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| Pakistan sanctions maternal mortality as human rights issue |
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Friday, June 19, 2009
Our correspondent
Islamabad
Owing to the concerted advocacy efforts of civil society organisations and persuasion of the Ministry of Population Welfare, Pakistan has finally endorsed the Maternal Mortality & Human Rights Resolution in the UN Human Rights Council (HRC).
According to a press statement issued by World Population Foundation (WPF), the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, during its 11th regular session, adopted a landmark resolution on ‘Preventable Maternal Mortality & Morbidity and Human Rights’ without using the voting option.
In this resolution, governments expressed grave concern over the unacceptably high rates of maternal mortality and morbidity, acknowledged that this is a human rights issue and committed to enhance their efforts at national and international level to protect the lives of women and girls worldwide. Over 70 UN member states co-sponsored this resolution, led by Colombia and New Zealand.
It is estimated that every 30 minutes, one Pakistani woman loses her life due to reproductive health complications that leads to 276 maternal deaths per 100,000 births. Most of these deaths are preventable.
On March 16, around 84 governments in a joint statement, delivered to the UN Human Rights Council, reaffirmed their commitment to addressing the issue of maternal mortality as a human rights issue and called upon the Council to take decisive action in this regard.
The statement that follows the first debate that the Council held on this topic in June 2008 says that the magnitude of the problem calls for the renewal of political will to address it. The resolution establishes poverty as a contributing factor in many deaths and, accordingly, recognises the need for partnerships on maternal health through development programmes, dialogues, international cooperation and technical assistance. At the same time, it also recognises the need for all states to respect their human rights obligations.
To start up with, the Human Rights Council has been urged to contribute to existing efforts by identifying the human rights dimensions of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, and reviewing information on discrimination in the provision of and access to healthcare for women and their right to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children. The statement also requests HRC to include women in decision-making about maternal health, including decisions on the design of local healthcare mechanisms, and to recognise women’s right to skilled professional care before, during and after pregnancy and childbirth.
For the last one month, civil society organisations, especially the World Population Foundation (WPF) as part of its Safe Motherhood Campaign, had been engaged in an advocacy effort to have Pakistan endorse the resolution.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
