[Text on screen]: Your rights explained.

Article 2 of the  European Convention on Human Rights: Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law.

Article 2 of the  European Convention on Human Rights protects our right to life.

The right to life is the most basic right of all. It means the state cannot take someone’s life unless it’s necessary. It must positively protect life by enforcing criminal laws.

Three key things that it does for us:

1. Doctors and social workers must protect patients’ right to life (The Rabone case, 2013)
2. Soldiers are protected in combat zones (The Smith case, 2013)
3. The police must act on threats to our lives (The Osman case, 1998)

Why is it needed now?

The police kill people every year…

[Animated graph showing people killed during or following police contact in England and Wales, 2014-2015]:

1 fatal shooting
14 traffic fatalities
17 in custody
41 other deaths

... the right to life makes sure those deaths are properly investigated. Also, almost 100 countries still retain the death penalty.

Our human rights are hard-won.

Know your rights. Celebrate them. Protect them.