Hak untuk hidup dalam hukum internasional merupakan bagian dari hukum kebiasaan internasional, yang kemudian dimasukkan ke dalam Pasal 6 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Pasal 2 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, dan Pasal 4 American Convention on Human Rights. Ketiga instrumen hak asasi manusia internasional tersebut menyatakan bahwa setiap orang memiliki hak untuk hidup. Namun, Swiss, Belanda, Indonesia, dan Oregon, Amerika Serikat memiliki peraturan perundang- undangan yang memperbolehkan dilaksanakannya sebuah tindakan yang dapat menyebabkan seseorang meninggal dunia, yaitu hukuman mati, eutanasia, dan aborsi. Perdebatan bermunculan terkait apakah ketiga tindakan tersebut dapat berlaku berdampingan dengan perlindungan hak untuk hidup, atau ketiga tindakan tersebut merupakan pelanggaran perlindungan hak untuk hidup yang diamanatkan hukum internasional.Right to life in international human rights is a part of customary international law, which was subsequently incorporated in Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and Article 4 of the American Convention on Human Rights. These international instruments of human rights declared that every person has right to life. However, the Swiss Confederation, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Indonesia and the State of Oregon in the United States of America have specific legislation which consent to the performance of actions which may cause the death of an individual, such as the death penalty, euthanasia, and abortion. It is still a debate whether those actions may be performed in line with the protection of right to life, or those actions are forms of violation of the protection of right to life as mandated by international law.