Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2019
In October 2018, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) adopted General Comment 36 on Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the guarantee of the right to life.
1 H.R. Comm., General Comment No. 36 (2018) on Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, on the Right to Life, UN Doc. CCPR/C/GC/36 (Oct. 30, 2018) [hereinafter General Comment 36].
2 Exceptionally, they can concern other issues, such as reservations to the relevant treaty.
3 H.R. Comm., General Comment 6: Article 6 (Right to Life), UN Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.1, at 6 (1982).
4 H.R. Comm., General Comment 14: Article 6 (Right to Life) Nuclear Weapons and the Right to Life, UN Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.1, at 18 (1984).
5 For a more thorough examination of General Comment 36, see Sarah Joseph, Extending the Right to Life Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: General Comment 36, 19 H.R. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2019).
6 General Comment 36, supra note 1, ¶ 12
7 Christof Heyns (Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions), Rep. on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, UN Doc. A/HRC/26/36, ¶ 59 (Apr. 1, 2014).
8 General Comment 36, supra note 1, ¶ 8.
9 Id.
10 H.R. Comm., Mellet v. Ireland, Comm. No. 2324/2013, UN Doc. CCPR/C/116/D/2324/2013 (2016).
11 General Comment 36, supra note 1, ¶ 9.
12 Id.
13 Id. ¶¶ 3, 26.
14 Id. ¶ 26.
15 Id. ¶ 62.
16 Id. ¶ 34; see also H.R. Comm., Judge v. Canada, Comm. No. 829/1998, UN Doc. CCPR/C/78/D/829/1998 (2003).
17 General Comment 36, supra note 1, ¶ 35.
18 Id. ¶ 41.
19 Id. ¶ 44.
20 Id. ¶ 40.
21 Id. ¶ 43.
22 Id. ¶ 51.
23 Id. ¶ 64.
24 Id.
25 Id. ¶ 63.