Your search “Keep%20the%20death%20penalty%abolished%20in%20the%20ePhilippfines%20e%20e%20e%20e%20e%20e%20e%20e%20e%20e/page/www.deathpenalty.org/downloads/RadeletDeterrenceStudy20e09.pdf ”

View all document types 2406 Document(s)

Document(s)

The question of the death penalty: Report of the Secretary-General

By United Nations, on 1 January 2006


2006

International law - United Nations

arrufrzh-hantes
More details See the document

The present report contains information covering developments during 2006. The report indicates that the trend towards abolition of the death penalty continues. This is illustrated, inter alia, by the increase in the number of countries that have abolished the death penalty and by the increase in ratifications of international instruments that provide for the abolition of this form of punishment.

Document(s)

Moratorium on the use of the death penalty. Report of the Secretary-General (2008)

By United Nations, on 8 September 2020


2020

United Nations report

arruzh-hantesfr
More details See the document

The present report surveys respect for the rights of those sentenced to death as set out in the international human rights treaties and the guidelines established by the Economic and Social Council in 1984. Drawing on contributions of Member States, the report surveys various motivations for establishing a moratorium on or abolishing the death penalty, as well as those for retaining the death penalty. It also includes up-to-date statistical information on the worldwide use of the death penalty, including moratoriums established in States that have not abolished this form of punishment, together with relevant developments since the sixty-second session of the General Assembly. The report concludes by confirming the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty, the important role played by moratoriums in those States that seek to abolish it and possibilities for further work on the issue.

Document(s)

Framing Death Penalty Politics in Malaysia

By Thaatchaayini Kananatu, on 1 September 2022


2022

Academic report

Malaysia


More details See the document

The death penalty in Malaysia is a British colonial legacy that has undergone significant scrutiny in recent times. While the Malaysian Federal Constitution 1957 provides that ‘no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty save in accordance with law’, there are several criminal offences (including drug-related crimes) that impose the mandatory and discretionary death penalty. Using Benford and Snow’s framing processes, this paper reviews death penalty politics in Malaysia by analysing the rhetoric of abolitionists and retentionists. The abolitionists, comprising activist lawyers and non-government organisations, tend to use ‘human rights’ and ‘injustice’ frames, which humanise the ‘criminal’ and gain international support. The retentionists, such as victims’ families, use a ‘victims’ justice’ frame emphasising the ‘inhuman’ nature of violent crimes. In addition, the retentionist state shifts between ‘national security’ and ‘national development’ frames. This paper finds that death penalty politics in Malaysia is predominantly a politics of framing.
This article was first published in Crime Justice Journal: https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/issue/view/119

  • Document type Academic report
  • Countries list Malaysia

Document(s)

‘Upholding the Cause of Civilization’: The Australian Death Penalty in War and Colonialism

By Mark Finnane, on 1 September 2022


Academic report

Australia


More details See the document

The abolition of the death penalty in Queensland in 1922 was the first in Australian jurisdictions, and the first in the British Empire. However, the legacy of the Queensland death penalty lingered in Australian colonial territories. This article considers a variety of practices in which the death penalty was addressed by Australian decision-makers during the first half of the 20th century. These include the exemption of Australian soldiers from execution in World War I, use of the death penalty in colonial Papua and the Mandate Territory of New Guinea, hanging as a weapon of war in the colonial territories, and the retrieval of the death penalty for the punishment of war crimes. In these histories, we see not only that the Queensland death penalty lived on in other contexts but also that ideological and political preferences for abolition remained vulnerable to the sway of other historical forces of war and security.
This article was first pubished in Crime Justice Journal: https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/issue/view/119

  • Document type Academic report
  • Countries list Australia

Document(s)

Anti–Death Penalty Advocacy: A Lawyer’s View from Australia

By Julian McMahon SC, on 1 September 2022


Article

Australia


More details See the document

This article reviews the executions of Australians in the region and the Australian responses over the past two decades. Informed by the author’s legal defence role in death penalty cases in Singapore and Indonesia and other countries, the article explores developments in anti–death penalty advocacy since 2015: the parliamentary enquiry, the ‘whole of government’ strategy led by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the efforts made by Australia and Australians in Asia.
This article was first published in Crime Justice Journal: https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/issue/view/119

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list Australia

Document(s)

Women and the Death Penalty in Iran

By Iran Human Rights, on 8 October 2021


2021

NGO report

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Women


More details See the document

In observation of the 2021 World Day Against the Death Penalty dedicated to women, Iran Human Rights is providing a report on the women executed in Iran over the last 12 years (2010-2021). The executions in this period are by no means representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s complete history of executing women; the number of female political prisoners executed in the 1980s must be acknowledged due to their sheer volume and abhorrent nature. But even today, there is ample evidence of their cruel and inhuman treatment of female prisoners, which will be highlighted in this report.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
  • Themes list Women

Document(s)

The Death Penalty for Drug Crimes in Asia

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty / Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l'Homme (FIDH), on 1 January 2015


2015

NGO report


More details See the document

The report, published for the 13th World Day against the Death Penalty, analyzes how the death penalty is applied for drug-related crimes in Asia, evaluates the most common arguments used by governments to justify their use of this inhumane and illegal measure, and exposes why these arguments are unjustified. Asia is the continent that executes the most people for drug-related crimes. However, the death penalty has not proven to be effective in reducing drug crimes in Asia.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Drug Offences, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in 2010: Year End Reports

By Death Penalty Information Center, on 1 January 2010


2010

NGO report


More details See the document

The death penalty continued to be mired in conflict in 2010, as states grappled with an ongoing controversy over lethal injections, the high cost of capital punishment, and increasing public sentiment in favor of alternative sentences. Executions dropped by 12% compared with 2009, and by more than 50% since 1999. The number of new death sentences was about the same as in 2009, the lowest number in 34 years. —– For other DPIC year end reports (from 1995 – 2009) please visit: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/reports

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,

Document(s)

Leaflet Women and the Death Penalty

By World coalition against the death penalty, on 2 October 2023


2023

World Coalition

Gender

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 1448 Ko ]

Document(s)

Leaflet LGBTQIA+ people and the Death Penalty

By World coalition against the death penalty, on 2 October 2023


World Coalition

Gender

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 861 Ko ]

Document(s)

THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE FEDERAL DEATH PENALTY

By Robert J. Smith / Ben Cohen / Washington Law Review, on 1 January 2010


2010

Article

United States


More details See the document

Scholars have devoted substantial attention to both the overrepresentation of black defendants on federal death row and the disproportionate number of federal defendants charged capitally for the murder of white victims. This attention has not explained (much less resolved) these disquieting racial disparities. Little research has addressed the unusual geography of the federal death penalty, in which a small number of jurisdictions are responsible for the vast majority of federal death sentences. By addressing the unique geography, we identify a possible explanation for the racial distortions in the federal death penalty: that federal death sentences are sought disproportionately where the expansion of the venire from the county to the district level has a dramatic demographic impact on the racial make-up of the jury. This inquiry demonstrates that the conversation concerning who should make up the jury of twelve neighbors and peers—a discussion begun well before the founding of our Constitution—continues to have relevance today. Louisiana, Missouri, Virginia and Maryland referred to.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

How the European Union Works: Your guide to the EU institutions

By European Union, on 1 January 2007


2007

Working with...

fres
More details See the document

The European Union (EU) is a family of democratic European countries working together to improve life for their citizens and to build a better world. The following chapters describe the Treaties, the EU institutions and the other bodies and agencies, explaining what each entity does and how they interact.

Document(s)

Death Penalty in the Palestinian Legal System: A Legal Review

By Maan Shihda Ideis / Independent Commission for Human Rights , on 1 January 2010


2010

International law - Regional body

ar
More details See the document

ICHR carried out this review in order to assist the PNA in its attempts to join international community that did abolish death penalty from their legal system. In order for the PNA to ratify the various international conventions stipulating respect for the right to life and prohibits the execution of every human being. In this study, ICHR aims to define the practical steps that the PNA should take in order to abolish death penalty from the Palestinian legal system. According to Article (10) of the Basic Law of 2002, the human rights and fundamental freedoms shall be binding and respected by the PNA which shall, without delay, accede to the regional and international declarations and instruments that protect human rights, especially those international charters and resolutions that governing the right to life, the abolition of death penalty, and/or placing restrictions on the procedures of its execution.

Document(s)

Death Penalty in the Palestinian Legal System A Legal review

By Maan Shihda Ideis / Independent Commission for Human Rights , on 1 January 2010


NGO report


More details See the document

This study analyzes the Palestinian legislations in light of the UN procedures and criteria on the issuance, imposition or execution of death sentences. The study is divided into two main parts, each of which is dedicated to either the international or national legislation on death penalty. This part is divided into two main chapters. Chapter One addresses the substantive provisions on death penalty and Chapter Two is concerned with the procedural provisions. This classification is inline with the international efforts for the abolition of death penalty, particularly because the UN, in its capacity as the representative of the international community, has not banned the capital punishment but opted for the introduction of a number of legal actions for the States to consider when they include such penalty in their legislations, or when such sentences are issued by the courts or actually executed. Thus, the procedural and the substantive provisions are addressed separately in this study, both at the international and national levels.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list International law,

Document(s)

A Perverse and Ominous Enterprise: The Death Penalty and Illegal Executions in Saudi Arabia

By Helena Kennedy, on 1 January 2019


2019

International law - Regional body


More details See the document

The evidence reviewed demonstrates frequent and heavy-handed recourse to the death penalty by Saudi Arabia in recent months. At least 149 people were executed in 2018, with at minimum 46 remaining on death row at the end of the year. A significant proportion of those executed were political dissidents, and a number were children at the time of their alleged offending. Each of these features connotes a grave violation of international human rights norms.

  • Document type International law - Regional body

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in the Arab World 2011

By Alejandro Tagarro Cervantes / Amman Center for Human Rights Studies, on 1 January 2011


2011

NGO report


More details See the document

This annual report drafted by ACHRS aims to proportionate an analytical studio of the situation of the death penalty and capital punishment in the Arab World in 2011, and includes detailed information about the 21 countries which constitute the Arab World. It also contains tables and a conclusive reflection on the current state of capital punishment.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Viêt Namese : Khả năng của Việt Nam gia nhập Nghị định thư tùy chọn thứ hai về bãi bỏ hình phạt tử hình theo Công ước quốc tế về các quyền dân sự và chính trị (ICCPR)

By European Union / United Nations Development Programme / Nguyen Thi Thanh Hai / Nguyen Van Hoan / Nguyen Minh Khue, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

Viet Nam

en
More details See the document

Nghiên cứu này nhằm đánh giá khả năng Việt Nam phê chuẩn Nghị định thư không bắt buộc thứ hai đối với Công ước quốc tế về các quyền dân sự và chính trị (ICCPR) nhằm xóa bỏ án tử hình. Nó phân tích: (a) khung pháp lý quốc tế hiện hành và quá trình phát triển pháp lý để xóa bỏ án tử hình ở các quốc gia được chọn, (b) sự tương thích giữa các quy định hiện hành về án tử hình trong hệ thống pháp luật Việt Nam và Nghị định thư tùy chọn thứ hai của ICCPR và (c) đánh giá tính khả thi để bãi bỏ án tử hình ở Việt Nam.

Document(s)

On the possibility of Viet Nam ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty

By European Union / United Nations Development Programme / Nguyen Thi Thanh Hai / Nguyen Van Hoan / Nguyen Minh Khue, on 1 January 2019


2019

International law - United Nations

en
More details See the document

This study aims to assess the possibility of Viet Nam ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. It analyzes: (a) the current international legal framework and the process of legal development to abolish the death penalty in selected countries, (b) the compatibility between the existing regulations on the death penalty in the Vietnamese legal system and the Second Optional Protocol of the ICCPR, and (c) the assessment of feasibility for abolition of the death penalty in Viet Nam.

Document(s)

Japanese : 死刑囚の子ども達の 未来に向けて

By Oliver Robertson / Quaker United Nations Office, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

enarfafres
More details See the document

本レポートは,初めに死刑囚の子どもについての基本的情報,すなわち,親が刑事司法制度において裁かれるに全過程を通じて現れる諸問題を提示する。次に,一般的な受刑者の子どもが直面する問題点との類似性を踏まえつつ,死刑囚の子どものケースは異なるものであることに焦点を当てる。世界における受刑者の子どもが置かれた状況の詳細については, 勧告や望ましい実践例も含め,QUNO発刊のCollat-eralConvicts (2012) を参照していただきたい。第三に,死刑囚の子どもだけが体験する根本的に特有な問題点を検討する。本レポートは,限られた数の勧告のみを掲示している。これは,網羅的であることを意図するのではなく,前向きな展開が明確な分野の勧告のみを取り上げたためである。

Document(s)

The importance of raising awareness among ambassadors to the African Union on the draft African Protocol on abolition of the death penalty

By FIACAT / Xavière Prugnard, on 1 January 2019


2019

Multimedia content

fr
More details See the document

FIACAT press release about the awareness raising workshop for permanent representatives to the African Union.

Document(s)

Lightening the Load of the Parental Death Penalty on Children

By Oliver Robertson / Quaker United Nations Office, on 1 January 2013


2013

NGO report

enarfafres
More details See the document

This paper begins by providing some basic information about children of parents sentenced to death, issues that persist through the whole of a parent’sinteraction with the criminal justice system. Next, it looks at issues that aresimilar to those faced by other children of prisoners, but focuses on the ways inwhich children of parents sentenced to death are different. For a more detailedaccount of the situation of children of prisoners worldwide, including recommendations and examples of good practice, read QUNO’s 2012 paperCollateral Convicts. Thirdly, the fundamentally different issues are considered, thoseonly children of parents sentenced to death experience. There are a limitednumber of recommendations included throughout: these are not intended to becomprehensive, instead only covering those areas where there is already clarity about a positive way forward.

Document(s)

Sentenced to Death: A Report on Washington Supreme Court Rulings In Capital Cases

By American Civil Liberties Union / Washington, on 1 January 2001


2001

NGO report


More details See the document

The ACLU conducted an analysis of court rulings in the 25 Washington cases in which the death sentence has been imposed since 1981, when the current death penalty statute took effect. That analysis of almost two decades of death sentences and executions makes it clear that the system by which we impose and review death sentences in Washington is fundamentally flawed.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

FHRI and PRI submission to the UN Sec-Gen report on the status of the death penalty in East Africa – Kenya and Uganda April 2012

By Penal Reform International, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

Kenya


More details See the document

Two trends accompanying the abolition of the death penalty give reason for concern: there is a striking increase in offences that carry the sanction of life imprisonment as the sanction which typically replaces the death penalty following abolition or a moratorium of the death penalty; and a striking increase in prisoners serving this indefinite sentence. Secondly, a differential, harsher treatment is applied to them as compared to other categories of prisoners. At the same time, the development of international standards in any affirmative–if not legally binding– form are lacking. As a consequence states are more frequently enforcing a form of punishment problematic in terms of international human rights standards and norms.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list Kenya
  • Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,

Document(s)

Children of parents sentenced to death

By Helen F. Kearney / Quaker United Nations Office, on 1 January 2012


2012

NGO report


More details See the document

This paper will raise awareness of some of the issues facing the child. It will consider and elaborate on each of these issues in as much detail as the current literature permits.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Murder Victims' Families, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Bloodshed and Lies: Mohammed bin Salman’s Kingdom of Executions

By Reprieve UK and European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, on 31 January 2023


2023

NGO report

Saudi Arabia

ar
More details See the document

Saudi Arabia is a flagrant abuser of the right to life. Between 2010 and 2021, Saudi Arabia executed at least 1243 people, making it one of the most rampant executioners in the world. As of December 2022, the Saudi regime had executed at least a further 147 people in 2022, including 81 people in one day in a mass execution on 12 March 2022.
Saudi Arabia’s use of the death penalty has drastically increased since 2015. This escalation has taken place on the watch of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, who acceded the throne on 23 January 2015, and his son, Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman. The annual rate of executions has almost doubled since King Salman and Mohammed bin Salman came to power in 2015. From 2010-2014 there was an average of 70.8 executions per year. From 2015-2022 there was an average of 129.5 executions per year – a rise of 82%. The six bloodiest years of executions in Saudi Arabia’s recent history have all occurred under the leadership of Mohammed bin Salman and King Salman (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022).

Document(s)

Safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty

By United Nations, on 1 January 1984


1984

United Nations report

arrufrzh-hantes
More details See the document

Approved by Economic and Social Council resolution 1984/50 of 25 May 19841. In countries which have not abolished the death penalty, capital punishment may be imposed only for the most serious crimes, it being understood that their scope should not go beyond intentional crimes with lethal or other extremely grave consequences.

Document(s)

The death penalty and the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment

on 21 August 2021


2021

NGO report

World Coalition

Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment

fr
More details See the document

The signatory organizations are convinced that the death penalty is incompatible with the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, which is a peremptory norm of international law (jus cogens) and should thus be abolished. The death penalty is only tolerated by international law and standards to the extent that it may only be imposed for the most serious crimes and applied in a way that causes the least possible suffering. However, the signatory organizations believe that from the sentencing to the execution, the death penalty inevitably causes physical harm and psychological suffering amounting to torture or ill-treatments.

The present position paper documents the extent to which international and regional organisation have already recognised a violation of the absolution prohibitionof torture in the application and imposition of the death penalty.

Document(s)

Public Opinion and the Death Penalty Guide

By The Death Penalty Project, on 1 November 2022


2022

NGO report

Public Opinion 


More details See the document

When faced with calls to join the majority of states worldwide that have now abolished capital punishment, a key justification, typically relied upon by retentionist states, is that their citizens are not yet ready for abolition, and that political leaders must represent ‘the will of the people.’ The Death Penalty Project produced this resource on public opinion and the death penalty.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Public Opinion 

Document(s)

Deterrence and the Death Penalty Guide

By The Death Penalty Project, on 1 November 2022


NGO report

Public Opinion 


More details See the document

The most common justification for the retention of the death penalty among the minority of states that continue to sentence to death and execute individuals who are found guilty of committing certain serious offences is a belief that this punishment has a unique deterrent effect. The Death Penalty Project produced this resource on deterrence and the death penalty.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Public Opinion 

Document(s)

Death Penalty: Sociological Survey of Public Opinion on the Abolition of the Death Penalty in the Republic of Tajikistan

By Penal Reform International, on 1 January 2013


2013

NGO report


More details See the document

The present study of public opinion on the death penalty in Tajikistan was conductedbetween June and August 2013. The main purpose of the study was to obtain reliableinformation about public opinion on the deathpenalty in Tajikistan, its awareness ofthe changes that have occurred in this areaand to see any changes in attitude since2010.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Public opinion,

Document(s)

Report on the Death Penalty in Iraq UNAMI/OHCHR

By Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) / United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Human Rights Office, on 1 January 2014


2014

International law - United Nations


More details See the document

This reporton the death penalty in Iraqis publishedjointlyby the Human RightsOffice of theUnited Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)andthe Office of the United Nations HighCommissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).The first section of this report outlines the international human rights standards on the use of thedeath penalty. The subsequent sections examine the domestic legal framework for the use of thedeath penalty in Iraq, judicial proceedings in death penalty cases, the implementation of the deathpenalty since 2004, and thejustifications put forward by the Government of Iraq for its continueduse. The report concludes with a set of recommendations tothe Iraqi authorities, the Governmentof Kurdistan Region and the international community.

  • Document type International law - United Nations
  • Themes list Due Process , Hanging, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Moving Away from the Death Penalty: Arguments, Trends, and Perspectives

By United Nations / Ivan Šimonovic, on 1 January 2014


International law - United Nations


More details See the document

Why yet another book on the death penalty? The answer is simple: Aslong as the death penalty exists, there is a need for advocacy against it.This book provides arguments and analysis, reviews trends and sharesperspectives on moving away from the death penalty.

  • Document type International law - United Nations
  • Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,

Document(s)

Study on the question of the death penalty in Africa

By African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights / Working Group on the Death Penalty in Africa, on 1 January 2011


2011

Book

fr
More details See the document

The document broadly looks at the historical, human rights law, and practical aspects of the death penalty. It takes a comprehensive approach to the question of the death penalty, bearing in mind the need to provide the African Commission with sufficient information that will enable it to take an informed position on the matter.

Document(s)

Anything But Humane

By Amnesty International - USA, on 8 September 2020


2020

Arguments against the death penalty


More details See the document

A fact sheet on the lethal injection in the United States. This page details the process of lethal injection with statements of US health professional associations on participation in execution.

  • Document type Arguments against the death penalty
  • Themes list Lethal Injection,

Document(s)

The Mercy Workers, Death Penalty Mitigation Specialists

By Maurice Chammah, The Marshall Project, on 2 March 2023


2023

Article

Legal Representation

United States


More details See the document

For three decades, a little-known group of “mitigation specialists” has helped save death-penalty defendants in the USA by documenting their childhood traumas. A rare look inside one case.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Legal Representation

Document(s)

International Network of Academics Against the Death Penalty

By International Academic Network for the abolition of capital punishment, on 8 September 2020


2020

Working with...


More details See the document

It is of the utmost importance, in the short and medium-term, to develop an intense work of academically nature both of study and disclosure of the problems of the abolition of the death penalty in the international scenario, to complement and help the work of the diplomatic action and non-governmental organizations. To this effect it is proposed to keep REPECAP as an ever – growing scientific world network comprising academic law scholars, human rights centers, institutions of public law and Ngos, with expertise and skill in the problems of death penalty and interests in the field of international criminal justice, as well as young researchers who have been dealing with these topics or wish to get involved with the subject, regardless of nationality or locations.

  • Document type Working with...
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

Add Resources and Apply Them Systemically: Governments’ Responsibilities Under the Revised ABA Capital Defense Representation Guidelines

By Eric M. Freedman / Hofstra Law Review, on 1 January 2003


2003

Article

United States


More details See the document

The mainstream legal community, including the ABA, has long understood the importance of system-building, but the revised Guidelines state the point especially forcefully. In articulating “the current consensus about what is required to provide effective defense representation in capital cases,” they set high performance standards not just for lawyers, but for death penalty jurisdictions. As the problems are systemic, it is “imperative” that the solutions be.The Guidelines accordingly not only call on governments to deliver capital defense resources that are sufficient in amount, but also furnish the states with a user-friendly blueprint for using those resources wisely to create structures that will function well in the present and evolve effectively over time. This mandate for institution-building is welcome, and the states should lead it. Indeed, they must do so if the Guidelines are to achieve their ameliorative purposes and avoid becoming just a collection of lofty aspirations “‘that palter with us in a double sense, that keep the word of promise to our ear, and break it to our hope”.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Legal Representation,

Document(s)

Death sentences and executions 2020

By Amnesty International , on 26 May 2021


2021

NGO report

aresfafrru
More details See the document

This report covers the judicial use of the death penalty for the period January to December 2020. As in previous years, information is collected from a variety of sources, including:
– official figures;
– judgements;
– information from individuals sentenced to death and their families and representatives;
– media reports;
– and, for a limited number of countries, other civil society organizations.

Amnesty International reports only on executions, death sentences and other aspects of the use of the death penalty, , such as commutations and exonerations, where there is reasonable confirmation. In many countries governments do not publish information on their use of the death penalty. In China and Viet Nam, data on the use of the death penalty is classified as a state secret. During 2020 little or no information was available on some countries – in particular Laos and North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) – due to restrictive state practice.

Document(s)

Isolation and desolation conditions of detention of people sentenced to death Malaysia

By Carole Berrih, Ngeow Chow Ying, ECPM, ADPAN, on 27 May 2021


2021

NGO report

Death Row Conditions 

Malaysia

fr
More details See the document

Isolation and Desolation – Conditions of Detention of People Sentenced to Death in Malaysia is the first ever fact-finding mission report on the conditions of detention of death row prisoners in Malaysia.

It examines the use of death penalty in Malaysia as well as the actual situation of people on death row.

This report is not meant to point fingers but rather to put the facts on the table in a transparent manner and work from there. It is mainly an advocacy tool for all abolitionist stakeholders, from civil society actors to the parliamentarians who will keep fighting for the abolition of the death penalty.

Document(s)

ISOLATION AND DESOLATION CONDITIONS OF DETENTION OF PEOPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH MALAYSIA – Bahasa Melayu

By Carole Berrih, Ngeow Chow Ying, ECPM, ADPAN, on 27 May 2021


NGO report

Death Row Conditions 

Malaysia


More details See the document

Isolation and Desolation – Conditions of Detention of People Sentenced to Death in Malaysia is the first ever fact-finding mission report on the conditions of detention of death row prisoners in Malaysia.

It examines the use of death penalty in Malaysia as well as the actual situation of people on death row.

This report is not meant to point fingers but rather to put the facts on the table in a transparent manner and work from there. It is mainly an advocacy tool for all abolitionist stakeholders, from civil society actors to the parliamentarians who will keep fighting for the abolition of the death penalty.

—————————————
Isolation and Desolation – Conditions of Detention of People Sentenced to Death di Malaysia adalah satu-satunya laporan berasaskan misi mengkaji fakta (fact-finding mission) mengenai keadaan-keadaan penahanan bagi banduan-banduan hukuman mati di Malaysia.

Laporan ini mengkaji pelaksanaan hukuman mati di Malaysia dan juga keadaan sebenar orang-orang yang dijatuhkan hukuman mati.

Laporan ini bukan bertujuan untuk menunding jari terhadap mana-mana pihak, tetapi bertujuan untuk memberi pencerahan kepada fakta-fakta yang ditemui dan berusaha ke atasnya. Laporan ini bertujuan utama sebagai alat advokasi kepada semua pihak yang mempunyai kepentingan dalam pemansuhan, bermula dari ahli persatuan kemasyarakatan sehingga ahli parlimen yang akan berusaha berterusan untuk memansuhkan hukuman mati.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list Malaysia
  • Themes list Death Row Conditions 

Document(s)

Doomed to Repeat: The Legacy of Race in Tennessee’s Contemporary Death Penalty

By Death Penalty Information Center, on 16 June 2023


2023

NGO report

Fair Trial

United States


More details See the document

This report explores the current issues with capital punishment in Tennessee through a historical lens, tracing the origins of the use of the death penalty from lynchings and other forms of racial violence directed at Black Tennesseans. The stories of individuals and communities that have interacted with different facets of Tennessee’s justice system throughout history suggest that, in many ways, even though centuries have passed, the experiences of discrimination toward Tennessee’s communities of color continue. A meaningful understanding of the state’s history and its legacy of violence and racism is essential to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Fair Trial

Document(s)

European Court for Human Rights cases involving the death penalty

By European Court for Human Rights Press Unit, on 24 June 2022


2022

International law - Regional body

Regional body report

Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment

Death Row Conditions 

Fair Trial


More details See the document

“[T]he [European Court of Human Rights] in Öcalan did not exclude that Article 2 [of the European Convention on Human Rights, protecting the right to life,] had already been amended so as to remove the exception permitting the death penalty. Moreover, … the position has evolved since then. All but two of the Member States have now signed Protocol No. 13 [to the Convention, concerning the abolishment of the death penalty in all circumstances,] and all but three of the States which have signed have ratified it. These figures, together with consistent State practice in observing the moratorium on capital punishment, are strongly indicative that Article 2 has been amended so as to prohibit the death penalty in all circumstances. Against this background, the Court does not consider that the wording of the second sentence of Article 2 § 1 continues to act as a bar to its interpreting the words ‘inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’ in Article 3 [of the Convention, prohibiting torture and inhuman or degrading treatment,] as including the death penalty …” (Al-Saadoon and Mufdhi v. the United Kingdom judgment of 2 March 2010, § 120).

  • Document type International law - Regional body / Regional body report
  • Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment / Death Row Conditions  / Fair Trial

Document(s)

The Death Penalty: The Ultimate Punishment

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2008


2008

Campaigning

enfres
More details See the document

Campaigning toolkit published by Amnesty International. A 16-page detailed advocacy document explaining why the abolition of the death penalty is necessary and how the theories behind capital punishment get it wrong.

Document(s)

The Juvenile Death Penalty Today: Death Sentences and Executions for Juvenile Crimes, January 1, 1973 – February 28, 2005

By Victor Streib / Ohio Northern University, on 8 September 2020


2020

Article

United States


More details See the document

This is Issue #77, the final issue of these periodic reports, having first been launched on June 15, 1984. On that date, the death penalty for juvenile offenders (defined as those under age 18 at the time of their crimes) was an obscure issue in law as well as in political and social arenas. During the last twenty-one years, these reports have been with us (1) through the intense litigation of the late 1980s, (2) through our society’s near hysteria about violent juvenile crime in the 1990s, (3) into the era of the international pressure on the United States to abandon this practice, and (4) now at the end of this practice. The validity and influence of these reports is indicated by thecitations to them in the opinions of leading courts, including the United States Supreme Court: Roper v. Simmons, 125 S.Ct. 1183, 1192, 1193, 1210, 1211, 1221 (2005); In re Stanford, 537 U.S. 968, 971 (2002); and Stanford v. Kentucky, 492 U.S. 361, 373 (1989). In the litigation leading up to the final juvenile death penalty case before the United States Supreme Court (Roper v. Simmons, 125 S.Ct. 1183 (2005)), the Missouri Supreme Court majority opinion included 12 citations to these reports: See Simmons v. Roper, 112 S.W.3d 397, 408, 409, 411 (Mo. 2003). This final issue of this periodic report is intended to document the status of the death penalty for juvenile offenders as ofthe day before the United States Supreme Court held this practice to be unconstitutional. These reports sketch the characteristics of the juvenile offenders and their crimes who have been sentenced to death, who have been executed, and who are currently under death sentences. —- See bottom left hand corner of web page.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Juveniles,

Document(s)

Sentenced to oblivion. Fact-finding mission on death row. Cameroon

By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) / Nestor Toko / Carole Berrih, on 8 September 2020


NGO report

fr
More details See the document

The report “Sentenced to oblivion. Fact-finding mission on death row. Cameroon”, which was officially launched on 21 June at the Delegation of the European Union from Yaoundé to Cameroon, is the result of an unprecedented fact-finding mission, conducted from May to October 2018 in five Cameroonian prisons by the Cameroonian Lawyers’ Network against the Death Penalty (Racopem) and the association ECPM (Ensemble contre la peine de mort).

Document(s)

Human Rights and the Death Penalty

By The Advocates for Human Rights, on 1 January 2012


2012

Campaigning


More details See the document

Four-page introduction to the status of the death penalty in international human rights law and the global trend abolition.

  • Document type Campaigning
  • Themes list International law, Trend Towards Abolition,

Document(s)

Take action on the death penalty

By The Advocates for Human Rights, on 8 September 2020


2020

Campaigning


More details See the document

Two-page guide with tips and contacts for individuals interested in getting started in anti-death penalty activism in the US.

  • Document type Campaigning
  • Themes list Public opinion,

Document(s)

Juvenile Offenders Awaiting Execution in Yemen : “Look at Us with a Merciful Eye”

By Human Rights Watch, on 1 January 2013


2013

NGO report

ar
More details See the document

The 30-page report found that at least 22 individuals have been sentenced to death in Yemen despite evidence that they were under age 18 at the time of their alleged crimes. In the last five years, Yemen has executed at least 15 young men and women who said they were under 18 at the time of their offense.

Document(s)

The death penalty wordwide: developments in 2004

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2005


2005

NGO report

fres
More details See the document

This document covers significant events concerning the death penalty during the year 2004. Five countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes, bringing to 84 the number of totally abolitionist countries at year end. Scores of death sentences were commuted in Malawi and Zambia, and moratoria or suspensions of executions were being observed in several other countries. Other subjects covered in this document include significant judicial decisions; the use of the death penalty against the innocent; resumptions of executions; and campaigning activities to promote abolition.

Document(s)

Death sentences and executions in 2010

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2011


2011

NGO report

fres
More details See the document

In the last decade, more than 30 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Fifty-eight countries worldwide now retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes, and less than half of these carried out executions in 2010. This report analyzes some of the key developments in the worldwide application of the death penalty in 2010, citing figures gathered by Amnesty International on the number of death sentences handed down and executions carried out during the year.

Document(s)

Death penalty developments in 2005

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2006


2006

NGO report

fres
More details See the document

This document covers significant events concerning the death penalty during the year 2005. Two countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes, bringing to 86 the number of totally abolitionist countries at year end. Moratoria or suspensions of executions were being observed in several countries. At least 2,148 people were executed in 22 countries, and at least 5,186 were sentenced to death in 53 countries. Eight child offenders were executed in Iran. Other sections include significant judicial decisions; the use of the death penalty against child offenders and resumptions of executions.

Document(s)

West Africa: Time to abolish the death penalty

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2003


2003

NGO report

fr
More details See the document

This doument summarizes each of the 16 ECOWAS countries’ legislation on the death penalty, provides information on the most recent executions and convictions and notes the view currently taken by the governments concerned. Two thirds have already abolished the death penalty

Document(s)

A Penalty Without Legitimacy: The Mandatory Death Penalty in Trinidad and Tobago

By Douglas Mendes / Florence Seemungal / Jeffrey Fagan / Roger Hood / The Death Penalty Project, on 1 January 2009


2009

NGO report


More details See the document

As a result of legal challenges, and in line with the trend worldwide, the mandatory death penalty has now been abolished in nine Caribbean countries and a discretion to impose a lesser sentence has been given to the judges of the Eastern Caribbean, Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas. However, in relation to Trinidad & Tobago, in the case of Charles Matthew (Matthew v The State [2005] 1 AC 433), a majority of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council decided – notwithstanding that the mandatory death penalty was cruel and unusual punishment in violation of entrenched fundamental freedoms and human rights established in the Constitution of Trinidad & Tobago – that it remained protected from constitutional challenge by the operation of the “savings clause” in the Constitution. As a result, Trinidad & Tobago remains one of only three Commonwealth Caribbean countries (Barbados and Guyana being the other two) that still retains the mandatory death penalty.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Mandatory Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Legislators’ Opinions on the Death Penalty in Taiwan

on 24 March 2022


2022

NGO report

Public Opinion 

Taiwan

zh-hant
More details See the document

In 2021, The Death Penalty Project and the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) commissioned Professor Carolyn Hoyle at the University of Oxford and Professor Shiow-duan Hawang at Soochow University, Taipei to carry out a study exploring Taiwanese legislators’ attitudes towards capital punishment.

The study reveals that the majority of Taiwan’s legislators would like to see the death penalty abolished. The risk of wrongful convictions, the abuse of human rights and a recognition that the death penalty has no unique deterrent effect, were the primary reasons cited for supporting abolition. Additionally, a majority of legislators interviewed expressed fairly low levels of trust in the Taiwanese criminal justice system, with doubts raised over its ability to offer adequate safeguards to individuals facing capital trials.

Key findings:

– 61% of legislators interviewed are in favour of abolishing the death penalty
– 39% of legislators interviewed are in favour of retaining the death penalty, but only one legislator was strongly in favour
– 71% of retentionists and 65% of abolitionists asserted that wrongful convictions ‘sometimes’ occurred
– Only 11% of legislators interviewed thought that wrongful convictions ‘rarely’ occur
– All legislators interviewed expressed a preference for social justice measures, such as poverty reduction, over increased executions when asked to rank a range of policies aimed at reducing violent crime

Document(s)

Resource Guide for Managing Capital Cases Volume II: Habeas Corpus Review of State Capital Convictions

By Asifa Quraishi, Esq. / Federal Judicial Center, on 1 January 2010


2010

Working with...


More details See the document

This guide was created to assist judges and court staff in managing capital habeas corpus cases by providing a summary of relevant law and case-management procedures. Section II, “Management of Individual Capital Habeas Cases,” summarizes the substantive law of federal habeas corpus that has an impact on case management and procedure (such as jurisdiction to appoint counsel, statutes of limitations, and evidentiary hearings) and describes various techniques judges have used to manage individual cases. Section III, “District-Wide and Circuit-Wide Approaches to Capital Habeas Corpus Case Management,” describes several practices used in the federal courts to monitor and streamline capital case management at a district- or circuit-wide level.

  • Document type Working with...
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

Italian : Famiglie Delle Vittime Di Omicidio Per I Diritti Umani

By Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, on 8 September 2020


2020

Academic report

United States

esfrenen
More details See the document

In tutto il mondo, coloro che sopravvivono alle vittime di omicidi sono in genere considerati a favore della pena capitale. Si presume che le esecuzioni vadano incontro al bisogno dei superstiti di giustizia, e di porre fine ad una vicenda. Opporsi alla pena di morte, è spesso visto come un andare contro alla vittima. Attraverso le loro dichiarazioni, le testimonianze e il materiale educativo, i membri dell’associazione fanno sapere ai responsabili della vita politica, e al grande pubblico, che è possibile essere sia a favore delle vittime che contro la pena di morte.

Document(s)

Japanese : 死刑民主主義国家にあるまじき行為

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Sharon Hom / Etienne Jaudel / Richard Wild, on 8 September 2020


NGO report

Japan

enfr
More details See the document

廃止推進団体の努力にもかかわらず、世論には、死刑制度の継続を支持する強い傾向があることは確かです。死刑適用の実状を政府が隠し、これまでよかったといわれた治安が徐々に悪化していることもあり、この時機に政府が、国民に不人気な決断をすることはないでしょう。欧州評議会をはじめとする、国際組織からの圧力に対して、政府は「内政に対する許しがたい干渉」ときめつけています。保守派が与党の政府において、廃止に向けての議論が政治決定となる気配はありません。 日本のすべての弁護士が加盟する日弁連は、廃止法案提案でコンセンサスに至らなかったという事実が、現時点で死刑がなくなる可能性が少ないことを雄弁に物語っています。

Document(s)

Swahili : Tanzania: Adhabu ya Kifo Imerasimishwa?

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Eric Mirguet / Arnold Tsunga, on 8 September 2020


NGO report

United Republic of Tanzania

enfr
More details See the document

Katika hoja zinazotumika sana kutetea adhabu ya kifo ni kuwa inasaidia kupunguza uhalifu. Inaelezewa kuwa adhabu ya kifo inalinda jamii dhidi ya watu waliohatari na kuzuia wengine wasije wakafanya uhalifu. Hoja hizi zimethibitishwa kutokuwa na ukweli wowote. Je adhabu ya kifo inalinda jamii dhini ya uhalifu? Hailekei kuwa hivyo. Jamii zinazotumia adhabu ya kifo hazina ulinzi dhidi ya uhalifu kuliko zaidi ya zile jamii zisizotumia adhabu hiyo. Mahali ambapo kuna adhabu mbadala kama vile kifungo, ulinzi wa jamii, hautegemei kuwaondosha kimwili wahalifu. Zaidi ya hapo, inaweza kuelezwa kuwa tahadhari zinazochukuliwa kuzuia wanaosubiri, kuuwawa kujiua inaonyesha wazi kuwa kumuondosha kimwili mhalifu sio sababu ya msingi ya adhabu ya kifo.

Document(s)

Manifesto for a Protocol to the African Charter on the abolition of the death penalty

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / FIACAT, on 1 January 2014


2014

Working with...

fr
More details See the document

Continental Conference on the Death Penalty2-4 July 2014, Cotonou, BeninHuman Rights Organisations’ Manifesto for a Protocolto the African Charter on the Abolition of the Death Penalty in Africa

Document(s)

Murder Victims Families for Human Rights Brochure

By Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, on 8 September 2020


2020

Working with...

esfrenen
More details See the document

Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights was launched on international human rights day, 2004, by a group of victims’ family members who oppose the death penalty and have extensive speaking and organizing experience in the United States and around the world. Through their statements, testimony, and educational materials, MVFHR members let policymakers and the general public know that it is possible to be both pro-victim and anti-death penalty. The response to one human rights violation should not be another human rights violation. We honor victims by preventing violence, not by perpetuating it.

Document(s)

Iran/death penalty: A state terror policy – Special edition for the 4th World Congress against the death penalty

By Bijan Baharan / International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), on 8 September 2020


NGO report

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

fa
More details See the document

This report covers the various aspects of the topic including: domestic laws, international legal framework, execution of juvenile offenders, religious and ethnic minorities, and methods of execution. According to the report, there are over 20 main categories of offences, some of them with several sub-categories, in the IRI, which are punishable by the death penalty. The majority of those “offences” are certainly not among “the most serious crimes.” Some others should not be considered as “offences” at all. In conclusion, FIDH issued a wide set of recommendations to the IRI and the international community. Among others, it recommended the adoption of an immediate moratorium on executions in light of the serious shortcomings of the guarantees of due process and fair trial.

Document(s)

Vietnam: From “Vision” to Facts: Human Rights in Vietnam under its Chairmanship of ASEAN

By Vietnam Committee on Human Rights / International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Quê Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam, on 8 September 2020


NGO report

Viet Nam


More details See the document

The use of the death penalty is frequent in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. In 2009, the government reduced the number of offences punishable by death from 29 to 22. Capital punishment is applied for crimes including murder, armed robbery, drug trafficking, rape, sexual abuse of children, and a range of economic crimes. Execution is by firing squad. A draft law was introduced in November 2009 proposing the use of two methods of execution, either by firing squad or by lethal injection. Statistics on the number of death sentences and executions are not made public. Indeed, following criticisms by international human rights organisations, in January 2004, Vietnam adopted a decree classifying death penalty statistics as “state secrets”. According to the Vietnamese and international press, at least 100 people are executed each year in Vietnam. In 2007, 104 death sentences were pronounced, including 14 women. In 2010, the official legal magazine Phap Luat (Law) reported 11 death sentences for the month of January alone.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list Viet Nam
  • Themes list Death Row Conditions, Firing Squad,

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – Special edition for the 4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty

By Vietnam Committee on Human Rights / International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), on 8 September 2020


NGO report

Viet Nam


More details See the document

The use of the death penalty is frequent in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV). Capital punishment is applied for 22 offences, including murder, armed robbery, drug trafficking, rape, sexual abuse of children, and a range of economic crimes, such as graft and corruption, fraud and embezzlement (for 500 million dong – $33,200 – or more of state property), illegal production and trade of food, foodstuffs and medicines. Seven political acts perceived as “threats against national security” carry the death penalty as a maximum sentence. Capital punishment is most often used to sanction drug-related offences, followed by corruption, black-market and violent crimes. Vietnam has some of the harshest drug laws in the world. A 1997 law made possession or smuggling of 100g or more of heroin, or 5 kilograms or more of opium, punishable by death. In 2001, 55 sentences were pronounced for drug trafficking alone.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list Viet Nam
  • Themes list Firing Squad, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Mandatory Justice: Eighteen Reforms to the Death Penalty

By The Constitution Project, on 1 January 2001


2001

NGO report


More details See the document

One major goal of these recommendations is to create additional safeguards against the endemic tendency of decision-makers in the criminal justice system to “pass the buck.” The system is far too lax in catching errors and injustices in part because many of those who might catch these errors and injustices do not fully understand their own duty to ensure that a death sentence is the appropriate punishment. Several of these recommendations are addressed to those who occupy critical roles in the capital punishment system, including the defense attorney, the prosecutor, the jury, the trial judge, and the reviewing courts. They emphasize that each, individually, has the responsibility to ensure, to the best of his or her ability, that justice is done.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in Japan: The Law of Silence – Going Against the International Trend

By Florence Bellivier / International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Dan Van Raemdonck / Jiazhen Wu, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

Japan

fr
More details See the document

This report is the outcome of a fact-finding mission conducted by FIDH in July 2008, in order to assess the measures taken by the Japanese government to implement the recommendations made by a previous investigation, conducted in 2003.The conclusions of the report are appalling. According to Florence Bellivier, General Secretary of FIDH “Japan continues to condemn criminals to death, and incarcerate them up for decades, in prisons where secrecy and isolation are commonplace, in total disregard of the world opinion”. In addition, the rhythm of the executions has accelerated over the recent years. “2008 has been a record year, with more executions this year than in any other of the last fifteen years. We are witnessing a real step backwards” added Dan Van Raemdonck, Vice-President of FIDH. Thirteen persons have been executed since the beginning of the year, and 102 are currently on death row. There has not been a single retrial of a death penalty case since 1986, and no convicted prisoner has been pardoned since 1975.

Document(s)

Death Penalty in Belarus: Murder on (Un)lawful Grounds

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Viasna Human Rights Center, on 1 January 2016


2016

NGO report

ru
More details See the document

In June 2016, FIDH and its member organisation in Belarus, the Human Rights Center ″Viasna″(HRC ″Viasna″), conducted an international fact-finding mission on the issue of the death penaltyin Belarus. The use of the death penalty (execution by shooting) in Belarus is provided for by Art. 24 of theConstitution of the Republic of Belarus as an exceptional measure of punishment for the mostserious crimes.Apart from the very fact of taking a person’s life, which is not only cruel, but also ineffective infighting and preventing crime, the use of the death penalty in Belarus is accompanied by many grosshuman rights violations.

Document(s)

Judged for More than Her Crime: a Global Overview of Women Facing the Death Penalty

By Cornwell Death Penalty Project / Delphine Lourtau, on 1 January 2018


2018

NGO report

fr
More details See the document

This groundbreaking report aims to bridge critical gaps in understanding of how states apply capital punishment from a gender perspective. This study is the first to examine how and when women receive death sentences and the conditions under which they are detained on death row, with a particular focus on India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malawi, Pakistan and the United States. The conclusions are that gender discrimination is pervasive at all stages of capital cases, but that its operation is complex. Report published by Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide with the support of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty

Document(s)

Children of parents sentenced to death or executed: How are they affected? How can they be supported?

By Child Rights Connect , on 8 September 2020


2020

Arguments against the death penalty


More details See the document

From the point of arrest decades after the execution or release of a parent accused of a capital crime, the children’s mental health and wellbeing, living situation, and relationships with others can all be affected, usually in a devastating manner. The inherent trauma of knowing that a loved one is going to be executed can be exacerbated by public indifference or hostility, and by authorities who either fail to recognise or deliberately refuse to consider the situation of these children. This publication addresses the challenges to support the children.

  • Document type Arguments against the death penalty
  • Themes list Juveniles, International law, Murder Victims' Families,

Document(s)

REPORT ON THE SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN JAMAICA

By IACHR , on 1 January 2013


2013

NGO report


More details See the document

The report presents the conclusions of monitoring by the IACHR in recent years, including an on-site visit to Jamaica in December 2008, several public hearings on human rights in the country, as well as a constant exchange of information with the State and civil society organizations.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Pakistan, a long march for democracy and the rule of law

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Fatma Cosadia / Odette Lou Bouvier, on 1 January 2009


2009

NGO report

fr
More details See the document

Regularly denounced by human rights associations, violations of the right to a fair trial and inequality before the law for prisoners who face the death penalty are flagrant. Most prisoners belong to the most disadvantaged social classes or to ethnic or religious minorities. Involved in often questionable circumstances, with confessions extracted under frequent beatings and torture, many litigants are not given an adequate defence. To defend these cases, lawyers appointed ex officio receive 200 rupees per hearing (less than 5 U.S. dollars). Often young and inexperienced to deal with procedures not respecting the minimum fair trial guarantees, these lawyers are not in a position to ensure the mandate entrusted to them.

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in Egypt

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Etienne Jaudel / Alya Chérif Chammari / Nabeel Rajab, on 1 January 2005


2005

NGO report

arfr
More details See the document

The report notably points to the great number of crimes which entail the death penalty in Egypt and to the fact that civilians may be tried by military courts, sentenced to death and executed without delay, in violation of the rights of the defence and sometimes in abstentia. The only remedy is the unlikely pardon of the President of the Republic. Confessions obtained under duress are often accepted in court and form the basis of the sentence. The FIDH report recommends to the Egyptian authorities to put an immediate end to the state of emergency which, after 23 years, is no longer justified in Egypt today; the state of emergency is conducive to serious violations of human rights, including administrative detention without any effective judicial control, unfair trials of civilians before military courts, and widespread torture of detainees, including during the pre-trial stage. The Egyptian authorities should inquire into all allegations of torture and bring to justice those responsible.

Document(s)

Tanzania: the death sentence institutionnalised

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Eric Mirguet / Arnold Tsunga, on 1 January 2005


NGO report

enfr
More details See the document

Individuals are regularly sentenced to death in murder cases, but no statistics are published about the number of condemnations. Under the Tanzanian Penal Code, the death sentence remains a mandatory penalty for murder while it can also be applied for treason. As of April 2003, 370 persons (359 males and 11 females) were awaiting execution in the prisons of mainland Tanzania in conditions that might amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. There are a number of dysfunctions in the Tanzanian legal system, which seems to represent a threat to the rule of law, and an obstacle to reform: the unwillingness of the Executive to have its decisions challenged in judicial proceedings, and; the existence of a Penal System essentially based on retaliation towards the offenders rather than rehabilitation ; e.g. corporal punishments can still be applied for numerous offences, in spite of the fact that they clearly violate international and regional human rights instruments. Furthermore, pervasive corruption in the police and the judiciary represents a serious threat to the due process of law, including in death penalty cases.

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in Guatemala: On the road towards abolition

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Catherine Delanoë-Daoud / Marcela Talamas / Emmanuel Daoud, on 1 January 2005


NGO report


More details See the document

Violations of due process in the case of prisoners condemned to death. There are known cases of torture carried out by agents of the State and there is no legal provision that allows the Executive branch to grant a pardon and, subsequently, to commute a death sentence. The Guatemalan State has executed various individuals despite the fact that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights had petitioned for precautionary measures; this constitutes a flagrant and recurrent violation of Guatemala’s international human rights commitments.The Guatemalan State, in addition to not having adequate public policies for prisons, also has no laws regulating prisons and conditions of detention, in spite of the fact that various UN instruments are devoted to that question.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Due Process , Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Uganda: Challenging the Death Penalty

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Thomas Lemaire / Eric Mirguet / Mary Okosun, on 1 January 2005


NGO report


More details See the document

The general feeling of NGOs and abolitionists in Uganda is that the most pressing issue is the situation of ordinary prisoners, while the death penalty as administered by the military should be addressed at a second stage. The questions relating to the military are sensitive issues in Uganda, which might also explain that position. The focus of the present report is consequently mainly on the death sentences pronounced by ordinary criminal courts.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in Uzbekistan: Torture and Secrecy

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Christine Martineau / Caroline Giraud / Richard Wild, on 1 January 2005


NGO report

rufr
More details See the document

On August 1, 2005, President Karimov announced, through a presidential decree, that the abolition of the death penalty was planned for January 1, 2008. The report concludes that the Uzbek authorities are responsible of serious and systematic human rights violations in the framework of the administration of criminal justice. The rights of those arrested are systematically violated. They often lack any access to a lawyer during their pre-trial detention, their families are not informed and torture is used in order to extort confessions, which often serve as a basis for their condemnation.

Document(s)

ایران: مجازات اعدام – سیاست دولتی ایجاد وحشت

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Antoine Bernard, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

en
More details See the document

در دوراني که حرکت به سوي لغو مجازات اعدام در سراسر جهان رو به گسترش است، تمايز جمهوري اسلامي ايران در تعداد زياد اعدام هايي است که در شرايطي آشکارا ناقض�? موازين بين المللي حقوق بشر انجام مي پذيرد. محاکمه های ناعادلانه، اعدام نوجوانان، هد�? گیری اقلیت های قومی و مذهبی… مجازات اعدام در نقض آشکار تعهدات ایران بر اساس قانون بین المللی حقوق بشر انجام می پذیرد.

Document(s)

Iran/death penalty: A state terror policy

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Antoine Bernard, on 1 January 2009


2009

NGO report

en
More details See the document

As momentum is gathering across the world towards abolition of capital punishment, Iran ranks second for number of executions, after China, and first for per capita executions. Unfair trials, execution of juveniles, targeting of ethnic and religious minorities… the death penalty is applied in blatant violation of Iran’s obligations under international human rights law. A very wide range of offences (including economic, drug-related, so-called sexual offences, apostasy…) carry the death penalty and the methods of execution (public hangings, stoning…)amount to the most inhuman and degrading treatment.

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in Taiwan: Towards Abolition?

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Sharon Hom / Penelope Martin / Siobhan Ni Chulachain, on 1 January 2006


2006

NGO report


More details See the document

This report highlights serious concerns regarding the conditions of detention of prisoners in Taiwan. Although there has been some improvement in conditions in recent years, FIDH and TAEDP report severe problems of overcrowding and inadequate medical treatment for prisoners, requiring urgent attention. In addition, the mission found that the use of shackles, in violation of international standards, is widespread. Prisoners, in particular those on death row, regularly have their legs chained together for 24 hours per day, in violation of the prohibition against cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Despite recent reforms to the criminal justice system, FIDH and TAEDP found that serious failings continue to lead to miscarriages of justice. The report highlights persistent problems including discrimination, limited access to legal representation, piecemeal and only partially implemented reforms and unsatisfactory appeals procedures. FIDH and TAEDP found that training and supervision for actors within the system, including police, is grossly inadequate, leading to failures in the collection and preservation of evidence, whilst prosecutors and judges are inclined to “rubber stamp” police findings.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Death Row Conditions, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Slow march to the gallows: Death penalty in Pakistan

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Anne-Christine Habbard, on 1 January 2007


2007

NGO report


More details See the document

Pakistan ranks among the countries in the world which issue the most death sentences: currently, over 7,400 prisoners are lingering on death row. In recent years, Pakistan has witnessed a significant increase in charges carrying capital punishment, in convictions to death, as well as in executions. The HRCP and FIDH find that the application of death penalty in Pakistan falls far below international standards. In particular, they find that, given the very serious defects of the law itself, of the administration of justice, of the police service, the chronic corruption and the cultural prejudices affecting women and religious minorities, capital punishment in Pakistan is discriminatory and unjust, and allows for a high probability of miscarriages of justice, which is wholly unacceptable in any civilised society, but even more so when the punishment is irreversible. At every step, from arrest to trial to execution, the safeguards against miscarriage of justice are weak or non-existent, and the possibility that innocents have been or will be executed remains frighteningly high.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Due Process , Discrimination,

Document(s)

The death penalty in Thailand

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Julie Morizet / Sinapan Samidoray / Siobhan Ni Chulachain, on 1 January 2005


2005

NGO report


More details See the document

The present report shows that, although the formal judicial process which leads to the imposition of the death penalty is theoretically in accordance with the international legal standards, serious miscarriages of justice can result in condemnations to the capital punishment. By lasting up to 84 days, the long police custody creates conditions that favour possible cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments. The difficult access to legal aid, both during police custody and the trial process, does not provide sufficient safeguards that the rights of the defence are fully respected. The conditions of detention in prisons, and notably the fact that death row inmates are chained 24 hours a day, may amount to torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Justice Denied : A Global Study of Wrongful Death Row Convictions January 2018

By Sandra Babcock / Cornell Law School / Madalyn Wasilczuk and Sharon Pia Hickey / Delphine Lourtau / Katie Campbell / Julie Bloch, on 1 January 2018


2018

Academic report

fr
More details See the document

On March 7, 2018, the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide launched its new report entitled Justice Denied: A Global Study of Wrongful Death Row Convictions at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The report is a first-of-its-kind comparative study of the risk factors that increase the likelihood of wrongful convictions. The report illuminates the similarities in wrongful conviction risk factors in six countries across the geographical and political spectrum: Cameroon, Indonesia, Jordan, Malawi, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in Japan: A Practice Unworthy of a Democracy

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Sharon Hom / Etienne Jaudel / Richard Wild, on 1 January 2003


2003

NGO report

enfr
More details See the document

Despite the Japanese Federation of Bar Associations’ efforts towards improving the defence system, Japanese prisoners – especially those sentenced to death – do not receive a fair trial.The Daiyo Kangoku practice is one amongst several practices which allows suspects to be detained in police stations for 23 days, contravening the rules of a fair trial. Confessions, which can be obtained through strong pressure, give police the basis for accusation. Furthermore, the conditions on death row themselves amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments: Once the death sentence has been delivered, the prisoner is held in solitary confinement. Detainees have extremely limited contact with families and lawyers and meetings are closely monitored. Above all, prisoners live with the constant fear of never knowing if today will be their last day. The prisoner is informed that the execution will take place on the very same day, and family members are notified the following day.

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in North Korea: In the machinery of a totalitarian State

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Speedy Rice, on 1 January 2012


2012

NGO report

fr
More details See the document

The death penalty is a violation of the right to life; however, its use in the DPRK has, overthe years, been particularly extensive and substantially different from other countries. Thisis partly due to the DPRK’s totalitarian system, characterized by widespread and systematichuman rights violations that aim at maintaining social order and political control.While the government of the Republic of Korea (also known as South Korea) has retained thedeath penalty, it is considered to be abolitionist in practice, having carried out no executionssince December 1997. By contrast, the DPRK has consistently used the death penalty, and hasnever allowed any organization to investigate the matter. Nevertheless, information derivedfrom witness observations and the few existing reliable reports, reveal thousands of executionssince the 1950s, with the largest numbers in the 1990s and the 2000s. Since 2010, dozens ofpeoplehavebeenexecuted.TheDPRK’sintensesecrecyjustifiestheconclusionthattheselargenumbersarelowerthantheactualfiguresinreality.

Document(s)

Double Tragedies: Victims Speak Out Against the Death Penalty for People with Severe Mental Illness

By Susannah Sheffer / National Alliance on Mental Illness / Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, on 1 January 2009


2009

NGO report


More details See the document

This report asserts that the death penalty is not only inappropriate and unwarranted for persons with severe mental illness but that it also serves as a distraction from problems within the mental health system that contributed or even led directly to tragic violence. Families of murder victims and families of people with mental illness who have committed murder have a cascade of questions and needs. It is to these questions, rather than to the death penalty, that as a society we must turn our attention and our collective energies if we are truly to address the problem of untreated mental illness and the lethal violence that can result.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Mental Illness, Murder Victims' Families,

Document(s)

What Strategies Towards the Abolition of the Death Penalty in West Africa? : Report of the Symposium in Dakar

By FIACAT, on 1 January 2012


2012

NGO report


More details See the document

The regional seminar on the abolition of the death penalty in West Africa took place inDakar (Senegal) from 12-14 November 2012. This workshop brought together nineteenACAT members affiliated to FIACAT. It was therefore possible for each of the nine West Afri-can ACATs1to be represented by two participants (with the exception of Senegal, whichwas represented by three members).Participants at the workshop attended lectures and had the opportunity to developnational action plans for achieving abolition in their countries. According to feedbackreceived at the end of the seminar, attendees found the practical nature of the lectures,and the opportunity to network with other ACATs and learn from the experiences of otherparticipants, particularly beneficial.This document is a collection of all of the lectures from the Dakar seminar, as well asinternational and African texts relating to the death penalty. It is intended as a practicaltool to assist us as we progress towards abolition in Sub-Saharan Africa.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Member organizations, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in the United States

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Antoine Bernard, on 1 January 2002


2002

NGO report


More details See the document

The report indicates that most of the people sentenced to capital punishment, especially the poor and indigent, did not benefit from a fair trial, and that the conditions of detention – which is very long – constitute “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments”. Furthermore, the FIDH fears that the possible moratoriums on the executions considered by several States only aims at improving the criminal procedures prior to the executions.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in Botswana: Hasty and Secretive Hangings – International Fact Finding Mission

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

Botswana


More details See the document

This report determined that the death penalty remains a sensitive and secretive issue in Botswana. The authorities are reluctant to encourage public debate about the death penalty and its possible abolition. There is a total lack of transparency in the actual execution process of the death sentence. The hasty way in which most recent hangings have been carried out, further cast doubt upon the willingness of the Government of Botswana to seriously address this issue.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list Botswana
  • Themes list Transparency, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Chad, Death Penalty: ending a moratorium, between security opportunism and settling of scores

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Mahfoudh Ould Bettah / Isabelle Gourmelon / Olivier Foks, on 1 January 2004


2004

NGO report

fr
More details See the document

The report is damning, showing a system of justice which attaches little importance to regional and international instruments for the protection of human rights ratified by Chad. The case was conducted with a haste wholly incompatible with the respect for the right to a fair trial – proceedings exclusively for the prosecution, confessions obtained under torture, refusal to take account of evidence brought by the defence during the investigation, no lawyer present during the investigation stage. This iniquitous trial proves the hypothesis that justice has been manipulated in order to hide the true nature of a crime and the identity of its perpetrators, whilst securing the executions of persons judged undesirable.

Document(s)

Dignity Denied: The Experience of Murder Victims’ Family Members Who Oppose the Death Penalty

By Robert Renny Cushing / Susannah Sheffer / Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

United States


More details See the document

This report, which includes policy recommendations, is the culmination of a long effort to identify and document the bias on the part of some prosecutors, judges, and members of the victims’ services community against victims’ family members who oppose the death penalty.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Murder Victims' Families,

Document(s)

No one is spared – The widespread use of the death penalty in Iran

By League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran, on 5 November 2020


2020

Drug Offenses

Fair Trial

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Juveniles

Women


More details See the document
  • Document type Array
  • Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
  • Themes list Drug Offenses / Fair Trial / Juveniles / Women

Document(s)

Slovene : PrIročnIk Izobraževalno gradIvo Izobraževanje za človekovo dostojanstvo Priročnik o uPorabi ParticiPatornih metod Pri učenju človekovih Pravic

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report


More details See the document

Priročnik je del projekta Amnesty International Izobraževanje za človekovo dostojanstvo in je namenjen souporabi z vsebinskimi priročniki projekta o revščini in človekovih pravicah. Razvit pa je bil s fleksibilnostjo, ki omogoča, da se ga lahko uporabi tudi samostojno kot splošni pripomoček v raznolikih okoljih.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Public opinion, Public debate,

Document(s)

Polish : Poradnik dla facylitatorów i facylitatorek Pakiet materiałów Projektu edukacja dla Godności Przewodnik Po strategiach aktywnego uczestnictwa w edukacji Praw człowieka

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


NGO report


More details See the document

Publikacja jest częścią projektu Amnesty international – edukacja dla Godności i może być wykorzystywana w realizacji modułów projektowych na temat ubóstwa i praw człowieka, a także jako odrębna propozycja tematów zajęć szkoleniowych.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Public opinion, Public debate,

Document(s)

Italian : MANUALE DI FACILITAZIONE KIT DIDATTICO GUIDA ALL’USO DELLE METODOLOGIE PARTECIPATIVE PER L’EDUCAZIONE AI DIRITTI UMANI

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


NGO report


More details See the document

Questa guida rientra nel progetto Education for Human Dignity di Amnesty International e nasce per essere utilizzata con i moduli del progetto riguardanti povertà e diritti umani.Il manuale di facilitazione, è stato, però, realizzato con la flessibilità necessaria a renderlo fruibile anche singolarmente, come risorsa generale in diversi contesti.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Public opinion, Public debate,

Document(s)

Death Penalty India Report – Volume 2

By Anup Surendranath / National Law University, New Delhi Press, on 8 September 2020


NGO report

India


More details See the document

This project sought to answer questions regarding the socio-economic profile of prisoners sentenced to death in India while looking into the process of death sentencing in itself. By means of meaningful statistics and case studies, this report manages to enlighten some aspects of the death penalty in India which are generally not fully explored and triggers a sociological discussion on these thorny issues that goes beyond the legal analysis of Supreme Court judgments.

Chapters:
6) Experience in custody
7) Trial and appeals
8) Living on death row
9) Seeking mercy
10) Impact

Link to Volume 1: http://www.worldcoalition.org/resourcecentre/document/id/1462890615

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list India
  • Themes list Discrimination, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Death Penalty India Report – Volume 1

By Anup Surendranath / National Law University, New Delhi Press, on 8 September 2020


NGO report

India


More details See the document

This project sought to answer questions regarding the socio-economic profile of prisoners sentenced to death in India while looking into the process of death sentencing in itself. By means of meaningful statistics and case studies, this report manages to enlighten some aspects of the death penalty in India which are generally not fully explored and triggers a sociological discussion on these thorny issues that goes beyond the legal analysis of Supreme Court judgments.

Chapters:
1) Coverage of the project
2) Durations on death row
3) Nature of crimes
4) Socio-economic profile
5) Legal assistance

Link to Volume 2: http://www.worldcoalition.org/resourcecentre/document/id/1463669874

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list India
  • Themes list Discrimination, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Death Penalty For Drug Offences: Global Overview 2020

By Harm Reduction International (HRI), on 4 May 2021


2021

NGO report

Drug Offenses


More details See the document

Harm Reduction International has monitored the use of the death penalty for drug offences worldwide since our first ground-breaking publication on this issue in 2007.

This report, our tenth on the subject, continues our work of providing regular updates on legislative, policy and practical developments related to the use of capital punishment for drug offences, a practice which is a clear violation of international law.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Drug Offenses

Document(s)

Justice Project Pakistan, Pakistanis Imprisoned Abroad Database

By Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), on 7 February 2024


2024

NGO report

Pakistan


More details See the document

Pakistan is counted among the countries that rely heavily on foreign remittances for economic stability and foreign reserves. However, despite its dependence on foreign remittances from migrant workers, Pakistan has done little to protect its vulnerable citizens from landing in foreign jails. As a result, Pakistan has seen a significant increase in the number of prisoners and executions abroad. Inadequate oversight and the lack of proper enforcement of existing protections is a literal death sentence for scores of Pakistanis who simply seek a better life and improved prospects for loved ones by working abroad.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list Pakistan

Document(s)

Dealing with Punishment: Risks and Rewards in Indonesia’s Illicit Drug Trade

By Carolyn Hoyle, Death Penalty Project, on 18 April 2023


2023

NGO report

Drug Offenses

Indonesia


More details See the document

In 2020-2021, The Death Penalty Project, in partnership with Community Legal Aid Institute, LBH Masyarakat, commissioned The Death Penalty Research Unit (DPRU) at the University of Oxford, in association with University Centre of Excellence HIV/AIDS Research Centre-HPSI at Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia (AJCU), to conduct the research building empirical knowledge on who is being convicted for drug offences and uncover the factors that have influenced their motivations and decision making. Interviews were conducted on 57 prisoners from a prison in Jakrata, Indonesia, all convicted for drug offences. This is the first stage of a larger mapping project, which will interview those convicted of drug offences and sentenced to death or life in prisons across Indonesia and Southeast Asia. It also compliments our two part opinion study on attitudes on capital punishment in Indonesia.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list Indonesia
  • Themes list Drug Offenses

Document(s)

The question of the death penalty: Report of the Secretary-General

By United Nations, on 1 January 2006


2006

International law - United Nations

arrufrzh-hantes
More details See the document

The present report contains information covering the period from January 2004 to December 2005. The report indicates that the trend towards abolition of the death penalty continues; this is illustrated, inter alia, by the increase in the number of countries that are completely abolitionist and by the increase in ratifications of international instruments that provide for the abolition of this punishment.

Document(s)

TRANSPARENCY AND THE IMPOSITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY, Report of the Special Rapporteur, Philip Alston

By United Nations / Philip Alston, on 1 January 2006


International law - United Nations

arrufrzh-hantes
More details See the document

The present report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions analyses a critical area of non-compliance with legal safeguards designed to protect the right to life. It builds upon the proposition that “[c]ountries that have maintained the death penalty are not prohibited by international law from making that choice, but they have a clear obligation to disclose the details of their application of the penalty” (E/CN.4/2005/7, para. 59). The report analyses the legal basis of that transparency obligation and examines case studies that illustrate the major problems that exist in this area.