Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials13 (the Code) and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials 14 (the Basic Principles). The essence of these instruments is reflected in the “protection of life” principle. 111. Article 3 of the Code is brief, limiting the use of force by law enforcement officials to only that which is “strictly necessary” in order to carry out their duties. The commentary included in the Code, however, expands upon this AC HP R article, posing the standard that the use of force must be “reasonably necessary” and comply with the requirement of “proportionality”, and in paragraph (c) sets out the bounds within which firearms are to be used. It states that the use of firearms is an extreme measure and is to be limited to the exceptional circumstances where “a suspected offender offers armed resistance or otherwise jeopardizes the lives of others and less extreme measures are not sufficient to restrain or apprehend the suspected offender”. It can be deduced that it is not the fact that someone suspected of having committed a crime stands to be arrested as such that justifies the use of firearms but rather the danger that this person poses to life.15 112. The Basic Principles flesh out the provisions set out in the Code. The Basic Principles contain provisions regarding the steps to be employed prior to the use of firearms, including issuing warnings, 16the conditions to be observed when firearms are used17and, in the event that firearms are utilized, steps to 13 14 UNGA Res. 34/169, annex See Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Havana, 27 August-7 September 1990: report prepared by the Secretariat (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.91.IV.2, chap. I, sect. B).) See UN Doc. A/66/330, Para. 37 Principle 10 17 Principle 5 15 16 30