Right to life

The inherent right of every person not to be arbitrarily deprived of life. It obliges governments to protect life and constrain the use of lethal force.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights: A 1948 United Nations declaration setting out a common standard of fundamental human rights. Article 3 expressly recognizes the right to life, liberty, and security of person.
Capital punishment: The execution of a person by a state as punishment for a crime. Its compatibility with the right to life remains contested and varies across legal systems.
Negative obligation: A duty requiring an actor to refrain from specified conduct. The state must not arbitrarily take life or authorize unjustified lethal force.
Abortion: The ending of a pregnancy before birth, by spontaneous loss or induced means. Legal disputes ask whether and how prenatal life falls within right-to-life protections.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: A binding United Nations treaty protecting civil and political rights for states that ratify it. Article 6 gives treaty form to the right to life and restricts arbitrary deprivation.
Use of force by law enforcement: The physical force police and other law-enforcement officers use to carry out their duties. Human-rights standards require lethal force to be strictly limited and investigated.
Positive obligation: A duty requiring an actor to take reasonable steps to secure a protected interest. Authorities may need to address known, serious threats to life and protect people in custody.
Personhood: The status of being recognized as a person for moral, social, or legal purposes. The right's holder depends on how law defines personhood, especially before birth.
European Convention on Human Rights: A regional human-rights treaty enforced by the European Court of Human Rights. Article 2 establishes enforceable duties to protect life within the Council of Europe.
Enforced disappearance: A state-linked abduction or detention followed by denial of the person's fate or whereabouts. Disappearance creates grave risks to life and blocks effective investigation and protection.

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