"The forfeiture of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict it on another, even when backed by legal process" - Kofi Annan
What is Britain doing to bring about worldwide abolition of the death penalty?
- The UK has abolished the death penalty for all crimes.
- The UK has ratified Protocol 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights which abolishes the death penalty in most circumstances.
- The UK has ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which bans the use of capital punishment;
- The UK has ratified Protocol 13 of the ECHR, banning the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, including time of war.
- During the UK's Presidency in 1998, the European Union agreed guidelines on the death penalty. These include criteria for making "demarches" (representations) to countries which retain the death penalty.
- With our EU partners, the UK makes regular demarches in:
- in individual cases which fall below minimum standards for the use of the death penalty (such as executing pregnant women, mentally retarded persons or those aged under eighteen at the time of the commission of the crime);
- in situations where a government’s policy on the death penalty is in flux (for example when they are considering lifting a moratorium, or de facto moratorium, on the use of the death penalty);
- In 1998, the FCO set up a Death Penalty Panel including expert academic, legal and NGO representatives. The Panel helps the Government draw up strategies towards the worldwide abolition of the death penalty.
- The UK co-sponsored the annual EU resolution on the death penalty at the UN Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Geneva. The Human Rights Council (HRC) was established in March 2006 in place of CHR. The HRC has a mandate to discuss thematic issues. The UK will continue to discuss with EU partners how best to ensure that the HRC addresses the death penalty.
- The FCO is currently supporting projects around the world aimed at strengthening the death penalty review system, encouraging open debate on the death penalty, examining death penalty reform and providing technical training for public defenders.
- The FCO makes representations on behalf of any British national who is sentenced to death, anywhere in the world.
Common myths about the death penalty
"The death penalty is a deterrent"
This is not proven. Numerous studies have failed to establish that execution deters better than a long jail sentence. For example, the USA has the highest murder rate in the industrialised world, and rates are highest in Southern States where most executions occur.
"Murderers deserve no mercy"
All persons are entitled to full protection before the law and full observance of their human rights., including the right to a fair trial and the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence. Criminals must be brought to justice. But there are other means of doing this. And, with the death penalty, miscarriages of justice are irreversible.
"Most countries have the death penalty"
Not so. In 2004, 118 countries had ended capital punishment in law or practice. Only 78 retain it, and many of those have moratoriums. The international consensus is moving towards abolition.
"Most people want the death penalty"
Poll after poll finds that the more people know about the death penalty - and possible alternatives to execution - the more public support for the death penalty drops. That is why Britain works to encourage more debate about the death penalty in countries which retain it.
* source: Amnesty International 06 February 2007
