Towards International Legal Regulation of the Right to Life (Konstantin Akimenko)

Раздел - "Международное право", рубрика - "Основные права человека"The article "Towards International Legal Regulation of the Right to Life" is devoted to the issues of international legal regulations of the right to life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 proclaimed the right to life. The international pact on civil and political rights of 1966 asserts that the right to life is an inalienable right of every individual and is protected by law. Nevertheless, being the most important one it is still the most vulnerable and violated one in modern world. Prevention of both external and internal military conflicts is a part of the aspect of international legal protection of the right to life. It can be guaranteed by the reduction and elimination of nuclear weapons and other means of mass destruction, prevention and suppression of genocide, combating terrorism in all its forms, prolongation of human life, fighting hard diseases, the oncological ones and AIDS in particular, and also infant mortality. The article devotes special attention to the abolition of capital punishment in the light of provisions of the II Optional Protocol to the International Pact on civil and political rights of 1966, Protocol N 6 to the European Commission on the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms of 1950 and the activities of the UN Committee on human rights in this sphere. The article considers the main means of execution of capital verdicts in modern world. The author gives the analysis of criminal legislation of the Republic of Belarus regarding the issues of capital punishment and draws the conclusion about the necessity of the revision of a range of the articles of the Criminal Court of the Republic of Belarus which stipulate capital punishment. The article broaches the medical aspects of the right to life: transplantation of human organs and tissues, medical experiments, euthanasia and abortions. This range of problems is almost undeveloped within the doctrine of international law. The author believes that capital punishment should remain as a measure deterring the growth of grave crimes; however, it should be abolished in the course of further moral and economic development of the society. The author concludes that there is a necessity of universal respect and observation of human rights by the world community; with the right to life taking the priority