Resolution of the Commission
The Commission adopted by recorded vote -- 25 in favour, 20 opposed, 8 abstentions -- a resolution on the question of the death penalty (2002/77). The Commission, inter alia: noted that, in some countries, the death penalty is often imposed after trials which do not conform to international standards of fairness and that persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities appear to be disproportionately subject to the death penalty.
The Commission welcomed: (a) the exclusion of capital punishment from the penalties that the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court are authorized to impose; (b) the abolition of the death penalty which has taken place in some states since the 2001 session of the Commission, and in particular in those states that abolished the death penalty for all crimes; (c) commended states that recently ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the signature of the Protocol by others; (d) the fact that many countries, while still keeping the death penalty in legislation, are applying a moratorium on executions.
The Commission further: expressed concern that several countries impose the death penalty in disregard of the limitations set out in the Covenant and the Convention on the Rights of the Child and 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; called 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.
States that still maintain the death penalty were urged: (a) to comply fully with their obligations under the Covenant and the Convention on the Rights of the Child; (b) to ensure that all legal proceedings, and particularly those related to capital offences, conform to the minimum procedural guarantees contained in article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; (c) to ensure that the notion of "most serious crimes" does not go beyond intentional crimes with lethal or extremely grave consequences and that the death penalty is not imposed for non-violent acts such as financial crimes, non-violent religious practice or expression of conscience, and sexual relations between consenting adults; (d) not to enter any new reservations under article 6 of the Covenant which may be contrary to the object and the purpose of the Covenant and to withdraw any such existing reservations, noting that article 6 enshrines the minimum rules for the protection of the right to life and the generally accepted standards in this area; (e) to observe the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty and to comply fully with their international obligations, in particular with those of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, particularly the right to receive information on consular assistance within the context of a legal procedure; (f) not to impose the death penalty on a person suffering from any form of mental disorder or to execute any such person; (g) not to execute any person as long as any related legal procedure, at the international or at the national level, is pending.
States that still maintain the death penalty were also called upon: (a) progressively to restrict the number of offences for which the death penalty may be imposed; (b) to establish a moratorium on executions, with a view to completely abolishing the death penalty; (c) to make available to the public information with regard to the imposition of the death penalty; (d) to provide to the Secretary-General and relevant UN bodies information relating to the use of capital punishment and the observance of the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty (see Economic and Social Council resolution 1984/50).
The Commission also: called upon states which no longer apply the death penalty but maintain it in their legislation to abolish it; requested states that have received a request for extradition on a capital charge to reserve explicitly the right to refuse extradition in the absence of effective assurances from relevant authorities of the requesting state that capital punishment will not be carried out; requested the Secretary-General to continue to submit to the Commission, at its 2003 session, 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, paying special attention to the imposition of the death penalty against persons younger than 18 years of age at the time of the offence.