3. PROMOTING REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS THROUGH A HUMAN RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT UNIVERSALITY, INALIENABILITY, INDIVISIBILITY AND INTERDEPENDENCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS Human rights are universal, meaning that they apply to all human beings all over the world, and inalienable, meaning that they can neither be voluntarily given up nor forcibly taken away. Consequently, when monitoring the work done by the state with respect to reproductive rights and when providing advice to government and parliament, attention should be paid to ensuring that no groups are ignored (such as adolescents, women living in poverty, rural groups, indigenous groups, LGBT persons, sex workers, persons with disabilities, migrants, children etc.). When designing its own programmes, a NHRI should make sure to consider all groups even though a NHRI can decide to focus on one or more groups based on a needs assessment. Similarly, due to resource constraints, a government might legitimately decide to begin by providing services to the most excluded groups. In addition, human rights are indivisible. Whether of a civil, cultural, economic, political or social nature, they are all inherent to the dignity of every human person. Therefore, they all have equal status as rights, and cannot be ranked, a priori, in a hierarchical order.2 With respect to reproductive rights, a NHRI should make sure all elements of reproductive rights are protected, respected and promoted. Lastly, human rights are interdependent and interrelated. The realization of one right often depends on the realization of another right. The right to life can be affected by the lack of access to reproductive health care, and women’s right to political participation can be connected to the effectiveness of reproductive rights (women who can decide whether and when to have children have a better chance to participate in the political debate, for example). This principle encourages NHRIs to take a holistic look when considering reproductive rights. It also encourages NHRIs to be look broadly when considering with whom to collaborate in the furthering of reproductive rights. In Chapter 4 the different rights that together constitute reproductive rights are expounded upon, stressing the interdependence and interrelatedness of human rights. 2 United Nations. The human rights based approach to development cooperation: Towards a common understanding among United Nations agencies. (2003). EQUALITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights all individuals are equal as human being. By virtue of the inherent dignity of each human person all individuals shall be treated without discrimination of any kind, such as on the basis of sex, age, race, colour, religion, property, disability, language, national or social origin, political or other opinion, birth or other status, such as sexual orientation and marital status.3 3 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comment No. 20. 77