The Use of Force and Article 2 of the ECHR in Light of European Conflicts

Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in its current form is incomplete and outdated.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.

Hannah Russell is a human rights specialist currently working in policy and research at the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.