A/HRC/33/23 18. Furthermore, the issue is not so much how many children a human rights-based approach saves, but more specifically if international human rights law allows for dignity, equality, participation and accountability not to be placed at the centre of policy and programme development. Given that States have ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child and assumed obligations vis-à-vis children on a voluntary basis, the inclusion of human rights principles in the development of policies and programmes is not a choice but rather an obligation: a legal and a moral obligation that the State has towards the smallest of its citizens.5 19. Through the work undertaken since the finalization of the technical guidance, it has become clear that the area of human rights-based approaches to newborn, infant and under5 health has many dimensions in addition to prevention of mortality of children, and that a specific child rights and child health dialogue is needed. That has also been signalled by the Special Rapporteur on the right to health in his report on early childhood (A/70/213). 20. In the context of the discussions on the technical guidance, OHCHR has been approached by different stakeholders raising child health issues requiring urgent attention from a rights perspective, including: pain management for the newborn child; palliative care for children; consent issues regarding surgeries, including for intersex children; paediatric medicines; children born with severe impairments and life-threatening health conditions, including severely premature babies; abandonment of the newborn; and the role of health personnel in assessing violence against children, including shaken baby syndrome and sexual violence. Stakeholders also raised the inequitable access of infants and young children to HIV testing, treatment and care, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, contributing to disproportionately high AIDS-related mortality rates among children. 21. The technical guidance has made a great contribution to promoting the dialogue between human rights experts and mechanisms with obstetricians, neonatologists and paediatricians, but there is still a long way to go before that area of work is fully developed. IV. Implementing the technical guidance at the country level A. Dissemination 22. Efforts have been made to ensure the dissemination of the technical guidance by OHCHR and United Nations system agencies, including WHO, as well as civil society partners, national human rights institutions and other stakeholders. 23. Following its launch in September 2014 by the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the WHO Assistant Director-General for Family, Women’s and Children’s Health, the technical guidance was widely disseminated. In addition to coverage of the launch by OHCHR, WHO and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, as well as United Nations Information Centres, the technical guidance was distributed via the Child Rights Information Network and the African Child Information Hub. Furthermore, it was disseminated via patient information websites, including those of the International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations and the European Association for Children in Hospitals, and by international advocacy groups, such as the International Baby Food Action Network. 5 6 Statement of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the occasion of the launch of the technical guidance. GE.16-11320