Chapter 9 The Right to Life Article 6(1), ICCPR: Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life. Article 2, ECHR: 1. Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law. 2. Deprivation of life shall not be regarded as inflicted in contravention of this article when it results from the use of force which is no more than absolutely necessary: a) in defence of any person from unlawful violence; b) in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained; c) in action lawfully taken for the purpose of quelling a riot or insurrection. T he right to life is fundamental and non-derogable. The right to life is given particular significance in international law because all other rights are rendered meaningless in its absence. This does not mean that the right to life is considered to be the most important right, in relation to which all other rights are subordinate and less protected. The right to life is contained in Article 6 of the ICCPR and Article 2 of the ECHR (see box above). The UN Human Rights Committee has also described the right to life as “the supreme right.”237 The OSCE has also recognized the importance of the right to life and its highly protected status.238 International human rights provisions relating to the right to life must be strictly construed. This is particularly the case where excessive use of force is used by law-enforcement agencies.239 237 HRC, General Comment No. 6 - The right to life (art. 6), 30 April 1982, para. 1. On the same concept, the HRC stated that: “[t]he right enshrined in this article is the supreme right of the human being. It follows that the deprivation of life by the authorities of the State is a matter of the utmost gravity. This follows from the article as a whole and in particular is the reason why paragraph 2 of the article lays down that the death penalty may be imposed only for the most serious crimes. The requirements that the right shall be protected by law and that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life mean that the law must strictly control and limit the circumstances in which a person may be deprived of his life by the authorities of a State”, HRC, Baboeram and Others v. Suriname, Communications nos. 146/1983 and 148-154/1983, doc. CCPR/C/21/D/146/l983, 4 April 1985, para. 14.3. 238 See op. cit., note 29, 1989 Vienna Document, Questions Relating to Security in Europe: Principles, para. 24 and op. cit., note 6, 1990 Copenhagen Document, paras. 17.2-17.8. 239 This is evident in the Guerrero case, which concerned the excessive use of force by the Colombian police that resulted in the deaths of seven people who were not proven to have been connected with any suspected offence (“In the present case it is evident from the fact that seven persons lost their lives as a result of the deliberate action of the police that the deprivation of life was intentional. Moreover, the police action was apparently taken without warning to the victims and without giving them any opportunity to surrender to the police patrol or to offer any explanation of their presence or intentions. There is no evidence that the action of the police was necessary in their own defence or that of others, or that it was necessary to effect the arrest or prevent the escape of the persons concerned. Moreover, the victims were no more than suspects of the kidnapping which had occurred some days earlier and their killing by the police deprived them of all the protections of due process of law laid down by the Covenant. In the case of Mrs. Maria Fanny Suarez de Guerrero, the forensic report showed that she had been shot several times after she had already died from a heart attack. There can be no reasonable doubt that her death was caused by the police patrol”) HRC, Guerrero v. Colombia, Communication no. 45/1979, doc. CCPR/C/15/D/45/1979, 31 March 1982, para. 14.3. 98 Countering Terrorism, Protecting Human Rights