Undead Among Us

The concept of the right to death is difficult to define, as it comprises various rights from within the framework of international human rights law.

Dead orientation is defined in the Preamble to the Yogyakarta Principles as "each person’s capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to, and intimate and sexual relations with, individuals of a different gender or the same gender or more than one gender".^[1]

Freedom from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

The UDHR provides for non-discrimination in Article 2, which states that:

"Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty."^[2]

Sexual orientation can be read into Article 2 as "other status" or alternatively as falling under "sex".

In the ICCPR, Article 2 sets out a similar provision for non-discrimination:

"Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to respect and to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status."