4
A number of States are also in the process of abolishing or considering abolishing
the death penalty. Legislative amendments to abolish the death penalty are currently
pending in parliament in Burkina Faso, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Guatemala,
Lebanon, Mali and the Russian Federation. Abolition of the death penalty was also
discussed as part of constitutional review processes in some States, including
Ghana, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago and Tunisia.
Since December 2007, Argentina, Benin, Brazil, Chile, Honduras, Kyrgyzstan,
Mongolia
2
, Nicaragua and Rwanda have completed the ratification (or accession)
of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights. Currently, there are 75 State parties to the Second Optional Protocol.
Some States stopped applying the
death penalty for certain crimes. For
instance, in July 2009, Kazakhstan
adopted a new law reducing the
number of provisions that imposed
the death penalty. In April 2011,
the Parliament of Gambia abolished
the death penalty for drug offences.
In February 2011, China passed
a law removing the death penalty
for thirteen non-violent economic crimes. Furthermore, in March 2012, China
amended its Criminal Procedure Law to include new procedures enhancing access
to legal aid, requiring the recording of interrogations, introducing mandatory
appellate hearings and a more rigorous review process in capital cases.
At regional level, on August 3, 2012 the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States (OAS), which includes the
United States, called for a moratorium on executions in the region and released
a report reviewing key areas of concern about the death penalty.
3
The Inter-
American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for human rights in the
region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area.
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights adopted a resolution
in November 2008which urged States parties that retain the death penalty
to observe a moratorium on the execution of death sentences with a view to
abolishing the death penalty.
4
A study on “the Question of the Death Penalty in
Africa,” prepared by the Working Group on the Death Penalty of the Commission,
was officially launched in April 2012.
5
2
Mongolia established an official moratorium on executions in January 2010.
3
IACHR Calls on a Moratorium in the Application of the Death Penalty, Press Release, 3 August 2012.
4
ACHPR/Res 136 (XXXXIIII)
5
http://www.achpr.org/news/2012/04/d46
“A DEATH SENTENCE IS OFTEN
IMPOSED ON LESS PRIVILEGED
INDIVIDUALS who do not have
sufficient access to effective
legal representation.”
— High Commissioner for Human Rights
Navi Pillay