CIDH President defines right to life as foundation of all human rights

Edgar Stuardo Ralón Orellana, president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH), stated that the right to life serves as the fundamental basis for all other human rights. Speaking at a commemorative event for the 100th edition of the magazine ‘Tiempo de Derechos’ at the Instituto Cultural Helénico, Ralón Orellana emphasized that without life, there is no subject to exercise freedom, equality, or dignity.

The CIDH president argued that human life must be protected from conception until natural death, noting that this principle is rooted in international human rights law, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights. He described life as a legal good and asserted that the state has a positive obligation to protect it, rather than a mere duty of abstention.

During the discussion, which included legal and academic representatives, Ralón Orellana also addressed the protection of vulnerable individuals, maintaining that human dignity is not divisible by stages and does not depend on age, health status, or level of autonomy.