Criminal Justice: the Death Penalty

Published on July 2016 | Categories: Types, Government & Politics | Downloads: 36 | Comments: 0 | Views: 537
of 3
Download PDF   Embed   Report

FCO Human Rights report 2010

Comments

Content

The death penalty Global abolition of the death penalty is a priority for the Government. We oppose the death penalty because we consider that its use undermines human dignity, that there is no conclusive evidence of its deterrent value, and that any miscarriage of justice leading to its imposition is irreversible and irreparable. The Government publicly launched its strategy for the abolition of the death penalty in October, to coincide with the World Day Against the Death Penalty and the European Day against the Death Penalty. The strategy sets out our policy on the death penalty and provides guidance to our embassies and high commissions on how they can support our efforts to: • •


increase the number of abolitionist countries, or countries with a moratorium on the use of the death penalty; restrict the use of the death penalty in retentionist countries and reduce the numbers of executions; and ensure EU minimum standards are met in retentionist countries.

Our strategy also identifies those countries and regions where our embassies and high commissions have been specifically tasked to implement the strategy. We focus our efforts where we believe that we can achieve real results. We have selected our five priority countries/regions for a number of reasons: China is the most prolific user of the death penalty; Iran continues to use the death penalty for juvenile offenders and is second only to China in the overall number of executions; Belarus is the last country in Europe that retains this sanction; in the Caribbean, although the number of executions is low, every English-speaking country retains the death penalty on its books; and abolition in the US would send an important signal to the rest of the world. There have been some positive developments in 2010. Mongolia introduced a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in January; Kyrgyzstan acceded to the 2nd Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which aims for abolition of the death penalty; and Guyana ended the mandatory death penalty for most categories of murder. But there

have also been setbacks. Both South Korea and Singapore ruled the mandatory death penalty to be constitutional, after unsuccessful legal challenges; Taiwan broke its five-year de-facto moratorium by executing four death row inmates; and the prime minister of Mauritius announced his intention to reintroduce the death penalty. In 2010 we funded project work in the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. We also funded the Death Penalty Project, an NGO with which we work closely. Its work in 2010 on the case of Godfrey Mutiso led to the mandatory death penalty being ruled unconstitutional in Kenya, following similar work which led to the 2009 ruling in Uganda that the mandatory death penalty was unconstitutional, resulting in 167 death sentences being commuted to life imprisonment. The Death Penalty Project also ran a successful workshop in Barbados, bringing together legal experts from across the Caribbean to consider the issues and challenges that need to be addressed in order to further restrict the death penalty in the region. In China we provided capacity building for legislative reform. A revision to China’s criminal code in 2011 is likely to reduce the number of capital crimes from 68 to 55. This will be implemented by a restructuring of the criminal punishment system. In addition, on 1 July China introduced new evidence guidance on death penalty cases. Along with the EU, we are the main foreign donor working closely with the Chinese authorities on reform and eventual abolition of the death penalty. We also fund two death penalty-related projects as part of a wider EU programme. The UN plays an important role in creating momentum towards global abolition. In December we co-sponsored the cross-regional UN General Assembly resolution on the Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty and lobbied actively for support. This resolution calls upon states to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. The steady increase of support for this resolution, previously adopted in 2007 and 2008, reinforces the international trend towards global abolition. We lobbied Mongolia and Gambia, both of which voted to support the resolution for the first time. We also raised our concerns about the death penalty during the

Universal Periodic Review process in the UN Human Rights Council, including, for example, recommending to the US that it establish a moratorium on the use of the death penalty at the federal and state level as a first step towards abolition. Bilaterally we raised the death penalty directly with governments in a number of countries and regions, including China, the US, the Caribbean and Japan. Where a UK national faces the death penalty abroad, we use all appropriate influence to prevent their execution. We also work with the EU to lobby other governments and to raise individual cases of third country nationals facing the death penalty.

Sponsor Documents

Or use your account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Forgot your password?

Or register your new account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link to create a new password.

Back to log-in

Close