Right to Life

1
Right to Life

• Presentation by
• Miano Munene
• Health Rights Advocacy, Co-ordinator
• Kenya Human Rights Commission

2
Introduction

• Taking of human life has been strongly condemned
  by most world religions philosophies over the
  centuries
• International human rights law has upheld this
  most salient right in a number of treaties
• Life of an individual is clearly protected from
  being arbitrarily taken by the state.
• Refers to holding human life as a paramount value

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Introduction cont

• The right to life is central to debates on the
  issues of
• Abortion
• Capital punishment
• Euthanasia
• Genetic Manipulation of Human Embryos
• Self defence
• Situations of armed conflict

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Abortion

• Removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from
  the uterus
• Results in or causes embryos death.
• Can occur spontaneously as a miscarriage, or be
  artificially induced by chemical, surgical or
  other means. Commonly, "abortion" refers to an
  induced procedure at any point during pregnancy
• The moral and legal aspects of abortion are
  subject to intense debate in many parts of the
  world.

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Capital Punishment

• Right to life is not always guaranteed
• In a number of situations states may deprive
  individuals of life itself
• death penalty is one such example
• HR law does not prohibit the use of the death
  penalty as a punishment for crimes but does
  encourage its abolition and seek to limit its use
  
• Capital punishment is execution of a convicted
  criminal by the state as punishment for crimes
  known as capital crimes or capital offences
• Historically, the execution of criminals
  political opponents was used by nearly all
  societies - both to punish crime and to suppress
  political dissent

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Capital Punishment cont

• Some states have abolished it, while others have
  retained it
• Death penalty is reserved as a punishment for
  premeditated murder, treason or as part of
  military justice.
• Some countries with Muslim majority, sexual
  crimes, including adultery sodomy carry the
  death penalty.
• In some drug trafficking is also a capital
  offense.
• In China human trafficking serious cases of
  corruption are also punished by the death
  penalty.
• In militaries around the world court-martial have
  imposed death sentences for offenses such as
  cowardice, desertion, insubordination and mutiny.

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Capital Punishment cont

• Capital punishment is a contentious issue
• Supporters argue, it deters crime, prevents is
  an appropriate punishment for capital crimes
• Opponents argue it does not deter criminals more
  than life imprisonment, violates human rights,
  leads to executions of some who are wrongfully
  convicted and discriminates against minorities
  and the poor.

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Capital Punishment cont

• Death penalty constitutes a violation of the
  right to life but human rights law falls short of
  insisting that it does.
• States have option to impose the death penalty
• But are urged to move towards abolition
• HR law also imposes certain limits on the way in
  which the death penalty can be imposed.
• For the most serious crimes by pursuant to a
  final judgment by a court in accordance to
  provisions of human rights law
• Anyone sentenced to death has the right to seek
  pardon or commutation of the sentence
• Death sentence is not to be imposed on anyone
  below the age of 18 or carried out on pregnant
  women.

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Euthanasia

• Means good death
• Is the practice of terminating the life of a
  person or an animal in a painless or minimally
  painful way either by lethal injection or drug
  overdose because the being to be euthanized is
  perceived as living an intolerable life.
• Euthanasia is a controversial issue because of
  conflicting religious human rights views.

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Genetic Manipulation of Human Embryos

• Manipulations take place in order to produce a
  child with specific traits
• Process involves unjustified human
  experimentation on the child for both safety and
  human dignity reasons.
• Successful genetic alterations leading to
  superior children could lead to division of human
  species into two or more sub species.
• Each of these sub species could see the other as
  unfit object leading to genocide.
• cloning threatens right to personal identity,
  individuality and uniqueness

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Genetic Manipulation of Human Embryos cont

• Genes may have been selected to make a person
  smarter, stronger, faster or more creative
• Thereby giving them advantage over people who
  result from normal sexual reproduction
• But cloning holds a child a genetic prisoner of
  another persons genome.
• The child is therefore robbed freedom to become
  who she is the one unique person who lives and
  dies
• Cloning therefore violates a childs right to an
  open future.

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Self Defence

• Legal concept of excused (sometimes termed
  "justified") acts that might otherwise be
  illegal.
• Self defense and defense of others convert what
  would otherwise have been tortuous or criminal
  acts into excused acts.
• Such excused acts are committed for the purpose
  of protecting oneself or another person.
• This necessarily includes the use of violence
  sometimes deadly force.

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Situations of Armed Conflict

• International law does not outlaw all kinds of
  warfare and violence
• right to life in such situations is not absolute
• International humanitarian law seeks to impose
  restrictions on the way violence can be used at
  times of conflict
• Certain categories of persons, civilians or
  combatants, who have laid down their arms or are
  injured, are considered protected.
• Right to life of these categories is upheld and
  can be violated for example, by indiscriminate
  shelling or deliberate execution or denial of
  access to water, food or medicine.

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Situations of Armed Conflict Cont

• Rights of persons are not to be forcibly returned
  to countries where their lives may be in danger
  are protected in certain situations,
• Asylum seekers and refugees are protected if
  they face such a threat on the grounds of their
  race, religion, nationality, political opinion or
  membership of a social group.

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Right to Survival

• When talking about children, the right to life
  can often mean the right to survival.
• Human rights law already forbids the use of the
  death penalty for children.
• Child rights treaties impose another obligation
  on states to meet the basic needs of the child in
  terms of nutrition, health, food, shelter etc. to
  enable the child's survival.

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Other factors affecting rights to life and
integrity of person

• Torture
• Deaths injuries due to urban and rural
  insecurity
• Violence against national public/political
  figures
• Deaths and injuries from violence against women -
  Sexual violence
• Deaths from preventable, treatable diseases
• Access to healthcare Health infrastructure
  policies
• Stigma discrimination against PLWHA
• Denial of ART for PLWHA

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Conclusion

• Every human being has a right to life
  irrespective of race, religious or political
  beliefs, legal status, language, colour, national
  origin, gender, ethnicity, health status, etc.
• PLWHA are therefore human beings like any other -
  All provided rights apply to them including right
  to life

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• Thank You