University of Botswana Law Journal - PULP

THE RIGHT TO MATERNAL HEALTH CARE 49
2005 World Summit Outcome f States are committed to
achieving universal access
to reproductive health by
2015 as set out in the
Millennium Development
Goals.
2009 Maternal Mortality
Resolution g
The right of a woman or
girl to achieve the highest
attainable standard of
sexual and reproductive
health is a human right.
States have a political
commitment to eliminating
preventable maternal
mortality and to ensure the
full and effective
implementation of their
human rights obligations.
a. CEDAW, supra note 21, at Article. 12(2).
b. In monitoring the CEDAW, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women further
develops this policy by noting that it is discriminatory for a state party to refuse to legally provide for the
performance of certain reproductive health services for women, states parties are obligated to eliminate
barriers to women’s access to appropriate health care, and states are to report on the measures they have
taken to ensure timely access to the range of services related to reproductive health in general. United
Nations, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, General Recommendation
No. 24: Women and Health Article. 12(1) (1999), reprinted in HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS: BASIC
INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTS 241, 241-244 (S. P. Marks, ed., 2006).
c. ICPD Programme of Action, supra note 27.
d. Beijing Platform for Action, supra note 29.
e. Millennium Development Goals, supra note 37.
f. World Summit Outcome, supra note 38, at 57(g).
g. Maternal Mortality Resolution, supra note 39.
The above international community policies ought to be controlling
in developing the right to maternal health care. Indeed, international initiatives
and conferences have developed the above policies to build the human right to
maternal health care since the late 1980s.
Trends in Using Existing International Community Policy to
Build the Right to Maternal Health Care
In 1987, the United Nations Population Fund (“UNFPA”), the World Bank and
WHO sponsored the International Safe Motherhood Conference in Nairobi,
Kenya, initiating the Safe Motherhood Initiative. 43 The 1987 Safe Motherhood
43 Safe motherhood initiative: 20 years and counting, 368 The Lancet 1130 (30 September, 2006), available
at www.thelancet.com. The Safe Motherhood Initiative (“SMI”) was launched “by international agencies
and governments to raise global awareness about the impact of maternal mortality and morbidity, and find
solutions. It was co-sponsored by seven agencies, UNFPA, UNDP, UNICEF, WHO, IPPF, the Population
Council and the World Bank.” United Nations Polulation Fund, Safe Motherhood, 10 EVALUATION
FINDINGS 1 (January, 1999) [hereinafter UNFPA Safe Motherhood Evaluation].