This chapter describes the substantive and procedural components of the right to life under international law. It discusses the nature of arbitrary deprivation of life, as well as the duty to investigate all suspicious death, which is integral to the right to life, at the least when read in conjunction with the duty to protect life.

This chapter describes the duty of States to prevent and investigate deaths that occur while a person is in their formal custody or is otherwise being detained by the authorities. When a person is held in a place of detention, the risks of him or her being killed or seriously harmed, whether at the hands of warders or by other inmates, are acute. In addition, a detainee may decide to commit suicide, whether as a consequence of mental health issues, the broader circumstances of incarceration, or directly as a result of his or her treatment while in detention. Inadequate provision of medical care, food, or water may also contribute to a premature death. Of course, detainees can and do also die from natural causes.

Enforced disappearance, the prohibition of which is a jus cogens norm, represents a grave threat to life. The key elements in an enforced disappearance are the detention or abduction of an individual, followed by a refusal to acknowledge his or her whereabouts and confirm his or her well-being. In any enforced disappearance in which it was involved, a State is likely to be found to have violated the duty to protect life as well as other rights, such as the prohibition of torture or other inhumane treatment or punishment, the rights to liberty and security of person, and the right to recognition as a person before the law.