Ahead of the launch of a new
book by the United Nations on the global trend away from the death penalty, the
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights said that there has been a
decline in the number of countries upholding capital punishment in the last 40
years.
the UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Ivan Šimonovic said that according to the
book, Moving Away from the Death Penalty: Arguments, Trends and Perspectives, in
1975, about 97 per cent of countries were executing criminals, but in 2015, only
27 per cent of countries that hand down the death penalty. He added that the
purpose of the book is to “contribute to such a trend,” but warned that even
though there is a drop in the number of documented executions, there is a
possibility of several executions being conducted which are not registered or
reported accurately.
Šimonovic said that in 2014, there had unfortunately been a 28 per cent increase
in the number of people condemned to death. “It represents an overall increase
in Member States resorting to death penalty to prevent terrorism or drug related
offences.
Mr. Šimonovic describe that one of the biggest drawbacks of death penalties is
the “wrongful conviction” of suspects. He added that advancement in the field of
investigation, such as DNA testing, has shown evidence that wrongful convictions
do happen “as there is no perfect justice system.”
The biggest challenge of death penalty is its finality; as there is no way of
rectifying the verdict even after the person is found innocent after execution.
Moreover, Mr. Šimonovic said that according to several studies, there is no
convincing evidence of any deterring effect death penalty has on crimes
committed. “However, there is conclusive evidence that there is a correlation
between death penalty and discrimination and unequal treatment against
vulnerable groups,”
Mr. Šimonovic also said, in most cases, people who end up getting executed are
poor, belong to vulnerable groups or socially disadvantaged minority groups or
have mental disabilities. Further, he addressed the issue of certain Member
States that still sentence people to death for apostasy or homosexuality and
questioned the legitimacy of such verdicts.
At the same time, Mr. Šimonovic said that his Office will hold a joint meeting
with the Ministers of Justice of the African Union on 12 November, about “moving
away from death penalty.” He said that out of 54 African Union (AU) countries,
18 have abolished death penalty and nearly 19 are de facto not executing,
totalling two-thirds of the AU choosing to end death penalty as a verdict.
Lastly, Mr. Šimonovic expressed hope that the rest of the continent could learn
from these countries and put an end to death penalty in judicial systems.
However, he highlighted several cases of death penalty crimes, where the
judiciary showed lack of respect for the proceedings of investigation and also
spotlighted certain cases which conducted “such prompt executions” that even
making appeals were not allowed.