A/HRC/18/27 used to explore the issues of dowries, early marriage, violence against women, maternal mortality and morbidity and gender equality in decision-making. 55. Ensuring accountability is another important strategy used in India. Advocates in domestic courts have successfully drawn on constitutional and human rights law to argue that the State is not fulfilling its legal obligations to prevent maternal mortality and morbidity.51 For example, in the 2010 decision of Laxmi Mandal v Deen Dayal Hari Nager Hospital & Ors, the Delhi High Court recognized a constitutionally protected right to maternal health care and ordered compensation for human rights violations experienced by two impoverished women who died during childbirth. The High Court recognized the State’s failure to implement various programmes to reduce maternal mortality and infant mortality and directed it to remedy deficiencies in, and improve monitoring of, public health programmes. 56. Snehelata “Salenta” Singh v. The State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors is the first known public interest case filed with a high court to deal with pregnancy-related morbidity. Salenta Singh suffered a debilitating injury after she went to a public hospital in Uttar Pradesh to give birth, where she was left alone while in labour. Owing to the poor quality of care provided, she developed an obstetric fistula. Her situation worsened when her condition went undiagnosed and then untreated for months. The lawsuit argues that pregnancy-related injury and illness resulting from medical negligence violates a woman’s right to live with dignity and her right to health – rights that are recognized by both the Constitution and international human rights treaties that India has ratified.52 These are two examples of legal remedies to assist in ensuring accountability for violations of human rights in the context of maternal mortality and morbidity. 57. Despite many efforts, the maternal mortality rate in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic remains high,53 and infant and maternal mortality rates among ethnic minorities are higher than national averages. In 2007, UNFPA supported a qualitative research study using the Participatory Ethnographic Evaluation and Research (PEER) approach, a methodology particularly suitable for gathering data from hard-to-reach, illiterate people. The study explored reproductive health among vulnerable ethnic communities and provided detailed qualitative data on risk factors relating to maternal health and barriers of access to service. As a result, among other initiatives, community representatives are responsible for providing feedback to service providers and helping to address linguistic and cultural misunderstandings. 58. The Vietnam Family Planning Association operates an outreach project in more than 100 secondary schools, delivering youth-friendly services to all students who want them. They provide information about sex, sexual and reproductive health, counselling, contraception, testing for sexually-transmitted infections, and referrals. The Association also trains young people to deliver education to their peers. By having access to services, and as peer educators, young people are empowered and their knowledge improved. The Association’s experiences were shared with other co-organizations, helping others to refine their youth-friendly services and outreach initiatives. 51 The Center for Reproductive Rights partnered with the Human Rights Law Network, an Indian nongovernmental organization, to develop a litigation strategy around maternal mortality and morbidity in India. 52 See http://reproductiverights.org/sites/crr.civicactions.net/files/documents/Salenta_v_UP.pdf. 53 405 per 100,000 live births in 2005 (UNFPA submission). 15