Am 30.10.2018 beschloss das UN-HRC als General Comment No. 36 (2018) zu Artikel 6 des Internationalen Paktes über bürgerlichte und politische Rechte (1966), dass die Drohung mit und der Einsatz von Atomwaffen nicht vereinbar ist mit dem Recht auf Leben nach Art. 6 des Paktes

On 30 October 2018, the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), which is in charge of the implementation of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), has adopted its General Comment (GC) no. 36 relating to the right to life (Article 6 ICCPR). It is in many respects a remarkable document and a new example for bridge-building between nuclear arms control and human rights. In para. 66, the HRC considers the threat and use of WMD, in particular nuclear weapons, incompatible with the right to life and reiterates the duties of the States Parties in the field of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

The most obvious human right when talking about use of nuclear weapons is the right to life. The ICJ, in its 1996 Advisory Opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, confirmed the applicability of the right to life in time of armed conflict and, moreover, observed that the test of what is an “arbitrary deprivation of life” has to be determined in light of international law governing armed conflict, in particular humanitarian law. The GC no. 36 is a detailed document, of 32 pages. Even though other paragraphs are certainly relevant too, I am commenting here only on the clause relating to WMD, in particular nuclear disarmament.

read more (pdf): images/pdf/arbeitsfelder/atomwaffen/atomare abruestung/Rietiker_zu_UN-HRC_Nov__18_Right_on_life_und_Atomwaffen.pdf