Nations Push Back against U.N. Human Rights Committee Attempt to Redefine the ‘Right to Life’

Jonathan Abbamonte
Population Research Institute

A number of states have pushed back against an attempt by the United Nations Human Rights Committee to reinterpret the ‘right to life’ to mean a right to abortion.

This past July, the Committee approved a draft of General Comment No. 36 at its first reading. General Comment No. 36 seeks to reinterpret the ‘right to life’ to exclude the unborn child in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Human Right Committee is tasked with monitoring the implementation of the of the ICCPR.

Several state parties[1] have come out against the Committee’s latest General Comment and have made it clear to the Committee that it has no right or authority to claim that states must legalize abortion.

In General Comment No. 36, paragraph 9, the Committee claims article 6 obligates states to legalize abortion in cases of health, rape, incest, fetal disability, and “in situations in which carrying a pregnancy to term would cause the woman substantial pain or suffering.”[2]

Far from guaranteeing a “right” to abortion, however, article 6 of the ICCPR recognizes the universal right to life and states:

Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.[3]

Several states and numerous civil society organizations, including PRI, were keen to point out that the Committee possesses no authority to reinterpret the treaty to a mean something other than what has been agreed to by state parties.


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The Population Research Institute is a (501c3) non-profit research organization whose core values hold that people are the world’s greatest resource. PRI’s goals are to educate on this premise, to expose the myth of overpopulation, and to expose human rights abuses committed in population control programs. Our growing, global network of pro-life groups spans over 30 countries. For more information, please use this link.