The protection of dead persons under international human rights law

The dignity owed to every person should not cease with death.1 The processes by which individuals and societies across cultures and religions care for, honour and mourn their dead provide the necessary closure to families and their communities. When this is disrupted through improper protection and/or disrespectful treatment of the dead, it harms individuals and societies and, in the case of unlawful deaths, it undermines or impedes the victims’ rights to truth, justice and reparation. With the increasing complexity of mass fatality incidents, especially as a result of conflict, migration, pandemics and natural disasters (including those caused by climate change), the need to respectfully protect the dead is of growing importance.2 The specific means by which protection of the dead occurs in practice are usually contextually adapted to the beliefs and customs of each community and State. To be universally effective, however, it is recommended that they always be guided by principles of respect, dignity and decency toward the dead and their families. This will ensure the fulfilment of applicable international human rights, humanitarian law and criminal law obligations, and help to ease the pain that families, communities and societies face with the loss of their loved ones. The authors of this article believe that the time is ripe for the development of a set of guiding principles, framed under international human rights law (IHRL), for the dignified management and protection of the dead, and they propose seven key areas to build such principles upon. In addition to filling a conspicuous gap in human rights protection, these guiding principles will help fulfil States’ duties to respect and protect the rights of families of the deceased under IHRL. While not exhaustive, the authors believe that these guiding principles, which should be read as lex ferenda , develop a framework for stronger IHRL protections of deceased persons. This article builds on a recent thematic report on the protection of the dead presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in June 2024 by one of the co-authors.3

Human Rights and Development · International Law and Human Rights