Organization of American States (OAS)
OAS Lecture Series Examines Universal Abolition of the Death Penalty
By OAS
Oct 16, 2014 - 3:37:47 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.

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