The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2018
punishment” and addressing “disproportionate impact of the use of the death penalty on poor or economically vulnerable individuals”, the resolution underlines the
discriminatory aspect of the death penalty and aims to organize a high-level panel
on this issue during the 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council. The resolution includes an emphasis on “deploring” and “condemning” the execution of those
exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly, those under 18 at the
time of the crime, people with mental or intellectual disabilities, pregnant women,
people who engage in same-sex sexual relations, and those who engage in adultery.
Moreover, the resolution asks the UN Secretary General to dedicate his 2019 yearly
supplement of his quinquennial report to capital punishment and its consequences
for the respect for human rights.
During the same 36th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Secretary
General presented the yearly supplement to his quinquennial report on capital punishment.113 It paid specific attention to discrimination in the context of the death
penalty. An entire section of the report focuses on socio-economic discrimination.
In particular, the report examines the disproportionate impact of the use of the
death penalty on poor or economically vulnerable individuals, foreign nationals,
individuals exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression, and the discriminatory use of the death penalty against people belonging
to racial and ethnic minorities, its discriminatory use based on gender or sexual orientation and its discriminatory use against individuals with mental or intellectual
disabilities.
During the 36th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights submitted his report on the high-level panel discussion on the question of the death penalty that was held at the 34th session of the
Council on 1 March 2017.114 The objective of the panel discussion was to continue
exchanging views on the question of the death penalty and to address violations related to the use of the death penalty, in particular with respect to the prohibition of
torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. According
to the report, a significant number of States hold that the death penalty is a form of
torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
On 10 October 2017, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights organized a panel on “Transparency and the death penalty” in New York.
UN Secretary General António Guterres, in his first public statement as Secretary
General on the death penalty, stated that “the death penalty has no place in the
113 A/HRC/36/26, 36th session of the Human Rights Council: Reports, United Nations Human Rights Council, 22
August 2017, <https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/hrc/regularsessions/session36/pages/listreports.aspx>
114 “High-level panel discussion on the question of the death
Penalty: Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights”, United Nations General Assembly, 4
July 2017, A/HRC/36/27.
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