The right to life in armed conflict

In the Nuclear Weapons Advisory Opinion, the International Court of Justice proposed that in the context of armed conflict the human right to life was to be assessed with reference to international humanitarian law (Lex specialis, lex generalis). This presumes a coherence or compatibility between international humanitarian law and international human rights law. However, the relationship between the two bodies manifests some tensions, which are addressed in the article. Specifically, the article considers the right to life of the combatant, which is broader under human rights law than under humanitarian law. It also looks at weapons of war. The article examines the view of the Human Rights Committee, set out in General Comment 36, that killing by an aggressor is ipso facto a violation of the right to life