Article 2 echr
Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) protects the right to life, stating that no one shall be deprived of their life intentionally except in the execution of a sentence of a court following conviction of a crime. This provision also imposes a duty on the state to take appropriate measures to safeguard individuals' lives.
8 Key excerpts on "Article 2 echr"
eBook - ePubThe EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
A Commentary
- Steve Peers, Tamara Hervey, Jeff Kenner, Angela Ward, Steve Peers, Tamara Hervey, Jeff Kenner, Angela Ward(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Hart/Beck(Publisher)
...While the ECHR terminology presupposes an existing right to life, one that is merely given legal recognition by this provision, the wording of Article 2 of the Charter accords the right to everyone. This different approach is unlikely to have much, if any, significance in practice. The second sentence of the ECHR’s protection of the right to life is omitted from Article 2 of the Charter, but this explicit prohibition on the intentional deprivation of life will be implicitly incorporated into the Charter by means of Article 52(3) (which ensures that the right to life in the Charter will have the same meaning and scope as the ECHR right to life on which it is based), as too will the permitted limitations on the right to life also contained in that sentence. These, as the explanations to the Charter specify, permit the deprivation of life when it results from the use of force which is no more than absolutely necessary in one of three criminal justice scenarios: in defence of any person from unlawful violence; to effect a lawful arrest or prevent escape; or to quell a riot or insurrection. 02.11 The second paragraph of this provision is based upon Article 1 of Protocol No 6 to the ECHR, which abolishes the death penalty in times of peace. Protocol No 6 makes explicit provision for the lawful imposition of the death penalty in time of war or imminent threat of war (Art 2 of Protocol No 6). This limitation is, therefore, also regarded as forming part of the Charter due to Article 52(3). All Member States have also ratified Protocol No 13 to the ECHR, which prohibits the death penalty in times of war...
eBook - ePubDeath in Custody
Inquests, Family Participation and State Accountability
- Jo Easton(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Emerald Publishing Limited(Publisher)
...Part 1 The Law The first part of this book sets out the relevant law in respect of both the overarching European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and domestic legislation for England and Wales. It includes two chapters describing the overall human rights legal framework as well as the domestic law governing inquests following a death in custody. This part sets out the positive legal protections currently in place in relation to families participating in such inquests, as well as gaps where families cannot rely on the law to ensure participation. Article 2(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) emphasises that a person's right to life shall be protected by law. In 1978, the ECtHR found that Article 2 of the ECHR not only prohibits the State from taking life but also places on it a positive duty to protect life. 1 This protective aspect to the right to life has been re-affirmed and expanded upon through numerous decisions of the ECtHR: elucidating on when and what steps must be taken by a State to protect life. In 1995, the ECtHR found in McCann that in order to protect life, the State is required to ensure there is a proper investigation into any deaths caused by the use of force by State agents. 2 Any investigation must be ‘independent, prompt, contain a sufficient element of public scrutiny, and be capable of leading to a determination of whether State agents are liable’. 3 The investigation must consider not just the actions of agents of the State but also the planning and organisation of the operation governing those actions. European case law has since clarified that situations where a death may have resulted due to a failure on behalf of the State to protect life should also be investigated; this includes deaths in State custody...
eBook - ePub- Howard Davis(Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Chapter 5 Life and physical integrity LEARNING OBJECTIVES On completing this chapter the reader should understand: • The main terms of Articles 2 and 3 as Convention rights protecting physical integrity • The importance of the ‘procedural’ obligation to mount an independent and effective investigation where breaches of either article are alleged • The reach of both articles into unintended deaths or inhuman treatment for which the state is responsible • Some of the key cases — decided both by the European Court of Human Rights and the UK courts acting under the Human Rights Act 1998. INTRODUCTION Without life there is no human dignity. The protection of life is fundamental to all human activity and flourishing. It follows that those in authority should perform their roles in a way that protects and respects people’s lives. Human dignity also means that everyone’s physical integrity should be respected. People should not be treated like objects. For example, laws should ensure that people can only be touched with their consent; and when people legitimately lose their physical independence (e.g. when they are lawfully arrested) they should still be treated in ways which respect their physical integrity. This chapter will explore the way these very basic ideas are given effect in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and, in the national law of the United Kingdom, through the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA). THE RIGHT TO LIFE (Article 2 echr) Let us begin with the right to life. Any human rights instrument that did not require states to respect life would be unthinkable. The importance of ‘life’ is already recognised. The point of human rights law is to require states to protect the right to life that is already established in human custom and in religious or moral beliefs. The UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), for instance, says that ‘Every human being has the inherent right to life’...
eBook - ePub- Jane Lynch, Senthill Nachimuthu(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...However, they are providing a public service and will therefore be caught by the Act. Health professionals working in the private health sector will be expected to have regard to the Act under their contractual obligations. The Human Rights Act is not designed to facilitate access to healthcare or medical information. Its purpose is to protect the individual against state action. However, health professionals must always have regard to the Human Rights Act when treating and caring for patients. Health professionals should presume that almost all decisions about healthcare will have some potential impact upon somebody’s human rights and as a result it is imperative to ensure that the reasoning for reaching any adverse decision is clear. The Articles of the ECHR that health professionals will be mainly concerned with are: ➤ Article 2 – ‘Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law’ ➤ Article 3 – ‘No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’ ➤ Article 8 – ‘Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.’ Article 2: ‘Everyone’s Right to Life Shall be Protected by Law’ This imposes a duty not only to refrain from interfering with life, but also a ‘positive duty to take appropriate steps to safeguard life’. 2 It has been suggested that this could be used where resources are refused or treatment is withdrawn or withheld, such as a decision not to resuscitate. Case National Health Service Trust A v D and others (2000) Parents of a severely disabled baby challenged a ‘not for resuscitation’ (NFR) decision...
eBook - ePub- Peter Halstead(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Article 2, the effect of which was that the Government would only observe the principle so far as was compatible with the provision of efficient instruction and training, and avoidance of unreasonable public expenditure (Campbell and Cosans v UK (1982)). 2.2.13 European Union (EU) and human rights 1 The European human rights project has been substantially advanced by the accession of the EU as a body to the Convention. 2 The Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 December 2009 and made it a legal obligation for the EU as an entity to become a party to the Convention (Article 6 paragraph 2 of the Treaty). 3 The legal basis enabling the EU to join is contained in the European Convention Article 59 paragraph 2 as amended by Protocol 14, which entered into force on 1 June 2010. 4 The accession makes the EU, as an institution subject to the same obligations under the European Convention as all its individual Member States, which means that the EU’s legal system is subject to independent external human rights influence and control to the same extent as Member States. 5 So, European citizens also now have the same protection with regard to the EU as they previously enjoyed against individual Member States. 2.2.14 Section II of the Convention 1 Section II of the Convention comprising Articles 19–51 contains the basic rules as to the establishment of the European Court of Human Rights, and its modus operandi. 2 The framework for...
eBook - ePubHuman Rights and the Protection of Privacy in Tort Law
A Comparison between English and German Law
- Hans-Joachim Cremer(Author)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- Routledge-Cavendish(Publisher)
...HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE PROTECTION OF PRIVACY IN TORT LAW In its case law, the European Court of Human Rights has acknowledged that national courts are bound to give effect to Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), which sets out the right to private and family life, when they rule on controversies between private individuals. Article 8 of the ECHR has thus been accorded mittelbare Drittwirkung or indirect ‘third-party’ effect in private law relationships. The German law of privacy, centring on the ‘allgemeines Persönlichkeitsrecht’, has quite a long history, and the influence of the European Court of Human Rights’ interpretation of the ECHR has led to a strengthening of privacy protection in the German law. This book considers how English courts could possibly use and adapt structures adopted by the German legal order in response to rulings from the European Court of Human Rights to strengthen the protection of privacy in the private sphere. Hans-Joachim Cremer is Professor of Public Law and Legal Philosophy at the University of Mannheim since 2000. He earned his doctorate at the University of Heidelberg. His dissertation on legal protection against expulsion and deportation won the University’s Ruprecht Karls Award in 1995. In 1999 he completed his Habilitation at Heidelberg. His post-doctoral thesis investigates the methodology of constitutional interpretation....
eBook - ePubCounter-terrorism and the Detention of Suspected Terrorists
Preventive Detention and International Human Rights Law
- Claire Macken(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...3), 1 July 1961, Series A no.3 (ECHR), para.14 in which the Court stated: ‘Whereas the meaning thus arrived at by grammatical analysis is fully in harmony with the purpose of the Convention which is to protect the freedom and security of the individual against arbitrary detention or arrest …’. 221 Winterwerp v The Netherlands, 24 October 1979, Series A no.33 (ECHR), para 37. 222 J.E.S. Fawcett, The Application of the European Convention on Human Rights, 1969. Castberg and Opsahl and Ouchterlony argue, however, that ‘apparently, “security of person” must have an independent meaning besides “liberty” but it is only mentioned without further regulation and its scope remains to be settled’. See T. Opsahl and T. Ouchterlony (eds), F. Castberg, The European Convention on Human Rights, A W Sijthoff /Oceana Leiden, 1974. 223 Adler and others and Bivas v Federal Republic Of Germany, 16 July 1976 (ECHR). 224 Winterwerp v The Netherlands, 24 October 1979, Series A no.33 (ECHR), para. 45. 225 Ibid. 226 The approach of characterising three distinct categories of permissible deprivation of liberty is taken, for example, by R. Clayton and H. Tomlinson, The Law of Human Rights, Burlington: Ashgate, 2000, p.488. 227 P. Van Dijk and G. J. H. Van Hoof, Theory and Practice of the European Convention on Human Rights, 3rd ed. 1994, p.261. 228 Ibid. p.260. 229 F. G. Jacobs, The European Convention on Human Rights, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975, p.52. 230 Ibid; Stögmüller v. Austria, 10 November 1969, Series A no.9 (ECHR), p.4. 231 Fawcett, The Application of the European Convention, p.89. 232 Matznetter v Austria, 10 November 1969, Series A no.10 (ECHR), Judge Zekia (dissent). 233 Ibid. 234 M v Germany, 17 November 2009, (19359/04) ECHR. 235 Guzzardi v Italy, 6 November 1980, Series A no.39 (ECHR), para.45. 236 Ibid. para. 102. 237 M v Germany, 17 November 2009, (19359/04) ECHR. 238 Ibid. para. 89. 239 Ibid. para. 8–12. 240 Ibid, para. 12. 241 Ibid. para. 102. 242 Ibid. para. 81. 243 Ibid...
- Helen Fenwick, Gavin Phillipson, Alexander Williams(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...This body of law is confined to those areas covered by the Treaty of Rome 1957 and subsequent Treaties. Each Treaty (ie the Maastricht, Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon Treaties) has been incorporated into UK domestic law by statute. The law emanating from Europe which applies in the United Kingdom includes regulations, directives, and decisions. EU membership also means that rulings from the European Court of Justice can be binding on domestic courts within the United Kingdom … Where it applies, EU law operates as a higher order law and will have the effect of overriding domestic legal provisions [though possibly not all—see chapter 4 at 150 and chapter 5 at 196–97]. European Convention on Human Rights Since the Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998 came into force in October 2000 the ECHR is incorporated as part of UK law. The ECHR can be regarded as amounting to a constitutional charter of rights. As we shall see in later chapters, the ECHR is an international treaty setting out basic individual rights including: right to life; liberty and security; prohibition of torture and slavery; right to fair trial; no punishment without law; right to respect for privacy and family life; freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; freedom of expression; freedom of assembly and association; and prohibition of discrimination. All public bodies, including the courts, are legally required to act in a way which is compatible with the above rights, and a remedy may be sought if these citizen rights are breached.… The Law and Customs of Parliament The law and customs of Parliament refers to the resolutions of the two Houses of Parliament which establish parliamentary practice (standing orders of the House). This body of rules is of great political importance and it ranges from the regulation of debates to the functions of the leaders of the government and opposition. These rules can be changed by MPs and peers...
