A/HRC/14/24 including of political opposition members or supporters, and election-related killings. I have also investigated many killings in the context of extortion attempts or for other reasons personal to the official. In some countries, police also carry out killings while off duty, whether for “vigilante” reasons, for profit, or as part of a well-organized militia or business enterprise. 34. I have addressed in detail the applicable international legal standards relevant to the use of force by police, as well as the policies that seem most likely to reduce or contribute to unlawful police killings. In 2006 I set out the basis and content of international law on the use of lethal force by police (A/61/311, paras. 33-45). That report explained that the rules governing the use of force were built on the principles that the force must be both necessary and proportional. The intentional use of lethal force is strictly limited to circumstances where it is required to protect life. The report also underscored the importance of the principles contained in the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials. Country reports, including those on Kenya (A/HRC/11/2/Add.6) and Nigeria (E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.4), indicate that the right to life is at grave risk in States where the use-of-force guidelines are inconsistent with these rules. 35. My 2006 report to the Commission examined “shoot-to-kill” policies in response to a number of high-profile pronouncements from officials of various Governments, authorizing police to “shoot on sight” alleged terrorists and criminals (E/CN.4/2006/53, paras. 44-54). Such dangerous official rhetoric displaces the clear legal standards on the use of lethal force which stipulate that the police may shoot to kill only when it is clear that an individual is about to kill someone (making lethal force proportionate) and there is no other available means of detaining the suspect (making lethal force necessary). 36. Country reports have addressed policing methods that offer alternatives to counterproductive, unlawful and violent policing. Examples include community policing in Nigeria, and the benefits of a sustained police presence in gang-controlled areas in Brazil. In reports on Kenya and Nigeria I addressed the need for centralized data-keeping and monitoring of police killings. 37. Much of the mandate’s work on police killings has focused on improving accountability, an issue addressed in greater detail in the general section on impunity (see below). B. Killings during armed conflict 38. In many of the countries I have visited, armed conflicts have resulted in many unlawful killings. These include Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Israel, Lebanon, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. 39. Much of the mandate’s work on killings in armed conflict has sought to clarify the relationship between human rights and humanitarian law, starting with the basis for the mandate’s coverage and investigation of armed conflict killings. In 2004 (E/CN.4/2005/7, paras. 5-11 and 45) and 2007 (A/HRC/4/20, paras. 18 and 20-24) I showed that, from the very beginning of the mandate, Special Rapporteurs have reviewed the legality of killings under international humanitarian law, and that the mandate covers, without exception, violations of the right to life in international and non-international armed conflicts. These analyses, as well as reports on Afghanistan, Israel and Lebanon, and Sri Lanka, explained 9