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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
The 56 Lecture of the Americas of the Organization of American States (OAS) discussed
on Tuesday
in Washington DC the issue of the abolition of the death penalty, as
part of the commemoration of the International Day Against this
punishment on October 10. The event featured a keynote address by the
President of the International Institute of Human Rights and former
President of the European Court of Human Rights, Jean-Paul Costa,
entitled "Reflections on the Abolition of the Death Penalty."
Opening the event, the OAS Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza,
said that the issue "is no stranger to the OAS, particularly to the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that recently issued a new
call for the abolition of the death penalty," recalling in this regard
the significant contribution that the Commission has made to the topic.
In this regard, the Secretary General referred to a report published in
2012 on the restrictions to the abolition of the death penalty in the
Hemisphere and recalled that although the inter-American instruments on
Human Rights do not explicitly prohibit its imposition, they "place on
it significant restrictions and limitations, particularly in its
application and scope. "
The leader of the hemispheric institution also referred to the
"long abolitionist tradition" that characterizes the Hemisphere, where
19 states have abolished it for ordinary crimes and where in 15 it is
still legal "but with a moratorium on executions and there is only one
state that continues with this practice."
Secretary General Insulza recalled that this is a controversial
topic in the region. "Some mistakenly think that the application of the
death penalty is a deterrent. It is important, however, to note that for
some time it has been proven that when you want to deter criminals what
you have to do is to ensure that justice is done; the magnitude of the
penalty is less important than the certainty of punishment," he said.
Likewise, the OAS leader urged strengthening of the institutional
network and of all the judicial and prosecutorial systems, "above all an
adequate rehabilitation system." He insisted that the death penalty has
never been shown to be a deterrent and stressed that "this is not a
topic on which we can have an official position of the Organization, but
it is worth noting that in 34 of the member countries it is no longer
practiced."
During his presentation, Judge Jean-Paul Costa analyzed how the
abolition of the death penalty has gained ground in many regions of the
world, saying that in several countries it has been eliminated "either
by law or in practice." He said that currently about two thirds of the
United Nations member countries have abolished it for all crimes and
sixty still maintain it as part of their legislation. Judge Costa added
that the abolition approaches vary from region to region being Europe
the continent where the fewest executions have been carried out in
recent years. "In Africa, 17 of 48 states have abolished the death
penalty by law and there has been a positive trend of not using its
application."
"The instruments of greater influence at the international level
tolerate the death penalty, including the Universal Declaration of 1948
and the 1966 International Covenants on Human Rights which do not
prohibit it," said the President of the International Institute of Human
Rights, but recalled that "more recently international bodies such as
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the African Commission
on Human Rights have called for its abolition." "The world has moved
forward in the abolition, though large, populous countries still have it
as in the cases of China, India, Indonesia, Japan and the United
States," he said.
Judge Costa referred to the Resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council last
June 26
which for the first time "deplored the human rights violations
resulting from the application of the death penalty." The Resolution
urges states that have not done so to “protect the rights of those
convicted to the death penalty” and called for avoiding the application
of this punishment to people under 18 years old. Costa said that on
October 10 and 11 the International Conference on the Universal
Abolition of the Death Penalty took place in San José, Costa Rica which
sought "to raise awareness among judges, lawyers, NGOs and civil society
on the importance of working together for the abolition of the death
penalty "and said the goal is to achieve universal abolition by 2025.
When talking about the future prospects of the death penalty, the
former President of the European Court of Human Rights stated that "it
is an uncertain future," and noted that "on one hand we have the
political and security situation in many regions that affects the
strength of the movement due to conflicts and large-scale terrorism,
organized crime, and trafficking in persons; and on the other hand we
have the evolution of the past 20 years that shows a clear trend towards
abolition in practice or by law." "From my perspective, without the
efforts of the entire society it will be very difficult to achieve the
goal we have proposed to abolish the death penalty," he said.
Following the presentation of Judge Costa, the Assistant Executive
Secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR),
Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, summarized the work that the Commission has done
in the field and especially its role in the establishment of
international standards for the application of the death penalty. "The
Commission was the first international human rights body to assess the
consequences of the mandatory application of the death penalty in the
enjoyment of human rights, concluding that it is inconsistent with the
rights to life, humane treatment and due process," explained
Abi-Mershed. She also referred to the report entitled "The Death Penalty in the Inter-American Human Rights System: from restrictions to abolition”
in which the human rights framework applicable to the death penalty is
analyzed and which presents guidelines to address its abolition. "The
decisions of the IACHR and the Court have become a decisive guidance on
legal reforms in the region," said Abi-Mershed and commented that the
way the Commission has dealt with cases involving the issue of capital
punishment and as its recent position to call for its abolition of
capital punishment "shows that in the framework of the OAS there is a
potential to become a motor for change."
For his part, the Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the
OAS, Pablo Barahona, analyzed the various historical and political
aspects of the capital punishment in the region and in the world,
stating that "the best seismograph of a country is its Penal Code, it
shows what are the protected legal interests and sets the sentences, and
thus sets the scale of order," and described the death penalty as a
"savage criminal sanction," and the "product of a very limited policy
and a mirror of the most basic ignorance.” Ambassador Barahona agreed
with the view presented by Secretary General Insulza regarding the
inapplicability of "the alleged preventive or deterrent purposes of the
death penalty," stating that it "does not prevent violent offenders, as
violent crimes are usually the most irrational, nor does it teach
anything good to others."
Ambassador Barahona recalled how his country became one of the
first to abolish the death penalty, "Costa Rica has reaffirmed through
its political history its strong commitment to the universal abolition
of the death penalty, and thus its defense of life," he noted and
recalled that by 1945, just 7 subscribing countries to the UN Charter of
had abolished it and that by 2008,"141 countries dispensed with this
dishonorable punitive practice." He also recalled that according to
figures from Amnesty International in 2013 there were at least 1,925
death sentences in 57 countries and that today there are more than
23,000 sentenced to death worldwide awaiting execution. "Among them
there will be innocents, we know that." He concluded by noting that the
death penalty "does not bring justice, not even order, but demonstrates
its failure; it is not even the failure of the law, it is the failure of
the whole society, and to some extent, our own failure."
At the conclusion of the event, the Permanent Observer of France
to the OAS, Jean-Claude Nolla, offered appreciative words to the
presenters and examined the relationship between the death penalty,
human rights and democracy. "The vast majority of international texts
mark a separation between the death penalty and human rights," he said,
recalling that in many countries in Europe and America it is described
as "cruel and inhuman." He also analyzed the three arguments that
support abolition "the judicial error that kills the innocent, the
ineffectiveness of the death penalty and the idea of the integrity of
the human person that does not seem to be compatible with the penalty
itself" and commented in this regard that "all the arguments are valid."
Finally, he urged the OAS member countries to act as an institution,
delivering a united message for the abolition of the death penalty.
Prior to the Lecture, Secretary General Insulza held a private
meeting with the panelists participating in the same. The 56 Lecture
Series was moderated by the OAS Secretary for External Relations,
Alfonso Quiñonez.
© Copyright 2014 by thebahamasweekly.com
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