Conducting scientific medical research with human subjects presents risks that raise both ethical and human rights concerns. We argue in this article that applying a human rights framework to the problems that arise in the context of scientific medical research can contribute to a better understanding of the impact on individuals, the related obligations of the State, and the avenues to make the State accountable when things go wrong. We start our analysis with a case brought to the European Court of Human Rights, which we use as an illustration throughout the article. We then discuss the relevance of human rights to the field of scientific medical research with a focus on the right to life and the right to health. The article draws on international human rights jurisprudence that deals with concrete disputes arising from the clinical reality. We use case law to highlight the role of human rights law in tackling the real-life problems that may occur during scientific medical research. Our analysis contends that human rights law can provide valuable guidance for healthcare professionals and equip them to handle concrete situations in the clinical reality when the safety of research subjects is at stake.

This article seeks to examine whether the International Court of Justicehas developed jurisprudence on international humanitarian law and whether this has exerted any influence on the decisions adopted by other international courts and tribunals. In so doing, it revisits the issue of the value ofjudicial decisions under international law. Finally, it reveals that despite the non-operation of the rule of stare decisis in international law, the Court's jurisprudence on international humanitarian law has been a persuasive precedent for other international courts and tribunals.