Status of the International Covenants on Human Rights from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights

Question of the Death Penalty

(approved April 3, 1998; 26 nations in favor, 13 against, 12 abstentions)

30^th March 1998 Commission on Human Rights
Fifty-fourth ses­sion
Agenda Item 13
E/CN.4/1998/L.12

The Commission on Human Rights,

Recalling arti­cle 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which affirms the right of every­one to life, arti­cle 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and arti­cles 6 and 37 (a) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child,

Recalling General Assembly res­o­lu­tions 2857 (XXVI) of 20 December 1971 and 32/​61 of 8 December 1977 on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, as well as resolution?44/128 of 15 December 1989, in which the Assembly adopt­ed and opened for sig­na­ture, rat­i­fi­ca­tion and acces­sion the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aim­ing at the abo­li­tion of the death penalty,

Recalling Economic and Social Council res­o­lu­tions 1574 (L) of 20 May 1971, 1745 (LIV) of 16 May 1973, 1930 (LVIII) of 6 May 1975, 1984/​50 of 25 May 1984, 1985/​33 of 29 May 1985, 1989/​64 of 24 May 1989, 1990/​29 of 24?May?1990, 1990/​51 of 24 July 1990 and 1996/​15 of 23 July 1996,

Recalling also its res­o­lu­tion 1997/​12 of 3 April 1997 which reaf­firms that abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty con­tributes to the enhance­ment of human dig­ni­ty and to the pro­gres­sive devel­op­ment of human rights,

Welcoming the exclu­sion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment from the penal­ties that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda are autho­rized to impose,

Welcoming the fact that sev­er­al coun­tries while still keep­ing the death penal­ty in their penal leg­is­la­tion are apply­ing a mora­to­ri­um on executions;

Referring, as far as the safe­guards guar­an­tee­ing pro­tec­tion of the rights of those fac­ing the death penal­ty are con­cerned, to the report of the Special Rapporteur on extra­ju­di­cial, sum­ma­ry or arbi­trary exe­cu­tions (E/CN.4/1998/68 and Add.1 — 3);

Deeply con­cerned that sev­er­al coun­tries impose the death penal­ty in dis­re­gard of the lim­i­ta­tions pro­vid­ed for in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child,

Concerned also that sev­er­al coun­tries, in impos­ing the death penal­ty, do not take into account the Safeguards guar­an­tee­ing pro­tec­tion of the rights of those fac­ing the death penal­ty, set out in the annex to Economic and Social Council res­o­lu­tion 1984/​50 of 25 May 1984,

1. Welcomes the Secretary Generalís report on changes in law and prac­tice con­cern­ing the death penal­ty world­wide (E/CN.4/1998/82) and fur­ther pos­i­tive devel­op­ments that are reflect­ed in it .

2. Calls upon all States par­ties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that have not yet done so to con­sid­er acced­ing to or rat­i­fy­ing the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aim­ing at the abo­li­tion of the death penalty;

3. Urges all States that still main­tain the death penalty

- to com­ply ful­ly with their oblig­a­tions under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, notably not to impose the death penal­ty for any but the most seri­ous crimes, not to impose it for crimes com­mit­ted by per­sons below eigh­teen years of age, to exclude preg­nant women from cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and to ensure the right to seek par­don or com­mu­ta­tion of sentence;

- to observe the Safeguards guar­an­tee­ing pro­tec­tion of the rights of those fac­ing the death penal­ty, set out in the annex to Economic and Social Council resolution?1984/50 of 25 May 1984;

4. Calls upon all States that still main­tain the death penalty

- pro­gres­sive­ly to restrict the num­ber of offences for which the death penal­ty may be imposed;

- to estab­lish a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions, with a view to com­plete­ly abol­ish­ing the death penalty;

- to make avail­able to the pub­lic infor­ma­tion with regard to the impo­si­tion of the death penalty;

5. Requests the Secretary*General to con­tin­ue to sub­mit to the Commission on Human Rights, in con­sul­ta­tion with Governments, spe­cial­ized agen­cies and inter­gov­ern­men­tal and non-gov­ern­men­tal orga­ni­za­tions, a year­ly sup­ple­ment on changes in law and prac­tice con­cern­ing the death penal­ty world­wide to his quin­quen­ni­al report on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and imple­men­ta­tion of the Safeguards guar­an­tee­ing pro­tec­tion of the rights of those fac­ing the death penal­ty (E/CN.15/1996/19);

6. Decides to con­tin­ue con­sid­er­a­tion of the mat­ter at its 55^th ses­sion under the same agenda item.