The right to life is protected by Article 2 of the Human Rights Act.
Last updated: 09th November 2022
This right often comes up in:
Death and end of life, disability rights including SEND, ending violence against women, health, care & social work, mental health & capacity, safeguarding people and welfare support
Absolute right
Share thisSome examples of when your right to life might be at risk include:
No, the right to life is an absolute right. A public official cannot deliberately take away your right to life (there are some very limited circumstances where the actions of police or armed forces will not be considered a breach of the right to life).
To respect your right:
This means that public officials must not deliberately take away your life.
To protect your right:
Public officials must take reasonable steps to protect your life when they know (or should know) that your life is at real and immediate risk. This risk could be from another official or other people like your family, or from yourself.
To fulfil your right:
This means that there must be an investigation when public officials may have been involved in a death or failed to act, for example if a person was killed by a partner despite telling an official that they were in serious danger.
The courts have set out a test for determining whether a public official has a positive obligation to protect life, and whether this obligation has been met:
Does a public body know, or ought to have known (e.g. because they have formally taken responsibility for the welfare and safety of an individual or a real and immediate risk to their life has been reported to the official).
. about a real and immediate risk to the individual’s life?
Did the public official do all that was reasonably expected of them to protect life?
Kerry's family used the right to life to seek justice for her after the emergency services failed to respond to her call.
Kerry's family used the right to life to seek justice for her after the emergency services failed to respond to her call.
Bryn's right to life was put at risk because doctors didn't give him life-saving treatment based on assumptions about his quality of life.
Bryn's right to life was put at risk because doctors didn't give him life-saving treatment based on assumptions about his quality of life.
