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.