The right to life
The right to life

Summary/Abstract: The right to life provides the foundation for all other rights, because it ensures the existence of the holder of rights. It is obvious that this right refers directly to the physical existence of the human being. However, this basic aspect of the right to life is not free from ambiguities. When does a human being begin to exist, at birth or at conception? Does the right over one’s own life also imply the right to die? Does the right to dispose of one’s own life imply the right to cede it to another? As for the legal life of the human being, existing as a subject of rights, things become even more complicated. Does everyone have the right to exist as a subject just because they exist from a physical point of view? Does the right to the protection of life imply only obligations of non-intervention, prohibitions, or/ and positive obligations of support? Who is the debtor of this right to life? Does the right to life imply only the fact of existing, or does it imply the right to a “decent” or “worth living” life? Who can intervene to protect the right to life? The article attempts to answer these questions based on a constructive interpretation of the relevant case law of the ECHR.

• Details
• Contents