9th Resolution for a moratorium on the death penalty: the trend is growing

Source: World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (20 December 2022)

https://worldcoalition.org/2022/12/20/9th-resolution-for-a-moratorium-on-the-death-penalty-the-trend-is-growing/

On 15 December 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 9th resolution for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty with 125 votes in favor (2 more than in 2020), 37 votes against, 22 abstentions and 9 absent.

POSITIVE CHANGES REFLECT THE TREND TOWARDS ABOLITION IN AFRICA

For the 1st time, 3 countries that had abstained in previous votes voted in favor of the resolution:

Ghana
Liberia
Uganda

These changes in votes reflect ongoing debates in these countries to abolish the death penalty. In 2022, 29 countries in Africa voted in favor of the resolution compared to 17 in 2007.

CONFIRMING POSITIVE CHANGES IN ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

For the second or third time in a row, the following countries confirmed their support for the resolution:

Djibouti
Jordan
Lebanon
South Korea
Malaysia
Philippines

Also, Papua New Guinea moved from a vote against to an abstention (it abolished the death penalty in 2022), and Myanmar from an abstention to a vote in favor.

DISAPPOINTING VOTES OF SOME COUNTRIES WHERE INTENSE MOBILIZATION OF CIVIL SOCIETY DID NOT MATERIALIZE

Since May 2022, the World Coalition and its member organizations have coordinated a campaign to gather more support for the resolution.

Of particular focus this year was the USA, which voted against the resolution for the 9th time. Of concern also the Democratic Republic of the Congo voted against for the 1st time.

Finally, Vanuatu and Venezuela were absent for the 1st time, they had always voted yes before.

GROWING SUPPORT OVER THE YEARS

With 2 more votes in favor compared to 2020, the resolution has now reached 125 votes. The text of the resolution has also evolved over the years.

The next moratorium resolution, the 10th resolution, will be adopted in December 2024 and the goal will be to reach 2/3 of the United Nations Member States voting in favor.

UN rights chief: Myanmar junta has issued over 130 death sentences in private proceedings

Source: Jurist (4 December 2022)

https://www.jurist.org/news/2022/12/un-human-rights-chief-myanmar-junta-has-issued-over-130-death-sentences-in-private-proceedings/

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk Friday condemned military courts in Myanmar for handing out over 130 death sentences in proceedings not accessible to the public. Seven college students were sentenced to death on November 30, and the UN is working to confirm four additional death sentences against youth activists on December 1. The military continues to hold proceedings in secretive courts in violation of basic principles of fair trial and contrary to core judicial guarantees of independence and impartiality. Military courts have consistently failed to uphold any degree of transparency contrary to the most basic due process or fair trial guarantees.

Myanmar’s National Unity Government, the nation’s democratically elected government in exile, continues to call for aid. In an interview with Radio Free Asia this week, acting President Duwa Lashi La said more than 2,500 people have been killed by the military junta since a coup d’état on February 1, 2021. La also reported that the junta has detained more than 13,000 people, but the UN estimates that figure is closer to 16,500.

On April 21, 2021, The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to a Five Point Consensus regarding Myanmar. Türk argues that the junta has clearly acted with “disdain” the Consensus, and rights groups like Human Rights Watch believe ASEAN “has failed to fulfill its pledges or take meaningful steps toward pressing the junta to end its human rights violations.”

UN Iran expert concerned about death sentences for protesters

Source: Reuters (30 November 2022)

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-iran-expert-concerned-about-death-sentences-protesters-2022-11-29/

GENEVA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - A U.N.-appointed independent expert on Iran voiced concern on Tuesday that the repression of protesters was intensifying, with authorities launching a "campaign" of sentencing them to death.

The United Nations says more than 300 people have been killed so far and 14,000 arrested in protests that began after the Sept. 16 death in custody of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.

"I'm afraid that the Iranian regime will react violently to the Human Rights Council resolution and this may trigger more violence and repression on their part," Javaid Rehman told Reuters, referring to a UN Human Rights Council vote to establish a probe into the crackdown last week.

Tehran has rejected the investigation and says it will not cooperate.

"Now (authorities) have started a campaign of sentencing (protesters) to death," he added, saying he expected more to be sentenced.

Already, 21 people arrested in the context of the protests face the death penalty, including a woman indicted on "vague and broadly formulated criminal offences", and six have been sentenced this month, Rehman said.

Tehran has rejected the investigation and says it will not cooperate.

"Now (authorities) have started a campaign of sentencing (protesters) to death," he added, saying he expected more to be sentenced.

Already, 21 people arrested in the context of the protests face the death penalty, including a woman indicted on "vague and broadly formulated criminal offences", and six have been sentenced this month, Rehman said.

The U.N. resolution is seen as being among the more strongly-worded in the body's 16-year history and urges the mission to "collect, consolidate and analyse evidence".

Past investigations launched by the council have led to war crimes cases, including the jailing of a Syrian ex-officer for state-backed torture in Germany this year.

Rehman said he expected the new Fact-Finding Mission to provide a list of perpetrators and share that with national and regional legal authorities.

"It will ensure accountability and it will provide evidence to the courts and tribunals," he said. A U.N. document showed the mission would have 15 staff members and a budget of $3.67 million.

Singapore tightens rules on last-minute death penalty appeals

Source: Al Jazeera (30 November 2022)

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/30/singapore-tightens-rules-on-death-penalty-appeals

Singapore has passed new legislation to tighten rules surrounding last-minute legal appeals against executions.

The Post-Appeal Applications in Capital Cases Bill, adopted on Tuesday, was drafted in response to a series of cases in recent years where condemned prisoners have filed legal applications after exhausting the appeal and clemency process.

“The amendments will provide greater clarity and guidance on the process and considerations which PACPs [prisoner awaiting capital punishment] and their counsel should have regard to when making post-appeal applications,” senior parliamentary secretary for law and ruling party member Rahayu Mahzam told parliament as she presented the bill. “The amendments also do not affect access to justice. PACPs are not prevented from filing their applications and ventilating their arguments in court.”

The new law says a convicted prisoner can only take post-appeal and clemency actions with the permission of the Court of Appeal, and that applications can only be filed if the prisoner has “new relevant evidence” that they could not have presented earlier.

Among the other measures, the Court of Appeal will be the only court empowered to grant a stay of execution.

“Singapore seems to be more interested in preserving the perceived sanctity of their courts than ensuring people facing death have every opportunity to appeal their sentence,” Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch told Al Jazeera. “For such a grievous, rights violating penalties like capital punishment, Singapore should be bending over backwards to facilitate appeals rather than trying to chop off death row prisoners’ last chance at justice.”

Singapore resumed hangings after the coronavirus pandemic, attracting global attention over its execution of 33-year-old Malaysian Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, whose lawyers and family fought to the last minute to stop his hanging.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the legal efforts to save the life of Nagaenthran, who had been convicted of drug trafficking, describing them as a “blatant and egregious abuse” of the legal process and adding that it was “improper to engage in or encourage last ditch attempts” to delay or stop an execution.

At least 10 people have been hanged in Singapore this year, and about 60 people are on death row, according to the Transformative Justice Collective, a Singapore activist group calling for an immediate moratorium.

Most of those facing the death penalty in the country of 5.5 million have been convicted for drug offences, with people carrying more than a tiny amount of a substance such as heroin presumed to be trafficking.

“Under international law, States that have not yet abolished the death penalty may only impose it for the ‘most serious crimes’, involving intentional killing,” a group of United Nations experts said in July. “Drug offences clearly do not meet this threshold.”

Singapore’s government says capital punishment saves lives because it deters drug crime, and has the support of the majority of the population.