This chapter explores how three Convention rights operate in practice: the right to life (Article 2), the right to a private and family life (Article 8), and freedom of religious belief (Article 9). Article 2 provides that everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of one’s life intentionally save for very limited exceptions. Article 8 provides that everyone has the right to respect for one’s private and family life, home, and correspondence. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law. Meanwhile, Article 9 provides that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; this right includes freedom to change and manifest one’s religion or belief.
Chapter
18. Human rights in action
Chapter
13. The right to life
This chapter examines African, American, European, and international jurisprudence on the right to life. It discusses the positive obligation incumbent on States to protect life; the permissible deprivation of life (the death penalty, death caused by national security forces, and death during armed conflict); and the issue of genocide. The chapter concludes that the right to life is of paramount importance in international human rights law. International law covers not only the straightforward human rights aspects, but also extends to the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide.
Chapter
8. The Right to Life
This chapter examines the case-law of the Strasbourg Court related to the right to life. This includes cases concerning the death penalty and the extraterritorial application of the right to life, the prohibition of intentional killing by the State, including deaths in custody and forced disappearances, positive obligations to protect life, the duty to investigate deaths, medical termination of pregnancy and the rights of the unborn child, quality of life and end of life issues, such as euthanasia. The chapter suggests that after a slow start the body of judgments concerning the right to life has become one of the richest and most dynamic of all the Convention case-law.
Book
Bernadette Rainey
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. Human Rights Law Concentrate is supported by extensive online resources to take your learning further. It has been written by experts and covers all the key topics so that you can approach your exams with confidence. The clear, succinct coverage enables you to quickly grasp the fundamental principles of this area of law and helps you to succeed in exams. This guide has been rigorously reviewed, and is endorsed by students and lecturers for level of coverage, accuracy, and exam advice. It is clear, concise, and easy to use, helping you get the most out of your revision. After an introduction, the book covers: the European Convention on Human Rights; the Human Rights Act 1998; right to life and freedom from ill treatment; right to liberty and right to fair trial; right to family and private life; freedom of religion and expression; freedom of assembly and association; freedom from discrimination; and terrorism. This, the fourth edition, has been fully updated with all the recent developments in the law.
Chapter
2. European Convention on Human Rights
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter first explains the background and rationale for the formation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), tracing its roots to the Council of Europe that was formed in 1949 and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) established a year later. It then looks at the different kinds of human rights embedded in the ECHR, including the right to life, right to a fair trial, freedom of expression, right to property, and right to free elections. The chapter also provides an overview of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), along with the major changes made to its complaints system and how it interprets the Convention rights. Finally, it considers the ECtHR’s use of proportionality and margin of appreciation doctrines to find the balance between the rights of the individual and the community when deciding upon qualified rights.
Chapter
4. Right to life and freedom from ill-treatment
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter focuses on the right to life and freedom from ill-treatment, considered the two most fundamental human rights premised on the idea of the inherent dignity of human beings. The chapter examines the right to life as elucidated in Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), along with the ECHR’s positive obligations. It also highlights exceptions in Article 2(2) and the European Court of Human Rights’ (ECtHR) adjudication on controversial issues as to when life begins and ends, including abortion, the right to die, and the death penalty. The chapter then examines Article 3 and the interpretation of the Article by the ECtHR. In addition, the chapter looks at the UK’s approach to freedom from ill-treatment and the right to life, and concludes with a discussion of the scope of Article 3 with regard to freedom from ill-treatment.
Chapter
8. Prisoners’ Rights
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, diagram answer plans, caution advice, suggested answers, illustrative diagrams and flowcharts, and advice on gaining extra marks. Concentrate Q&A Human Rights & Civil Liberties offers expert advice on what to expect from your human rights and civil liberties exam, how best to prepare, and guidance on what examiners are really looking for. Written by experienced examiners, it provides: clear commentary with each question and answer; bullet point and diagram answer plans; tips to make your answer really stand out from the crowd; and further reading suggestions at the end of every chapter. The book should help you to: identify typical law exam questions; structure a first-class answer; avoid common mistakes; show the examiner what you know; all making your answer stand out from the crowd. This chapter covers prisoners’ rights, including their protection in domestic law and under the ECHR, and their application to matters such as the right to life, freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment, and the democratic rights of prisoners.
Book
Dr Steve Foster
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, diagram answer plans, caution advice, suggested answers, illustrative diagrams and flowcharts, and advice on gaining extra marks. Concentrate Q&A Human Rights & Civil Liberties offers expert advice on what to expect from your human rights and civil liberties exam, how best to prepare, and guidance on what examiners are really looking for. Written by experienced examiners, it provides: clear commentary with each question and answer; bullet point and diagram answer plans; tips to make your answer really stand out from the crowd; and further reading suggestions at the end of every chapter. The book should help you to: identify typical law exam questions; structure a first-class answer; avoid common mistakes; show the examiner what you know; all making your answer stand out from the crowd. After an introduction, it covers: the nature and enforcement of human rights and civil liberties; the European Convention on Human Rights; the Human Rights Act 1998; the right to life; freedom from torture and inhuman and degrading treatment; due process, liberty and security of the person, and the right to a fair trial; prisoners’ rights; the right to private life; freedom of expression; and freedom of religion, association, and peaceful assembly.
Chapter
1. Exam Skills for Success in Human Rights and Civil Liberties Law
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, diagram answer plans, caution advice, suggested answers, illustrative diagrams and flowcharts, and advice on gaining extra marks. Concentrate Q&A Human Rights & Civil Liberties offers expert advice on what to expect from your human rights and civil liberties exam, how best to prepare, and guidance on what examiners are really looking for. Written by experienced examiners, it provides: clear commentary with each question and answer; bullet point and diagram answer plans; tips to make your answer really stand out from the crowd; and further reading suggestions at the end of every chapter. The book should help you to: identify typical law exam questions; structure a first-class answer; avoid common mistakes; show the examiner what you know; all making your answer stand out from the crowd. This chapter briefly sets out the book’s purpose, which is to assist students preparing for an examination in human rights and civil liberties, and also offers some suggestions regarding coursework and taking exams.
Chapter
5. The Right to Life
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, diagram answer plans, caution advice, suggested answers, illustrative diagrams and flowcharts, and advice on gaining extra marks. Concentrate Q&A Human Rights & Civil Liberties offers expert advice on what to expect from your human rights and civil liberties exam, how best to prepare, and guidance on what examiners are really looking for. Written by experienced examiners, it provides: clear commentary with each question and answer; bullet point and diagram answer plans; tips to make your answer really stand out from the crowd; and further reading suggestions at the end of every chapter. The book should help you to: identify typical law exam questions; structure a first-class answer; avoid common mistakes; show the examiner what you know; all making your answer stand out from the crowd. This chapter covers the right to life, including its importance, the duty of the state to preserve it, and the situations where life can be taken.
Chapter
6. Freedom from Torture and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, diagram answer plans, caution advice, suggested answers, illustrative diagrams and flowcharts, and advice on gaining extra marks. Concentrate Q&A Human Rights & Civil Liberties offers expert advice on what to expect from your human rights and civil liberties exam, how best to prepare, and guidance on what examiners are really looking for. Written by experienced examiners, it provides: clear commentary with each question and answer; bullet point and diagram answer plans; tips to make your answer really stand out from the crowd; and further reading suggestions at the end of every chapter. The book should help you to: identify typical law exam questions; structure a first-class answer; avoid common mistakes; show the examiner what you know; all making your answer stand out from the crowd. This chapter covers the area of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment, including the meaning of those terms and the application of this protection in the context of prisoners’ rights and deportation.
Chapter
9. The International Protection of Substantive Rights (I)
Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade and Damián A. González-Salzberg
This chapter, together with the following one, undertake a discussion of the international protection of selected human rights. Purposely, no distinction between dated classifications concerning generations or categories of rights is made in these chapters, which obeys to a strong conviction that such dated distinctions belong to the history of the international law of human rights (and can, therefore be found in Chapter 2 of this book), acting as obstacles to understanding all human rights as interconnected and interdependent. Chapter 9 deals with more traditional rights, which range from the right to life and the right to personal integrity—encompassing the prohibition of torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment—to the fundamental freedoms of opinion and expression, and of thought, conscience, and religion.
Chapter
9. Integrity of the Person
Carla Ferstman
This chapter examines the right to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment and the right to life. These are fundamental rights which stem from the concepts of human dignity and the integrity of the person, both foundational principles of human rights law. Following explanations of both these principles, the chapter sets out the meaning and content of the right to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. It then explains the right to life, analysing similarly the content of the right and its limitations and how it has been interpreted in recent jurisprudence and treaty body commentaries.
Chapter
18. Human rights in action
This chapter explores how three Convention rights operate in practice: the right to life (Article 2), the right to a private and family life (Article 8), and freedom of religious belief (Article 9). Article 2 provides that everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of one’s life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court following one’s conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law. Article 8 provides that everyone has the right to respect for one’s private and family life, home, and correspondence. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law. Meanwhile, Article 9 provides that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; this right includes freedom to change and manifest one’s religion or belief.
Chapter
8. Article 2: right to life
Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. It discusses European Convention law and relates it to domestic law under the HRA. Questions, discussion points, and thinking points help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress and knowledge can be tested by self-test questions and exam questions at the chapter end. This chapter focuses on Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which imposes on the state the general duty of protecting ‘everyone’s right to life’. Article 2 specifically states that the first duty of states is to protect the physical security of all those within their jurisdiction. It describes the only purposes for which the intentional use of force can be lawfully justified. In interpreting and applying Article 2, the European Court of Human Rights has identified and developed a number of general principles to which the domestic laws of signatory states must adhere—in particular the duty to investigate deaths for which the state is responsible. These principles are discussed in detail in the chapter.
Book
Bernadette Rainey, Pamela McCormick, and Clare Ovey
Seventy years after the founding of the European Court of Human Rights it has dispensed more than 22,000 judgments and affects the lives of over 800 million people. The eighth edition of Jacobs, White & Ovey: The European Convention on Human Rights provides an analysis of this area of the law. Examining each of the Convention rights in turn, this book lays out the key principles. Updated with all the significant developments of the previous three years, it offers a synthesis of commentary and carefully selected case-law, focusing on the European Convention itself rather than its implementation in any one Member State. Part 1 of the book looks at institutions and procedures, including the context, enforcement, and scope of the Convention. Part 2 examines each of the Convention rights including the right to a remedy, right to life, prohibition of torture, protection from slavery and forced labour, and respect for family and private life. Part 2 also examines the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; the freedom of expression; and the freedom of assembly and association. The rights to education and elections are considered towards the end of Part 2, as are the freedoms of movement and from discrimination. Part 3 reflects on the achievements and criticisms of the Court and examines the prospects and challenges facing the Court in the present political climate and in the future.
Chapter
32. Pandemics
Meghna Abraham
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the difficulties that states face when responding to public health emergencies. This chapter explores obligations under human rights law and health law treaties to prepare and prevent pandemics and the reasons that states have failed to meet these obligations. Next, it considers the challenges of responding to a pandemic and the difficulties of striking an appropriate balance between protection of life and health and enjoyment of other rights. Finally, the scope of the obligation to provide international assistance in the form of vaccines and other medical resources is discussed.
