International Human Rights Safeguards and Standards
- Capital Punishment
International law has increasingly restricted the scope and implementation of the death penalty. In addition, 106 countries have abolished the death penalty in law for all crimes, and 142 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.[1]
Although Article 6 of the ICCPR states that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life” and does not expressly prohibit capital punishment while terming it as an exception to the right to life surrounded by a number of specific safeguards, in General Comment No. 6 on Article 6 of the ICCPR adopted in 1982, the Human Rights Committee established that this article “refers generally to abolition [of the death penalty] in terms which strongly suggest (…) that abolition is desirable.” The Committee further concludes that all measures of abolition should be considered as progress in the enjoyment of the right to life.[2]
It is pertinent to note that while Pakistan has ratified the ICCPR, it has made partial reservations to Articles 3, 6, 7, 18 and 19, stating that the articles would apply to the extent they are not repugnant to the Constitution or Islamic law.[3]
Article 6(2) of the ICCPR, and General Comment No. 6 also highlight that State parties are obliged to limit its use and, in particular, to abolish the death penalty for crimes other than the ‘most serious crimes’. The United Nations Economic and Social Council published a set of Safeguards Guaranteeing the Protection of the Rights of those Facing the Death Penalty which outlines that the scope of ‘the most serious crimes’ should not go beyond “international crimes with lethal or other extremely grave consequences.”[4]
Furthermore, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the Human Rights Council, the Human Rights Committee and the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment have specified that drug-related offences do not meet the international threshold for ‘most serious crimes’.
Furthermore, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the UN Security Council resolutions establishing the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda do not provide for the death penalty as a possible sanction even though the forums have been established to try the most serious crimes.[5]
Moreover, there are a number of specific international and regional instruments seeking the abolition of the capital punishment. These include the UN Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Protocol on the Abolition of the Death Penalty (Organization of American States), Protocol 6 and the new Protocol 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights (Council of Europe) require the abolition of the death penalty.[6] However, the Second Protocol does allow state parties to use it in times of war if they make a reservation to that effect at the time of ratifying the Protocol. Nevertheless, it has not been ratified by Pakistan.
Finally, there exists an international consensus on prohibiting death penalty for persons under the age of 18 years old and pregnant women, with Article 6(5) of the ICCPR also prohibiting it. Furthermore, Article 6(4) states that anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence, and this has also been outlined in Safeguard 7 of the Safeguards Guaranteeing Protection of the Rights of Those Facing the Death Penalty.
[1] ‘Death Penalty in 2019: Facts and Figures’ (Amnesty.org, 2019) available at https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/04/death-penalty-in-2019-facts-and-figures/
[2] HRC, General Comment No. 6, ‘Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by Human Rights Treaty Bodies’ 1994 UN Doc HRI/GEN/1/Rev.1
[3] ‘The Death Penalty in Pakistan’ (Dpw.pointjupiter.co, 2011) available at https://dpw.pointjupiter.co/country-search-post.cfm?country=Pakistan
[4] ‘International Standards on The Death Penalty’ (Amnesty.org, 1997) available at https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/156000/act500061997en.pdf
[5] ‘Report – Slow March to The Gallows, Death Penalty in Pakistan’ (Fidh.org, 2007) available at https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/Pakistan464angconjointpdm.pdf
[6] Ibid