Message by Mary Robinson United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the occasion of a meeting on the death penalty organized by the region of Tuscany and Amnesty International in Florence

10 December 1997


Mr. Chairman,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I welcome this opportunity to contribute to your meeting which I hope will be an important contribution to the growing effort aimed at limiting and, one day, eliminating the use of the death penalty.

The desirability of the abolition of capital punishment has been strongly affirmed by the United Nations since 1977. The entry into force in 1989 of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on civil and Political Rights abolishing the death penalty, although still a long way from universal ratification, can be seen as one of the clearest recognitions of the international community towards the goal of abolition.

Further, it is significant that Security Council resolution 827 (1993) of 25 May 1993 and 955 (1994) of 8 November 1994 on the establishment of international criminal jurisdictions for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, respectively excluded the death penalty, and established that imprisonment was the sole penalty to be imposed by these tribunals for crimes as heinous as genocide and crimes against humanity.

The Human Rights Committee has also observed that article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights strongly suggests that abolition of the death penalty is desirable. Another recent indicator of the gradual move of the international community towards abolition of the death penalty is the action by the Commission on Human Rights this year (resolution 1997/12) when for the first time, it adopted a resolution on capital punishment which calls upon all States "that have not yet abolished the death penalty progressively to restrict the number of offences for which the death penalty may be imposed". I further calls on States to consider suspending executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty.

I welcome the fact that more and more countries are joining this trend and are either restricting the number of offenses punishable by death or abolishing the death penalty. In the absence of an internationally accepted prohibition, States that have not abolished the death penalty must respect all safeguards and restrictions established by the pertinent international legal instruments. Further, in particular, I should recall that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibit the imposition of a sentence of death on juvenile offenders. Moreover, a sentence of death should not be carried out on pregnant women or recent mothers.

I note, however, that in some countries, several questions have been raised suggesting that the guarantees and safeguards set forth in international instruments relating to fair trial procedures and specific restrictions on capital punishment are not being fully implemented. I am particularly concerned when juvenile offenders are sentenced to death. The Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions monitors the implementation on international standards on safeguards and restrictions relating to the imposition of capital punishment. During 1997, he has transmitted 42 urgent appeals on behalf of more than 78 identified individuals who were said to have been sentenced to death in breach of international safeguards and restrictions in this regard.

The right to life is the most fundamental right. I hope that the goal expressed by the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights, will guide many countries to move towards a progressive restriction of offences punishable by death and that the day will come, in the not too distant future, when we will see this punishment completely abolished.

Thank you.