The Right to Life under International Law: An Interpretative Manual

Description

The Right to Life under International Law offers the first-ever comprehensive treatment under international law of the foundational human right to life. It describes the history, content, and status of the right, considers jurisdictional issues, and discusses the application of the right to a wide range of groups, such as women, children, persons with disabilities, members of minorities, LGBTI persons, refugees, and journalists. It defines the responsibility of not only governments but also the private sector, armed groups, and non-governmental organisations to respect the prohibition on arbitrary deprivation of life. It also explains the nature and substance of the duty to investigate potentially unlawful death as well as the mechanisms at global and regional level to promote respect for the right to life.

Stuart Casey-Maslen is an international lawyer specialising in the use of force and the protection of civilians. He is an honorary Professor at the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria. He has written widely on international human rights and humanitarian law, arms control and disarmament law, and jus ad bellum. The late Christof Heyns was a member of the UN Human Rights Committee (2017-2020), the former UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and Director of the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA) at the University of Pretoria. He was recognized internationally as a leading expert in the field of international human rights law, including right to life issues and regional human rights mechanisms, and published widely on these matters.