Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in its current form is incomplete and outdated. Due to significant development at a legislative and judicial level, the right to life spans beyond what is enumerated within Article 2. With the belief that Article 2 is still relevant, this book investigates how the right to life can be better protected within Europe. It advocates for the modernisation of Article 2 through codifying legislative and judicial developments relevant to this provision in the form of guidelines. It also considers the improvements that can be made by the Council of Europe (CoE) bodies – the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the Committee of Ministers (CoM), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights – to encourage adherence to Article 2 and promote effective remedies to prevent future violations. It uses the experience from four internal European conflicts – the Basque conflict, the Chechen conflict, the Northern Ireland Troubles and the Turkish-Kurdish conflict – to illustrate its points.

Table Of Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Introducing Guidelines on Article 2: Making a Case
3. Duty to Refrain from Unjustified Killing
4. Duty to Protect Life: By Law
5. Duty to Protect Life: Planning and Reasonable Steps
6. Enforced Disappearances
7. Duty to Investigate Suspicious Deaths
8. Right to an Effective Remedy and Article 2 of the ECHR
9. Special Challenges
10. CoE Bodies and Protecting Life