Human rights issues relating to particular groups of individuals who wish to join, or who form part of, the armed forces have been discussed in Chapter 1. This chapter will consider the human rights obligations of a State towards its soldiers otherwise than through the disciplinary process, which is discussed in Chapter 3. The human rights of soldiers during armed conflict and in multinational forces will be discussed in chapters 5, 6 and 7. The current chapter will therefore concentrate on the human rights of soldiers during peacetime service.

The right to life

It appears trite to say that, if necessary, a soldier is expected to ‘sacrifice’ his life in the service of his country. Whilst it is accepted by soldiers that they will have to risk their lives in time of armed conflict and they may well be killed or wounded this is not so readily accepted in times of peace. In practice, however, a soldier is more likely to be killed during peacetime than during an armed conflict. This is due to a number of factors, such as the statistical unlikelihood of a particular soldier being involved in an armed conflict, the experience of modern international armed conflict where casualties on the part of soldiers are low and the fact that military service can be inherently dangerous. In attempts to imbue training with the realism of an armed conflict soldiers are expected to carry out physical activities bearing little direct comparison with civilian life.