Friday, March 23, 2007

New Constitution


As Thailand writes a new constitution the examples of the 47 states who reject the death penalty may be useful

47 Countries throughout the world have repudiated the death penalty in their constitutions. The following table records the wordings of these guarantees of the right to life.

Country

Words of Constitution

Article

1. Andorra

The penalty of death is prohibited

8.3

2. Angola

1. The State respects and protects human life

2. The penalty of death is prohibited

22

3. Austria

The penalty of death is abolished

85

4. Belgium

The death penalty is abolished, it cannot be brought back into force

18

5. Bosnia-Herzegovina

All persons within the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall enjoy the human rights and fundamental freedoms referred to in paragraph 2 above; these include:

(a) The right to life

Paragraph 3

6. Cambodia

Every individual has the right to life, to liberty, and to personal security. The penalty of death should not exist

32

7. Cape Verde

No individual may be subject to torture, nor to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment. The death penalty may not be applied in any case.

26-2

8. Colombia

The right to life is inviolable. The death penalty does not exist

11

9. Costa Rica

The right to life is inviolable

21

10. Cote d’Ivoire

Any sanction leading to the deprivation of human life is forbidden

2

11. Croatia

Every human being has the right to life. The death penalty does not exist in the Republic of Croatia

21

12. Czech Republic

The death penalty does not exist

6.3

13. Dominican Republic

Neither the death penalty, nor torture or any other penalty or repressive procedure or punishment resulting in loss of, or damage to, the physical integrity or health of an individual, may be established

8.1

14. Ecuador

The State recognises and guarantees inviolability of life to all citizens. The death penalty does not exist

23

15. Finland

Every individual has the right to life, to individual liberty, to physical integrity and to security. No individual may be condemned to death, to torture, or to other degrading treatment

6

16. France

No one may be condemned to the penalty of death

66-1

17. Germany

The penalty of death is abolished

102

18. Guinea-Bissau

In no case may the penalty of death exist in the Republic of Guinea Bissau

36-1

19. Haiti

The penalty of death is abolished for every matter

20

20. Honduras

The penalty of death is prohibited

66

21. Iceland

The penalty of death may in no case be established by law

69

22. Ireland

The Parliament shall not enact any law providing for the imposition of the death penalty

15.5.2

23. Luxembourg

The death penalty may not be established

18

24. Macedonia

Human life is inviolable. The death penalty may not be applied in any case in the Republic of Macedonia

10

25. Marshall Islands

In virtue of the legislation of the Marshall Islands, no crime is punishable by penalty of death

6-1

26. Micronesia

Penalty of death is forbidden

IV-9

27. Monaco

The penalty of death is abolished

20

28. Mozambique

1. All citizens have the right to life and that their physical integrity be respected. They may not be subjected to torture, nor to cruel or inhuman treatment.

2. The penalty of death does not exist in the Republic of Mozambique

6

29. Namibia

The right to life will be respected and protected. No law may impose the death penalty as a judicial punishment.. No tribunal or court may issue a death penalty. No execution may take place in Namibia

6

30. Nepal

No law can envisage the death penalty

12-1

31. Netherlands

The death penalty sentence may not be pronounced

114

32. Nicaragua

The right to life is inviolable and inherent in the human person. The penalty of death does not exist in Nicaragua

23

33. Panama

The penalty of death does not exist

30

34. Paraguay

The penalty of death is abolished

4

35. Portugal

(1) Human life is inviolable

(2) The death penalty is applicable in no case

24

36. Romania

The penalty of death is prohibited

22-3

37. Sao Tome and Principe

1. Human life is inviolable

2. The death penalty may not be applied in any case


38. Seychelles

2. No law allows a tribunal to pronounce a sentence of capital punishment

15

39. Slovak Republic

3. The penalty of death is inadmissable

15

40. Slovenia

Human life is inviolable. The death penalty does not exist in Slovenia

17

41. South Africa

Everyone has the right to life

2.11

42. Sweden

Sentence of death may not be pronounced

4

43. Switzerland

Every person has the right to live. The death penalty is prohibited

10.1

44. Timor-Leste

There shall be no death penalty in the Democratic Republic of East Timor

29.3

45. Ukraine

Every person has the inalienable right to life.

No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of life. The duty of the State is to protect human life.

27

46. Uruguay

Penalty of death may not be applied in any case

26

47. Venezuela

The right to life is inviolable. No law may establish the penalty of death, and no authority may inflict it

58

Notes:

Abolitionist and retentionist countries
Over half the countries in the world have now abolished the death penalty in law or practice.
Amnesty International's latest information shows that:

  • 89 countries and territories have abolished the death penalty for all crimes;
  • 10 countries have abolished the death penalty for all but exceptional crimes such as wartime crimes;
  • 29 countries can be considered abolitionist in practice: they retain the death penalty in law but have not carried out any executions for the past 10 years or more and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions,

making a total of 128 countries which have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.

  • 69 other countries and territories retain and use the death penalty, but the number of countries which actually execute prisoners in any one year is much smaller.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Morocco - First Arab Country Preparing to Abolish Death Penalty

At the Third World Congress against the Death Penalty in Paris last February, the head of the Morocco's state-appointed Consultative Committee on Human Rights, Ben Zekri, confirmed there was a general consensus among members of parliament to end capital punishment. The Moroccan press has speculated that a parliamentary vote will be taken on the issue in the current parliamentary session which ends in June. A bill to abolish the death penalty had already been drawn up and put before the government. The king had also set up a special legal commission which was working on the task of removing capital punishment from the country's legal code.

Since 1993 Morocco has operated a moratorium on the death penalty -- one of some 20 African countries which have not carried out executions for more than 10 years.

Opponents of the death penalty world-wide, hope that Morocco's removal of the death penalty from its statute books will set an example to North African and Middle Eastern states. None of the 22 states in the region have yet abolished the death penalty. Saudi Arabia and Iran execute more than a hundred every year.

Morocco's steady progress along the road to abolition of the death penalty was given a major boost with the final report of the Equity and Reconciliation Committee in 2005. This recommended the abolition of the death penalty as a measure for strengthening the judicial and political reforms carried out since king Mohammed VI's accession to the throne in 1999.

The committee, headed by Driss Benzekri, a close advisor to the king, investigated grave violations of human rights committed between the granting of independence and 1999. It organised public hearings which were broadcast on national television, something unheard of in the Arab world.

Moroccan television has also played a major role in the public debate on the death penalty. Last October the national coalition against the death penalty organised a debate on capital punishment at the headquarters of the lawyer's club in the Moroccan capital, Rabat. This was televised nationally.

Later a documentary on the death penalty was also broadcast on television. Nothing like this had ever been produced and shown in an Arab country, one delegate to the recent Paris World Congress against the Death Penalty said. The documentary appears to have convinced some people to switch from supporting the death penalty to becoming abolitionists.

Not all Morocco's predominantly Muslim population have been won over by the arguments of the abolitionists. Many still find justification for capital punishment in the Koran and sacred texts. Some members of Morocco's legal profession would also not like any change in the law.

"The abolitionists have the wrong approach to the right to life," Mohamed Chemssy, a lawyer, told IPS. "This right cannot be used to defend someone who has deprived another of precisely this right. Those who support abolition cannot only consider the criminal. They must also consider the families of the victims." He added: "The death penalty cannot be tied to democracy, dictatorship, Islam or to any other religion. It is tied to justice. We do not need to abolish the death penalty. We need to guarantee fair triails for all and an independent judiciary that would give fair sentences no matter what the punishment," he said.

But Ahmed Kouza, a doctor and Amnesty International activist, takes an opposite view:
"Abolition would improve the image of this country and help reinforce respect for human rights where the right to life comes first of all," he told IPS. "Death penalty sentences and executions have never stopped crime anywhere." Judicial mistakes could never be ruled out. The emphasis should be on reforming criminals and returning them to society. "As Muslims, we believe that only God gives life and death," he added.