Chapter

The right to life

William A. Schabas

The Oxford handbook of international law in armed conflict

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2014

p. 365-386

English

The right to life has many dimensions. Some of them, such as the question of when the right to life begins (abortion) and whether the right can be waived (suicide) seem to have little or no connection with issues of armed conflict. On the other hand, three issues are relevant in this context: (i) the relationship between the right to life as set out in international human rights law and international humanitarian law; (ii) the interplay between the norms on capital punishment as they appear in both the international humanitarian law treaties and the human rights treaties; (iii) the impact on the right to life of the rules of international law on the recourse to armed force. Each of these issues is examined in turn.

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• The Oxford handbook of international law in armed conflict / ed. by Andrew Clapham and Paola Gaeta ; assistant ed.: Tom Haeck, Alice Priddy