From Risk to Rights: Realizing States’ Obligations to Prevent and Address Maternal Mortality

November 21, 2014

The Center for Reproductive Rights recently launched the resource From Risk to Rights: Realizing States’ Obligations to Prevent and Address Maternal Mortality.

This publication examines the process by which maternal mortality and morbidity became recognized as a fundamental human rights violation, emphasizing the coordinated efforts of civil society to draw attention to this issue through advocacy before human rights bodies, groundbreaking court cases, strong political declarations, and the incorporation of maternal mortality into development targets. To this end, it describes the direct and systemic causes of maternal mortality and morbidity and summarizes the relevant human rights standards, political declarations and development commitments.

It further explores accountability mechanisms that human rights advocates use to translate these into concrete measures to realize the right to safe pregnancy and childbirth, provides recommendations for future action, and includes a timeline of landmark events. The launch of this publication comes at the heels of the Human Rights Council’s recent passage of yet another resolution urging all UN member states to address maternal mortality and morbidity.

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