INDEX

A recent visit to Taiwan by a joint World Coalition-ADPAN delegation left the impression that the Asian island was on course to “join a global trend towards abolition of the death penalty”, as was reported in the local media.

A recent report from a far-reaching commission established by the Californian senate on the administration of capital punishment in the state concluded that “the system is broken”.

As the World Coalition held its general meeting in Nantes at the end of June, discussions focussed on the involvement of corporations and local authorities.

Marc Bossuyt was UN Special Rapporteur for drawing up the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He is now president of Belgium’s Constitutional Court.

What is it? How is it implemented? You will find the answers to the most frequently asked questions about the Second Optional Protocol below.

When a State ratifies a treaty, it undertakes to respect the undertakings that it has made before the whole of the international community. If it fails to meets its obligations and goes against the provisions of the treaty, it can be held responsible at international level.

From “Acceptance” to “Treaty”, discover the vocabulary of international law and get a clearer picture of the Second Optional Protocol.

The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is an international covenant adopted in 1989 by the United Nations General Assembly. It aims to abolish the death penalty definitively.

On June 17, Tsutomu Miyazaki, Shinji Mutsuda and Yoshio Yamazaki were executed in Japan. Lawyer Maiko Tagusari, who defended one of the three men, denounces the rising number of executions in her country.

A World Coalition delegation found the door closed on June 16 when they attempted to handover to the Chinese Liaison Office in Hong Kong a petition urging for changes in the death penalty system in China.