Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) safeguards everyone’s right to life and requires States to take effective measures to prevent unlawful loss of life. To support lawyers in applying these standards in domestic practice, the project continued its capacity-building programme in cooperation with the Kosovo*[1] Bar Association. The latest training brought together 45 lawyers from the Association’s Pristina regional branch to examine Article 2 in light of relevant case-law from the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court of Kosovo*.

Particular attention was given to the distinction between the State's negative obligation not to unlawfully take life and its positive obligation to take appropriate measures to protect individuals whose lives are at risk. Participants examined the principles established by the Strasbourg Court in the case Osman v. the United Kingdom, the so-called Osman test, under which authorities must take reasonable preventive and operational measures when they knew or ought to have known of a real and immediate risk to the life of an identified person.

Through practical examples and caselaw analysis, lawyers explored how these positive obligations apply in a range of situations, including domestic violence, criminal acts by third parties, suicide and self-harm, dangerous activities, environmental and industrial hazards, road and workplace accidents, inadequate medical or emergency care, and risks faced by persons deprived of their liberty.

The training also addressed the procedural obligation under Article 2 to conduct an effective investigation into deaths and alleged unlawful deprivations of life. Participants examined the requirements for investigations to be independent, thorough and rigorous, capable of establishing the circumstances of a death and identifying those responsible, while ensuring appropriate participation of the victim's relatives. It was also emphasised that the obligation to investigate does not necessarily entail securing a criminal conviction where the available evidence is insufficient to establish criminal responsibility.

The training highlighted that effective protection of the right to life extends beyond the prohibition of unlawful deprivation of life. It requires public authorities to maintain an effective legal and institutional framework, take reasonable preventive measures when a real and immediate risk is known or ought to be known, and ensure effective investigations when a life is lost or potentially unlawfully endangered.

This was the third consecutive training on Article 2 of the ECHR organised as part of the project’s capacity building programme for lawyers of Bar Association. By strengthening lawyers’ ability to identify and invoke relevant European human rights standards, the training contributes to more effective protection of the right to life and greater alignment of domestic legal practice with the requirements of the Convention.