(2017) 1 African Human Rights Yearbook 103 Furthermore, in its General Comment 2 on other provisions of article 14 of the African Women’s Rights Protocol, the Commission called on African governments to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health in order to address unsafe abortion and mortalities among women and girls.124 Although the General Comment did not specifically focus on maternal mortality, some of the standards developed by the Commission are relevant in addressing high maternal mortality in the region. For instance, the Commission calls on African governments to ensure availability of contraceptive services, family planning services and sexuality education in order to advance the sexual and reproductive health of women in the region.125 Given that low uptake of contraception and lack of access to family planning services often lead to unplanned pregnancies, this statement by the Commission is germane in addressing maternal mortality in the region.126 Also, in its General Comment 3 the Commission adopted a similar progressive approach as the HRC in its General Comment 6 to interpreting the right to life guaranteed under the African Charter by noting that states do not only have negative obligations to refrain from taking lives but also positive obligations to prevent loss of life.127 The Commission specifically notes that the right to life includes preventing maternal deaths. This is also consistent with the approach of the other United Nations bodies such as the CEDAW Committee, Committee on the Rights of the Child, and the CESCR in its General Comment 14, where it noted that the enjoyment of the right to health is dependent on other rights such as life, dignity, privacy and non-discrimination.128 The Commission’s stance is also an acknowledgment of the interdependence and interrelatedness of all human rights. The Commission has affirmed this approach in some of its jurisprudence. For instance, in the SERAC case, the Commission had reasoned that the pollution of water and land of the Ogoni people not only violated the right to health but also undermined the rights to life, dignity, food and non-discrimination.129 Also, in International Pen case, the Commission noted that a denial of access to health care services to a prisoner would undermine the right to life guaranteed in the African 124 African Commission on Humana and Peoples’ Rights General Comment 2 on article 14(1)(a), (b), (c) and (f) and article 14(2)(a) and (c) of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa adopted during the 55th Ordinary Session in Angola 28 April -12 May 2014. 125 As above. 126 For a detailed analysis of this General Comment see C Ngwena et al ‘Human rights advances in women’s reproductive health in Africa’ (2014) 129 International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics 184-187. 127 African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights General Comment No. 3 On the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights: The Right to Life (Article 4) adopted during its 57th Ordinary Session, held in Banjul, The Gambia, in November 2015. 128 General Comment 14 (n 15 above). 129 Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) and another v Nigeria (2001) AHRLR 60 (ACHPR 2001).