Philippine President Commutes Over 100 Death Sentences

On December 10, 2000, Philippine President Joseph Estrada com­mut­ed the death sen­tences for 105 con­victs to life impris­on­ment. The move came after Estrada was urged by Bishop emer­i­tus Antonio Fortich to release all polit­i­cal pris­on­ers before Christmas. Estrada agreed to release the pris­on­ers, and added that he would com­mute the sen­tences of those under sen­tence of death. Although Estrada announced plans to com­mute all of the coun­try’s death sen­tences, only those death-row con­victs whose sen­tences were upheld by the Philippine Supreme Court qual­i­fied for com­mu­ta­tion. There are still some 1,200 inmates whose cas­es are still under review by the Court. (Associated Press, 12/​10/​00 and EWTN News, 12/​13/​00)

Thailand Proposes Ban on Juvenile Death Penalty

In Thailand, a bill to ban the death penal­ty and life impris­on­ment for juve­nile offend­ers was sub­mit­ted by the Attorney General’s office to be put on the agen­da for a December 12 cab­i­net meet­ing. If passed, the bill, which will replace the sen­tences with a max­i­mum penal­ty of 50 years impris­on­ment, will bring Thailand’s laws in line with inter­na­tion­al con­ven­tions that pro­hib­it such penal­ties for juve­niles. See also, Juveniles and the Death Penalty.

International Moratorium Groups Meet with United Nations Secretary General

On December 18, Moratorium 2000’s United States rep­re­sen­ta­tive, Sister Helen Prejean, joined rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the Sant’Egidio Community of Italy and Amnesty International in a pri­vate meet­ing with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to present over 2.5 mil­lion sig­na­tures call­ing for a mora­to­ri­um on the death penal­ty. For more infor­ma­tion, please vis­it www​.Moratorium2000​.org (Moratorium 2000 Press Release, 10/​25/​00)

International Abolition

Poland — On September 30, 2000, Poland abol­ished its death penal­ty when it rat­i­fied Protocol No. 6 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms con­cern­ing the Abolition of the Death Penalty. To become a par­ty to the pro­to­col mem­ber states must remove cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment from their law. (Council of Europe Press Service, 10/​30/​00)

Chile — The Chilean sen­ate vot­ed to end the death penal­ty and increase the num­ber of years that must be served under a life sen­tence. Before it becomes law, the bill will be sub­mit­ted to the con­sti­tu­tion­al com­mit­tee for review. (BBC News, 11/​6/​00)

United Nations Asked to Enforce U.S. Compliance With Race Convention

On October 24, promi­nent U.S. civ­il rights activists pre­sent­ed a ​“call to action” urg­ing the United Nations to hold the United States account­able for racial­ly dis­crim­i­na­to­ry prac­tices, such as the impo­si­tion of the death penal­ty, in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem. The peti­tion appealed to the U.N. to call on the U.S. gov­ern­ment to hon­or its oblig­a­tion under the International Convention on the Elimination on All Forms of Racial Discrimination and oth­er human rights treaties, and sug­gests state and fed­er­al mora­to­ri­ums on exe­cu­tions in the U.S. The peti­tion was signed by such civ­il rights activists as Julian Bond, Jesse Jackson, Spike Lee, and Kweisi Mfume. (Reuters, 10/​24/​00) See also, Race and the Death Penalty, and DPIC Executive Director Richard Dieter’s state­ment at recent Ford Foundation Symposium on U.S. Compliance with the Race Convention.

Stay of Execution Granted to Hundreds of Caribbean Death Row Prisoners

A deci­sion by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the final court of appeals for such com­mon­wealth nations as Jamaica, Trinidad, the Bahamas and Barbados, result­ed in a stay of exe­cu­tion for hun­dreds of death-row pris­on­ers in the Caribbean. The Privy Council ruled that all pris­on­ers should be giv­en access to the Jamaican Mercy Committee, the body which decides who will be exe­cut­ed and who should receive mer­cy. The Council also held that it was unlaw­ful to exe­cute pris­on­ers with­out regard to deci­sions of inter­na­tion­al human rights bod­ies such as the UN Human Rights Committee and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The Council specif­i­cal­ly com­mut­ed the death sen­tences of 6 inmates. (The Times of London, 9/​13/​00)

European Union Calls for Moratorium on Federal Executions in the U.S.

In a let­ter to President Clinton, the French Presidency of the European Union has urged author­i­ties to declare a mora­to­ri­um on all fed­er­al exe­cu­tions. The let­ter, writ­ten by the French Ambassador, Mr. Francois de l’Estang, urged Clinton not to break the de fac­to mora­to­ri­um on fed­er­al exe­cu­tions and to com­mute fed­er­al death row inmate Juan Raul Garza’s sen­tence to life impris­on­ment. (French Presidency of the European Union Press Release, 7/​27/​00) The let­ter to President Clinton, as well as oth­er mate­ri­als con­cern­ing the European pol­i­cy relat­ed to the death penal­ty are avail­able on the Delegation of the European Union’s Web site.

U.S. Death Penalty Hurts International Image

Felix Rohatyn, the U.S. ambas­sador to France, recent­ly made the fol­low­ing com­ments about the per­cep­tion of the U.S. overseas:
​“People in France admire the United States, and much of what pass­es for anti-Americanism is lim­it­ed to the intel­lec­tu­al milieu of Paris. Not so in the case of the death penal­ty. I trav­el a lot. You hear oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty in Bordeaux, you hear it in Toulouse, every­where. When I speak to audi­ences, the ques­tion always comes up. And I don’t believe this is just a French phe­nom­e­non. I recent­ly spoke to John Kornblum, our ambas­sador to Germany, and he told me the death penal­ty is the sin­gle most recur­ring ques­tion there.” (Newsweek 5/​29/​00)

U.S. a World Leader in Executions

According to sta­tis­tics from Amnesty International, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States account­ed for 85% of the over 1,813 peo­ple exe­cut­ed in 1999. Although the num­ber of exe­cu­tions dropped from 2,258 in 1998, coun­tries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S., all increased their num­bers of exe­cu­tions. The U.S. and Iran were the only two coun­tries to exe­cute a juve­nile offend­er in 1999.
After releas­ing its sta­tis­tics on 1999 exe­cu­tions, Amnesty International called on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to take a stand against the death penal­ty and estab­lish a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions at its annu­al ses­sion cur­rent­ly tak­ing place in Geneva, Switzerland. (Amnesty International News Release, 4/​18/​00)

Philippines President Declares Moratorium on Executions

On March 24, Philippines President Joseph Estrade announced a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions for this year. The mora­to­ri­um was request­ed by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines to mark the 2,000 anniver­sary of Jesus’ birth. Although the mora­to­ri­um is sched­uled to be lift­ed in January of next year, the death sen­tences of at least 18 pris­on­ers have effec­tive­ly been com­mut­ed to life sen­tences because, under Philippines law, they would have to be exe­cut­ed with­in the next six months. The Philippines abol­ished the death penal­ty in 1987, but rein­stat­ed it in 1994. Since then, more than 1,000 peo­ple have been sen­tenced to death, and sev­en have been exe­cut­ed. (Associated Press, 3/​24/​00)