Casting Fresh Light on the Supreme Right: The African Commission’s General Comment No.3 on the right to life (2017)

_{Casting Fresh Light on the Supreme Right: The African Commission’s General Comment No.3 on the right to life’ in Tiyanjana Maluwa et al. Pursuit of a Brave New World: Essays in Honour of JohnDugard (Brill, 2017)}

The intended users of this General Comment across the continent include the Commission itself, the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the African Peer Review Mechanism, sub-regional economic communities, national courts, national human rights institutions, civil society organizations, and others. Additionally, the broader international human rights framework should find this document highly useful. As the UN Human Rights Committee works on its own revised General Comment on the same topic, the response from stakeholders to the African Commission’s document is likely to serve as a valuable reference. It is encouraging to witness a regional mechanism making such a significant contribution to international human rights standards, particularly by shedding further light on the crucial right to life. By adopting guidelines on the right to life, the African Commission not only addresses this important issue but also makes a meaningful contribution to a matter that concerns every society and individual both on the continent and globally.