Article 2 ECHR: Right to Life and Exceptions
Learn what Article 2 ECHR protects, when force causing death may be justified, and why the death penalty is not an exception in the UK today.
Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) protects the right to life. It requires the state to protect life by law and generally prohibits the intentional taking of life. It also places duties on public authorities to take reasonable steps to protect people from known risks and to investigate certain deaths effectively.
When can force be used?
Article 2 allows a death resulting from force only where the force used is no more than absolutely necessary for one of three purposes:
- Defending a person against unlawful violence.
- Carrying out a lawful arrest or preventing the escape of someone lawfully detained.
- Taking lawful action to quell a riot or insurrection.
These are narrow exceptions. The purpose must be permitted by Article 2, and the force must meet its strict test of absolute necessity. For example, the fact that someone is escaping from lawful detention does not automatically justify using lethal force.
What about the death penalty?
The original wording of Article 2 mentions execution following a court sentence for a crime punishable by death. That historical wording must not be read as describing the current position in the UK: the death penalty has been abolished, and Protocol No. 13 to the ECHR prohibits it in all circumstances.
In an exam answer, keep the duties and the exceptions distinct. Article 2 is not just a ban on unlawful killing; authorities may also have to act to protect someone facing a real and immediate risk to life when they know, or ought to know, about it. The most common mistake is to list the three permitted purposes without explaining the absolute necessity test.
