The UN Special Rapporteur is consulting on a revision to the UN Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions.

The positive obligation on states to protect life and the procedural obligation to investigate suspicious deaths have firm bases in international law. In the UN context, those obligations are set out in two key documents: the UN Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, and its companion document the UN Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extralegal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions (“the UN Manual”).

The UN Manual was - and remains - a ground-breaking piece of work with significant impact. However, the time is ripe for revision. As a key UN mandated text providing guidance on the practical implementation of the duty to protect life and the obligation to investigate suspicious deaths, it must be updated to ensure its continuing relevance into the next decades of the 21st century.

The 70 year anniversary of the UN and the resultant window of opportunity for UN reform provide the ideal context in which to launch this consultation on its revision. Any interested organisation or individual is invited to view the documents attached and contribute to the consultation process.

United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions