| Rights of Individuals: Civil and Political | |||||
| Bodily Integrity and Security | |||||
| Life, Right to | Slavery and Forced Labour, Non-Subjection to | Security of One's Person, Right to | Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment | ||
| Constitutions | |||||
| South African Constitution | §11. Unlike many Constitutions, the right to life is unqualified. Only the general limitations in §36 are applicable. | §13 | §12(1) (right to be free from violence, public and private), §12(2) (control over one’s body). For an overview of applicable South African constitutional jurisprudence, see de Waal et al., at 230-50. | §12(1), also 12(2) as to medical experiments | |
| French 1958 Constitution | The Conseil Constitutionnel has found that respect for human life from its beginning is a "fundamental principle" of constitutional status, pursuant to ¶1 of the Preamble to the 1946 Constitution. See Bell, at 71. | No explicit provision, but the right to liberty enshrined in Art. 2 of the 1798 Declaration is applicable here. | 1798 Declaration Art. 2. | 1798 Declaration Art. 8 (punishment only by law and as strictly and obviously necessary). | |
| Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms | §7 (deprivation only in accordance with "the principles of fundamental justice"), subject to limitation under §33 by express act of Parliament or a provincial legislature. | (no provision) | §7 (same comments as for right to life) | §12 ("cruel or unusual treatment or punishment"). For discussion of this provision, see Meehan et al., at 613-14. | |
| Constitution of Argentina | There is no explicit right to life. But see Art. 18 (no death penalty for political crimes). | Art. 15 (detailed provisions freeing any existing slaves, making purchase or sale of slaves a crime, etc.). | (no provision) | Art. 18 (no torture or whipping). | |
| United States Constitution | The application of the death penalty must accord with standards created by the courts pursuant to Amendments 5 (no deprivation of life without due process of law), 8 (no cruel or unusual punishment), and 14 (due process clause applicable to the States). See Rotunda, §17.3. | Amend. 13 (prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude, except as criminal penalty, and grants Congress the authority to enforce the prohibition). The courts have interpreted this authority broadly. See Tribe, §5-15. | No directly applicable provisions, though narrow aspects of security of the person are protected by the Right to Privacy. | 8th Amend. (no "cruel or unusual punishment") | |
| Würzburg Key System | (Key has not yet been developed) | (same comment) | (same comment) | (same comment) | |
| Constitution of India | Art. 21 (no extrajudicial executions). | Art. 23 (prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labor); Art. 24 (prohibition of hazardous labor by children under age 14); cf. Art. 17, Abolition of Untouchability | Suprisingly, there is no explicit provision, through the issue may have been addressed in caselaw. | (same comment). | |
| International Instruments | |||||
| Universal Declaration of Human Rights | Art. 3 (no elaboration) | Art. 4 (prohibition of slavery, servitude, and the slave trade) | Art. 3 (no elaboration) | Art. 5 (language is identical to that in the column heading above) | |
| Int’l Covenant on Civil and Political Rights | ICCPR Art. 6, including limitations on death penalty (right to seek pardon, no execution of juveniles or pregnant women). | ICCPR Art. 8 (same as in the Universal Declaration, with the addition of a prohibition and definition of "forced or compulsory labor") | ICCPR Art. 9(1) | ICCPR Art. 7 (identical language to that in the column heading above, with the addition of a reference to medical experimentation) | |