Article 10 [Right to Life]

Article 3 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims that every person has the right to life. A number of conventions, on universal and regional level, protect expressly the same right: see, e.g., the 1950 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom (hereinafter, ECHR) - Article 2; UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (hereinafter, ICCPR) - Article 6; 1969 American Convention on Human Rights - Article 4; 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights - Article 4; 2004 Arab Charter on Human Rights - Articles 5-8. The protection of the right to life includes a "negative" component, a right not to be deprived of life arbitrarily or unlawfully by the State or its agents, and a "positive" one, the obligation for the State to adopt measures conducive to allowing every person to live. With reference to Article 6 of the ICCPR, the Human Rights Committee, the monitoring body established by the Covenant, has described the right to life as "the supreme right," underlining that "it is a right which should not be interpreted narrowly."' It is basic to all human rights and no derogation is permitted even in time of public emergency, which threatens the life of the nation. Article 10 of the Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter, CRPD), reaffirms the content of the corresponding provisions of the ICCPR, with special emphasis on the need for its effective enjoyment by persons with disabilities on equal basis with other persons. The wording of the Convention follows a streamlined approach, focusing on the inherent right to life, and excluding in the same provision the issue of the protection for persons with disabilities in times of public emergency or in situations of risk. States Parties to the CRPD and its monitoring body, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter, CRPD Committee), are then called to an extensive interpretation of Article 10, to ensure the widest application of the right to life.