INTERNATIONAL: UN Investigator Claims Executions are Increasingly Viewed as Torture Around the World

On October 23, the United Nations’ spe­cial rap­por­teur on tor­ture, Juan Mendez, told a UN General Assembly human rights com­mit­tee that coun­tries around the world are increas­ing­ly view­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment as a form of tor­ture because of the severe men­tal and phys­i­cal pain it inflicts on those sen­tenced to death. 

Mendez told the com­mit­tee, ​“States need to re-exam­ine their pro­ce­dures under inter­na­tion­al law because the abil­i­ty of states to impose and car­ry out the death penal­ty is dimin­ish­ing as these prac­tices are increas­ing­ly viewed to con­sti­tute tor­ture.” Mendez urged all coun­tries to con­sid­er repeal­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment because it is ​“cum­ber­some and expen­sive and you’re nev­er sure you’re doing it in the right way.” 

Mendez also spoke about the ​“death row phe­nom­e­non,” that is, con­di­tions on death row that cause severe men­tal anguish and phys­i­cal suf­fer­ing. He said such depri­va­tions include anx­i­ety due to the threat of immi­nent exe­cu­tion, extend­ed soli­tary con­fine­ment, and poor prison conditions.