lOO.As the Commission has already emphasised in Forum of Conscience v Sierra Leone, the right to life is the basis of all other rights; it is the source from which other rights flow; and any unjustified violation of this right amounts to an arbitrary deprivationc. In the Ogiek case, the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (the African Court) returned to this fundamental character of the right to life, indicating that all other rights and freedoms depend on this right>. The African Court considers that to deprive someone of life-is to eliminate the very holder of those rights and freedoms. ;:~~\ ' lOl.The United Nations Human Rights Committee-considers' tpat lithe right to life encompasses the right of persons to be free from acts and, o~issions intended to cause, or expected to cause, their unnatural or premature death, to live with dignity">. It is in this sense th',lt this Committee indicated th~t deprivation of life involves deliberate or at least foreseeable and preventibte ::'parm (damage or injury) caused by an act or omission, which results in the termiI!:ation of life>. The Commission is of the,oRinion that the State has a duty to take positive and concrete measures to guarantee the right to)ife, especially in the case of vulnerable and exposed persons, whose~9re B~$omes,tl hi~h priority». and 102. The Commission would first like to recall that economic, social and cultural rights are programmatic rights. This means that each State sets itself objectives to achieve in order:" to fulfil them. Therefore, their implementation depends on the means availabl~:t0"each State. Unlike civil and political rights, where each State is obliged to refrain from>violating them, the State is obliged to realize economic, social and cultural 'tights. \~,i; 103. In its Resoluti2~ :tjJ.135 OIl:i)Maternal~o~tali~ in :Vrica, the Co~ssion a!so stated that prev~Fltable maternal mortality IS a violation of women's nghts to life, dignity and equ~1ity protected by the African Charter on Human and Peoples I Rights and the Maputo Protocole. This same idea was expressed by the Commission in its General Comment No.3 where it stated that States must address chronic yet pervasive threats to life including preventable maternal mortality by building operational health systems and eliminating discriminatory laws and practices that impact on the ability of individuals and groups to seek health care29• 19