WEI Contribution to the General Discussion Regarding the Human Rights Committee’s General Comment No. 36 – Article 6: Right to Life

June 12, 2015

Women Enabled International (WEI) appreciates the opportunity to provide comments in preparation for the Human Rights Committee’s Day of General Discussion on General Comment No. 36 – Article 6: Right to Life. WEI advocates and educates for the human rights of all women and girls, emphasizing women and girls with disabilities, and works tirelessly to include women and girls with disabilities in international resolutions, policies, and programs addressing women’s human rights and development. WEI’s comments are directed at three of the issues identified in the Human Rights Committee’s Note: (1) the scope and nature of the duty to respect and ensure the right to life (para. 5(a)), particularly the relationship of the right to life to other international human rights instruments, and (2) the applicability of the article to the unborn and other forms of human existence (para. 5(c)), as it relates to (3) possible exceptions to the duty to protect life by law (para. 6(b)).