13 mentioned specifically, where the Programme of Action states that “In vitro fertilization techniques should be provided in accordance with appropriate ethical guidelines and medical standards.” 40 58. The use of in vitro fertilization to combat infertility is also closely related to the enjoyment of the benefits of scientific progress, an internationally recognized right, 41 which in the inter-American realm is protected under Article 14(1)(b) of the Protocol of San Salvador. In its Declaration on the Use of Scientific Progress for the Benefit of Mankind, the United Nations General Assembly pointed up the relationship between this right and the satisfaction of material and spiritual needs of all sectors of the population. 42 In that declaration, the UN General Assembly proclaimed that all States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that “the utilization of scientific and technological achievements promotes the fullest realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms without any discrimination whatsoever on grounds of race, sex, language or religious beliefs.” 2. Assisted Reproductive Techniques 59. The Assisted Reproductive Techniques are a group of different medical treatments used to assist infertile persons and couples to achieve pregnancy. For some persons and couples, assisted reproductive techniques are the only means to conceive. 60. The term ‘assisted reproduction’ includes all treatments involving medical or Assisted scientific manipulation of gametes 43 and embryos 44 to produce a pregnancy. 45 reproductive techniques work by removing the eggs from the woman’s body and then uniting them with the sperm to facilitate the formation of embryos. The embryos are then transferred to the woman’s body. The techniques include in vitro fertilization, intracytoplasmatic sperm injection, transcervical embryo transfer, gamete intrafallopian transfer, zygote intrafallopian transfer, tubal embryo transfer, egg donation and embryo donation, and surrogate motherhood. 46 61. The assisted reproduction techniques do not included assisted fertilization. Assisted fertilization is any method of reproduction in which the sperm of the woman’s partner (homologue) or the donor sperm (heterologue) is deposited in the woman using specialized procedures and 40 United Nations, Cairo Programme of Action, International Conference on Population and Development, paras 7.6. and 7.17. 41 Article 15(b) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provides that “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone […] to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications.” Costa Rica has ratified by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Protocol of San Salvador. 42 . United Nations, Declaration on the Use of Scientific and Technological Progress in the Interests of Peace and for the Benefit of Mankind, approved by the United Nations General Assembly in resolution 3384 (XXX), November 10, 1975. 43 The term ‘gametes’ refers to the ovum (egg) and sperm. 44 For purposes of this report, the term “embryo” is what is biologically referred to as zygotes and is the product of the fertilization of an oocyte by a spermatozoon. The International Committee for Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technology (ICMART) and the World Health Organization (WHO), Revised Glossary on ART Terminology, 2009, definition of zygote, published in Human Reproduction, Vol.24, No.11 pp. 2683–2687, 2009. 45 World Medical Association, Statement on Assisted Reproductive Technologies, South Africa, October 2006. Available online at: http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/r3/index.html 46 World Health Organization, Current Practices and Controversies in Assisted Reproduction, Report of a meeting on “Medical, Ethical and Social Aspects of Assisted Reproduction” held at WHO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland 17–21 September 2001, Glossary.