Geneva, April 26, 2000

COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS ADOPTS RESOLUTION ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

In a resolution on the question of the death penalty (E/CN.4/2000/L.81), the Commission called upon all States parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that had not yet done so to consider acceding to or ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant, aimed at the abolition of the death penalty; urged all States that still maintained the death penalty, among other things, to comply fully with their obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child and not to impose the death penalty for any but the most serious crimes and only pursuant to a final judgement rendered by an independent and impartial competent court and to not impose it for crimes committed by persons below 18 years of age, to exclude pregnant women from capital punishment and to ensure the right to a fair trial and the rights to seek pardon or commutation of sentence; and to ensure that the notion of 'most serious crimes' did

not go beyond intentional crimes with lethal or extremely grave consequences and that the death penalty was not imposed for non-violent religious practice or expression of conscience.

The Commission urged States parties not to enter any new reservations under article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which may be contrary to the object and purpose of the Covenant and to withdraw any such existing reservations, given that article 6 of the Covenant enshrined the minimum rules for the protection of the right to life and the generally accepted standards in this area; to observe the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty and to comply fully with their international obligations, in particular those under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations; not to impose the death penalty on a person suffering from any form of mental disorder or to execute any such person; not to execute any person as long as any related legal procedure at the international or national was pending. The resolution called upon all States that still maintained the death penalty to progressively restrict the number of offences for which the death penalt

y may be imposed, to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to completely abolish the death penalty, and to make available to the public information with regard to the imposition of the death penalty. The resolution requested States that had received a request for extradition on a capital charge to reserve explicitly the right to refuse extradition in the absence of effective assurances from relevant authorities of the requesting State that capital punishment would not be carried out.

The above resolution was accepted by a roll-call vote of 27 in favour to 13 against and 12 abstentions after a separate vote to retain operative paragraphs 3f, 4b and 5 was carried on by a roll-call vote of 26 in favour to 15 against and 11 abstentions.

The result of the vote on operative paragraphs 3f, 4b and 5 was as follows:

In favour: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Czech Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Mexico, Nepal, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Venezuela.

Against: Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Rwanda, Sudan, Swaziland, and the United States.

Abstentions: Bhutan, Burundi, Guatemala, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Philippines, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Zambia.

The result of the vote as a whole was as follows:

In favour: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Czech Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Mexico, Nepal, Niger, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Venezuela.

Against: Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Indonesia, Japan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Rwanda, Sudan, Swaziland, and the United States.

Abstentions: Bhutan, Burundi, Cuba, Guatemala, India, Madagascar, Morocco, Philippines, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Zambia.

SHARAT SABHARWAL (India) said that the international community had not reached consensus on the question of capital punishment. It also must be recognized that promoting the abolitionist cause could be achieved only progressively. It was also agreed that the death penalty should be applied only in the case of the most serious crimes and in compliance with international law. India applied the death sentence only in cases that shocked the conscious of society. The application of the death penalty was an exception rather than the rule. Further, the death penalty was not applied to certain categories of offenders such as pregnant women and juveniles. India would abstain on draft resolution L.81 (the question of death penalty)

VALDIMIR PARSHIKOV (the Russian Federation) said that his country had always strictly obeyed international human rights standards with regards to the death penalty. The Russian Federation was in favour of this draft resolution and would like to be included amongst its cosponsors.

HAROLD KOH (the United States) recalled that international law did not prohibit the use of the death penalty. Each State should be allowed to decide whether its domestic law could impose the death penalty, in accordance with international law and in observance of due process. The United States would therefore vote against L.81 (the question of death penalty).