International Human Rights Law and Black Lives Matter: Why We Should View Liberation Through the Lens of the Right to Life
Opal Tometi reminds us that Black Lives Matter is not only about linking the international with the national, but is also about ensuring that Black people globally have access to their “full civil, social, political, legal, economic and cultural rights as enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” However, despite the global orientation of Black Lives Matter, and Tometi’s use of the language of international human rights law, there is a dearth of legal scholarship that has assessed how international human rights law could help ensure that Black lives do matter. But if Black Lives Matter is calling us to ensure that the lives of Black people are respected, then it would be helpful to understand how Black people could guarantee their right to life under international human rights law. Therefore, this Essay argues that an understanding of the right to life, under international human rights law, could provide a constructive means of securing respect for Black life.
Recommended Citation: Seun Matiluko, International Human Rights Law and Black Lives Matter: Why We Should View Liberation Through the Lens of the Right to Life, 44 Fordham Int'l L.J. 1207 (2021).