in the following years. 6. Importantly, the recognition of maternal health as a human rights concern has not been restricted to the human rights sphere. Recent years have also witnessed increased collaboration between the health and human rights communities on maternal health. The 2010 Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, led by the Secretary-General, which focused on acceleration towards the achievement of Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, explicitly recognizes the human rights dimensions of maternal and child health. The work that has followed on from that Global Strategy, including through the recommendations of the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health, and the work of the independent Expert Review Group on Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health, has continued to emphasize that maternal health cannot be treated solely as a public health issue but must be understood as a human rights concern. Furthermore, the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) has played an important role in convening policy networks that extend across normally disparate elements of research, policy, practice and the public, thus contributing to the widening of partner networks for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health and human rights. 7. More recently, the Commission on the Status of Women recognized that failures to protect reproductive rights were hampering efforts to achieve Millennium Development Goal 5 on maternal health (E/CN.6/2014/L.7, para. 23), and the Commission on Population and Development, in its resolution 2014/1, linked the “promotion, respect, protection and fulfilment of all human rights” to the elimination of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity (E/2014/25-E/CN.9/2014/7, para. 11). 8. In discussions around the post-2015 development agenda, there has also been an emphasis on sexual and reproductive health and rights, including the human rights dimensions of maternal mortality and morbidity. For example, the report of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda paid specific attention to sexual and reproductive health, including maternal health, and remarked that “universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights is an essential component of a healthy society”.3 9. These developments signal that there is increased understanding of maternal mortality and morbidity as a matter of human rights. The contribution of the technical guidance, based on this recognition, is to offer assistance to relevant stakeholders on the actions required to address maternal health in line with human rights obligations, and to put in place processes for the development of policies and programmes that respect human rights principles, including participation, non-discrimination and accountability. 10. It is important to note that some Governments, United Nations agencies and civil society organizations, and other entities, were already applying rights-based approaches to maternal health before the technical guidance was adopted, and continue to implement these important projects and programmes. The High Commissioner welcomes these efforts and encourages further uptake of rights-based approaches. The technical guidance is a tool 3 4 A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies through Sustainable Development, p. 39.