A/HRC/18/27 4. Female genital mutilation 16. Female genital mutilation and cutting is a form of violence against women and a violation of women’s and girls’ rights. Girls and women who have undergone such mutilation experience a higher prevalence of infections, psychological and psychosexual trauma, infertility and obstetric complications,17 which lead to an increased need for emergency obstetric care. A human rights-based approach advocates for the eradication of this harmful practice with strong support from international and regional human rights treaties and consensus documents.18 B. Sexual and reproductive health rights 17. The International Conference on Population and Development recognized reproductive rights as fundamental human rights and held contraceptive information and services to be essential for ensuring reproductive health and rights.19 These rights are grounded in the right to life, the right to the highest attainable standard of health,20 the right to decide the number and spacing of one’s children,21 the right to privacy,22 the right to information23 and the right to equality and non-discrimination.24 Guaranteeing access to available, acceptable and good-quality contraceptive information and services free from coercion, discrimination and violence is critical for achieving gender equality and ensuring that women can participate as full members of society. 18. To achieve gender equality and non-discrimination, States are obligated to ensure that their laws, policies and practices meaningfully address the specific needs of women, including an obligation to ensure women’s access to sexual and reproductive health information and services.25 19. Governments are obligated to take affirmative steps to ensure access to the full range of contraceptive methods by removing legal, financial, informational and other barriers.26 17 WHO, Estimating the obstetric cost of female genital mutilation in six African countries, WHO Bulletin 88: 281-288, cited in UNICEF submission, p. 1. 18 WHO, “Eliminating female genital mutilation: an interagency statement”, 2008, p. 8. Available from http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2008/9789241596442_eng.pdf. 19 A/CONF.171/13/Rev.1. 20 Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 6, para. 5. 21 See the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art 16 (1)(e); the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 23(1)(b); and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), art. 14, para. 1. 22 See Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 21, para. 22; Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 28, para. 20; and A/CONF.177/20, para. 96. 23 Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 4, para. 28; A/65/162, paras. 19 and 24-37; Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 14, note 27. 24 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 24; Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 28; Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 16; Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-third Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/53/38/Rev.1), paras. 228-29; ibid., Fifty-second Session (A/52/38/Rev. 1), para. 140. 25 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 24, para. 27; Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 14, para. 14. 26 See Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-fourth Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/54/38/Rev.1), paras. 186 and 207; ibid., Fifty-seventh Session (A/57/38), para. 400; Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 24, para. 17; and Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general recommendation No. 14, para. 27. 7