RIGHTS: Amnesty Presses UN to Act against Death Penalty

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Apr 9 2002 (IPS) - The human rights organisation Amnesty International urges the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to repeat its call for a universal moratorium on state executions, which in 2001 claimed the lives of at least 3,048 people.

The petition by the London-based group also underscores that all countries must respect the international ban on executing criminal offenders under 18.

The Commission, the UN’s maximum human rights body, is to discuss capital punishment and a draft resolution in favour of banning the death penalty during its annual six-week sessions under way in Geneva, and slated to end Apr 26.

The debate at the Commission on Human Rights this year takes on added importance, commented Amnesty representative Judit Arenas, pointing out that the number of executions last year doubled the total for 2000, which was 1,457.

The 3,048 executions in 2001 occurred in 31 countries, while death sentences were handed to 5,265 people, distributed among 68 countries.

But these figures reflect only those cases known by Amnesty. “The true figures are surely higher,” said Arenas.

A reliable total is impossible to calculate because many countries deliberately hide the true number of executions or carry them out in secret, therefore contradicting the supposed dissuasive character some proponents attribute to the death penalty, she said.

Every year since 1997, the UN Commission on Human Rights has approved a resolution that calls on those states that apply the death penalty to begin a moratorium on executions, with sights on an eventual abolition of capital punishment.

Initially, the measure was promoted by the Italian delegation, but then the European Union took charge of sponsoring it, with the support of the Latin American countries represented on the Commission.

The campaign against the death penalty is also backed by many other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Western countries and by religious groups, particularly those of the Roman Catholic faith.

The Commission, whose 53 seats are allocated proportionally by region, last year approved an anti-death penalty resolution with 27 votes in favour, 18 against, seven abstentions and one absence.

However, immediately after that text passed, a group of 60 countries, including the United States and countries of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, released a declaration in which they stated that the UN Charter does not authorise the institution to intervene in matters of domestic jurisdiction.

There are currently 84 countries that maintain the death penalty as a legal punishment, but the number of countries that carry out executions is much less.

According to Amnesty, the “dramatic increase in worldwide executions (in 2001) was due to the intensified use of the death penalty in China” after the government launched an intensive crackdown against crime.

“Between April and July 2001 alone, at least 1,781 people were executed in that country – more than the total number of people executed in the rest of the world in the previous three years.”

According to the human rights group, many of the people sentenced to death may have been tortured to obtain confessions, and condemned prisoners are often shackled and humiliated by being put on public display.

The other countries with most cases of executions are Iran, where there were 139 officially, but the true number is believed to be much higher, followed by Saudi Arabia, with 79, and the United States, with 66, said Arenas.

These three countries and China represent 90 percent of the state executions reported in 2001.

Michel Taube, of the NGO ‘Ensemble contre la peine de mort’ (Together against the Death Penalty), commented that 2001 was the year in which most people were sentenced to death for committing non-violent crimes.

In Saudi Arabia, the death penalty is applied against homosexuals, in Southeast Asia against drug traffickers, and in China against those found guilty of corruption or theft.

The UN has urged against capital punishment for crimes of this nature, said Taube.

Every year, numerous people are condemned to death for their sexual practices or identity, said the activist. These are not violent acts and are not considered crimes in most countries.

The laws of many countries are based on Muslim traditions, which stipulate the death penalty for certain actions and discriminate against women in particular, said Taube.

The activist for the Paris-based NGO proposed that the UN Commission on Human Rights designate a special rapporteur for the death penalty issue, in order to give it “greater visibility” worldwide.

With respect to executions of child offenders, Amnesty listed three cases in 2001: in Iran, Pakistan and the United States.

In Iran, Mehrdad Yousefi, 18, was hanged in May. He had been found guilty of a murder committed when he was 16 years old.

Ali Sher was executed in November in Pakistan for a crime committed when he was just 13.

Gerald Mitchell was executed in the United States in October for a murder committed in 1986, when he was 17.