A/HRC/RES/27/11 Convinced that increased political will and commitment, cooperation and technical assistance at all levels are urgently required to reduce the unacceptably high global rate of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, and that the integration of a human rightsbased approach can contribute positively to the common goal of reducing this rate, Acknowledging that the failure to prevent maternal mortality and morbidity is one of the most significant barriers to the empowerment of women and girls in all aspects of life, the full enjoyment of their human rights, their ability to reach their full potential and to sustainable development in general, 1. Urges all States to renew their political commitment to eliminate preventable maternal mortality and morbidity at the local, national, regional and international levels due to primary and secondary causes, and to strengthen their efforts to ensure the full and effective implementation of their human rights obligations, as well as their commitments as addressed in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and its review processes, including the commitments relating to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals, in particular the goals on improving maternal health and promoting gender equality and empowering women, including through the allocation of necessary domestic resources to health systems and the provision of the necessary information and health-care services in relation to the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including the sexual and reproductive health of women and girls; 2. Requests States and other relevant actors to give renewed emphasis to maternal mortality and morbidity initiatives in their development partnerships and cooperation arrangements, including by honouring existing commitments and considering new ones, and the exchange of effective practices and technical assistance to strengthen national capacities, and to integrate a human rights-based perspective into such initiatives, addressing the impact that discrimination against women has on maternal mortality and morbidity; 3. Urges States and other relevant stakeholders, including national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations, to take action at all levels, utilizing a comprehensive human rights-based approach, to address the interlinked root causes of maternal mortality and morbidity, such as gender inequalities, all forms of discrimination and violence against women, early childbearing, early marriage, poverty, malnutrition, harmful practices, lack of accessible and appropriate health-care services for all, information and education, and to pay particular attention to eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, especially adolescent girls; 4. Takes note with interest of the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the application of the technical guidance on the application of a human rights-based approach to the implementation of policies and programmes to reduce preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, 2 and calls upon States and encourages stakeholders to consider the recommendations contained therein; 5. Calls upon all relevant actors, including Governments, regional organizations, relevant United Nations agencies, national human rights institutions and civil society organizations to continue to disseminate the technical guidance and to apply it, as appropriate, when designing, implementing and reviewing policies and evaluating programmes to reduce preventable maternal mortality and morbidity; 2 2 A/HRC/27/20.