Annex 1 General ­Recommendation Provisions related to Reproductive Rights According to Paragraph 28, “When reporting on measures taken to comply with article 12, States parties are urged to r­ ecognize its interconnection with other articles in the Convention that have a bearing on women’s health. Those articles include article 5 (b), which requires States parties to ensure that family education includes a proper understanding of maternity as a social function; article 10, which requires States parties to ensure equal access to education, thus enabling women to access health care more readily and reducing female students’ drop-out rates, which are often due to premature pregnancy; article 10(h) which provides that States parties provide to women and girls specifi c educational i­nformation to help ensure the well-being of families, including information and advice on family planning; article 11, which is concerned, in part, with the protection of women’s health and safety in working ­conditions, including the safeguarding of the reproductive function, special protection from harmful types of work during pregnancy and with the provision of paid maternity leave; article 14 (2) (b), which requires States parties to ensure access for rural women to ­adequate health care facilities, including information, ­counselling and s­ ervices in family planning, and (h), which obliges States parties to take all appropriate measures to ensure adequate living ­conditions, ­particularly housing, sanitation, electricity and water supply, ­transport and communications, all of which are critical for the prevention of disease and the promotion of good health care; and article 16 (1) (e), which requires States parties to ensure that women have the same rights as men to decide freely and ­responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to ­information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights. Article 16 (2) also proscribes the betrothal and marriage of children, an important factor in preventing the physical and e­ motional harm which arise from early childbirth.” 147