26 May 1983

Arbitrary or summary executions

The Economic and Social Council,

Recalling General Assembly resolutions 35/172 of 15 December 1980, in which the Secretary-General was requested to report to the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control at its seventh session on arbitrary or summary executions, and 36/22 of 9 November 1982, in which the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control was requested to examine the problem with a view to making recommendations,

Having considered the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 35/172,

Having regard to the provisions bearing on capital punishment in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in particular articles 2 (i), 6, 14 and 15 thereof,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 2393 (XXIII) of 26 November 1968, in which the Assembly invited Governments of Member States, inter alia, to ensure the most careful legal procedures and the greatest possible safeguards for the accused in capital cases in countries where the death penalty obtains,

Mindful that a substantive relationship exists between the issue of human rights, on the one hand, and criminal justice, on the other, which should be further recognized and promoted within the United Nations system,

Concerned about the statement made in the 1980 quinquennial report of the Secretary-General on the question of capital punishment, indicating that extrajudicial executions were increasing in certain countries, retentionist and abolitionist alike,

Taking note of resolution 5 of 5 September 1980 of the Sixth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, in which the Congress deplored and condemned extra-legal executions,

Further recalling the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and related recommendations adopted by the United Nations,

Acknowledging the work done by the Commission on Human Rights and the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities in the areas of summary or arbitrary executions, and disappearances of persons, and the more general question of the human rights and protection of persons held under any form of detention and subjected to torture or any other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,

Hopeful that work currently undertaken by competent bodies of the United Nations with a view to drafting a convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, a draft body of principles for the protection of all persons under any form of detention or imprisonment and a draft code of medical ethics can be expedited,

1. Strongly condemns and deplores the brutal practice of summary executions in various parts of the world, and its apparent increase;

2. Equally strongly condemns and deplores the lack or non-observance in certain cases of the minimum legal guarantees and safeguards in respect of the use of capital punishment, which can lead to sham trials and arbitrary executions;

3. Requests the Secretary-General to make available to the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control at its eighth session a report on the progress of the work done by the Commission on Human Rights and the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities;

4. Decides that the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control should further study the question of death penalties that do not meet the acknowledged minimum legal guarantees and safeguards, as contained in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international instruments, and welcomes the Committee's intention that the issue should be discussed at the Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, under the appropriate item;

5. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to obtain information, from Member States and other available sources, on the development of legal provisions, the actual practice relating to the death penalty and the arbitrary character of some executions, and to make his next report on capital punishment available to the Seventh Congress for consideration.