Philippines

Abolitionist for all crimesLegal status of the death penalty*

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Document(s)

The politics of abolition: Reframing the death penalty’s history in comparative perspective

By Carolyn Strange, Daniel Pascoe, and Andrew Novak, on 5 December 2024


2024

Academic Article

Canada

Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment

Mali

Mexico

Myanmar

Philippines

Trend Towards Abolition

United Kingdom


More details See the document

Literature on opposition to the death penalty typically characterizes abolition as inexorable and attributes its fulfillment to the age of human rights. Although most countries abolished capital punishment after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, this article uses three comparative case studies to demonstrate abolition’s entanglement with a broader range of political, legal, and cultural factors. Applying a historically grounded nonteleological approach, we offer three insights. First, civilizationist values drove abolitionism in countries in the “vanguard,” such as Canada and England/Wales, where human rights rationales were expressed well after abolition and as a mark of superiority. Second, death penalty abolition has often allied with decolonization and penal reform, but assertions of independence and sovereignty have periodically provoked reinstatement, as in Mexican and Philippine history, which underscores the fragility of abolition. Third, state-centric approaches to de jure and de facto abolition overlook the practice of extrajudicial and summary “rebel” executions in polities such as Myanmar and Mali, which lack a state monopoly on force. Further historical studies that do not presuppose a human rights explanation of abolition and that compare jurisdictions within as well as between the Global North and South will better grasp the death penalty’s complex history.

  • Document type Academic Article
  • Countries list Canada / Mali / Mexico / Myanmar / Philippines / United Kingdom
  • Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment / Trend Towards Abolition

Document(s)

Philippines – Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women – Death Penalty – June 2022

on 21 July 2022


2022

NGO report

Philippines

Women


More details Download [ pdf - 443 Ko ]

The Government of the Philippines has taken commendable steps toward protecting and promoting the rights of women overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), but those workers remain vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, and when they come into conflict with the law in their host countries, their vulnerabilities are compounded by linguistic and legal barriers, as well as judicial systems which fail to account for the gendered context in which they allegedly committed criminal acts. The Government of the Philippines should do more to ensure protection of the rights of these women OFWs, particularly when they are at risk of being sentenced to death.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list Philippines
  • Themes list Women

Document(s)

The Philippines – Universal Periodic Review – Death Penalty – March 2022

on 31 March 2022


2022

NGO report

World Coalition

Philippines


More details Download [ pdf - 320 Ko ]

1. This report addresses the Philippines’ compliance with its international human rights
obligations with respect to the death penalty. For years, the Philippines imposed the death
penalty, particularly for so-called heinous crimes. In 2006, President Gloria MacapagalArroyo abolished the death penalty.1 Since then, however, lawmakers have introduced
numerous bills to reinstate the death penalty, with the House adopting Bill No. 7814 as
recently as March 2, 2021.2

2. The report examines the current state of the death penalty in the Philippines, including (1)
acceptance of international norms; (2) proposed legislation reintroducing the death penalty;
(3) torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment in enforcing drug control; (4)
conditions of detention; and (5) administration of justice and fair trial.

3. This report recommends that the Philippines continue the abolition of the death penalty,
refrain from reintroducing the death penalty, honor its international commitments, and
implement a human rights-based approach to anti-drug policy

  • Document type NGO report / World Coalition
  • Countries list Philippines

Document(s)

Advisory on the Increased Vulnerabilty of Women Migrant Workers on Death Row

By Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, on 3 December 2021


2021

Government body report

Drug Offenses

Legal Representation

Philippines

Women

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 1457 Ko ]

The Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines issues this advisory to bring the Philippines’ attention to the heightened vulnerabilities of women Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

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