BOX 8. REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND DISABILITIES (CONT.) 9. Persons with disabilities are a crucial constituency in all programmes. 10. Programmes best suit persons with disabilities when persons with disabilities help to design them. “Nothing about us without us” is a key principle. RIGHT TO LIFE THE RIGHT TO LIFE IN LAW The right to life is protected by Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the main regional human rights instruments such as ACHPR Article 4, ACHR Article 4, and ECHR ­Article 2. The right to life of the child and to survival is specifically protected by Article 6 of ­Convention on the Rights of the Child which obliges the member states “to ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child”. The most obvious human right violated by avoidable death, both for the mother and the child, during and after pregnancy and childbirth is the right to life. The World Health Organization has assessed that over 1,500 women and girls die every day as a result of preventable complications occurring before, during and after pregnancy and childbirth, and that, globally, maternal mortality is the leading cause of death among women and girls of reproductive age.15 A woman’s right to life entitles her to access basic reproductive health services. An infant’s right to life entitles him or her to basic health services at the time of and after birth to avoid for example the transfer of HIV. The right to life should not be too narrowly interpreted but rather entails obligations on the states to adopt positive measures, e.g. to reduce infant mortality. This interpretation also obliges states to take other positive measures to protect life, including with respect to maternal mortality, prevention and treatment of illnesses such as HIV/ AIDS.16 Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights considers the issues of pregnancy- and childbirth-related deaths of women as well as practices such as female infanticide, the burning of widows and dowry killings.17 16 HRC, General Comment No. 6 on the right to life, adopted in 1982. 15 OHCHR A/HRC/11/L.16/Rev.1. 17 HRC, General Comment No. 28 from 2000 on equality between men and women. 95