of one country on another, in so far as, even when there is reliable evidence of the guilt of an individual or he had already been sentenced in the United States, he could not be extradited since Canadian penal legislation would not consider his conduct to be an offence; study ex officio the details of the trial and sentencing but rather of Mr. Kindler to present, before all the organs that had heard the case, evidence that the death penalty violated his rights, in which case there would be an exceptional circumstance. In so far as the author did not present such "evidence", the State party admits that it had not been possible to give careful attention to that possibility. (c) Not to request assurances out of a desire to see the foreign law strictly applied amounts to imposing (in a self-inflicting manner) the law of one of the component parts of the United States of America (Pennsylvania) and its pro-death-penalty philosophy on the Canadian legal and social system. 15. Nevertheless, the most important aspect of the exceptional circumstances is that related to the State party's affirmations that they refer to the application of the death penalty. I have pointed out on several occasions that exceptional circumstances have to be considered in relation to the possibility that the death penalty may be applied. I do not share the idea expressed by Canada concerning the relationship between those circumstances and the death penalty. In my view, the most important matter is the link between the application of the death penalty and the protection given to the lives of persons within the jurisdiction of the Canadian State. For them, the death penalty constitutes in itself a special circumstance. For that reason -and in so far as the jury decided that the author of the communication must die – Canada had a duty to seek assurances that Joseph John Kindler would not be executed. 18. It has been argued that Mr. Kindler was extradited without any assurances being sought because to have requested them would have prevented his handing-over to the United States authorities. This is another assertion that I cannot accept. On the one hand, since the State party to the Extradition Treaty has accepted in advance that assurances may be requested of it, it must be prepared to give them in any case.u On the other hand, Canada is affirming that the authorities of the United States of America are not willing in any circumstance to give those assurances and that they are even prepared to use extradition as a means of imposing their conception of penal law on Canada. I do not believe this to be the case. 19. The problem that arises with the extradition of Mr. Kindler to the United States without any assurances having been requested is that he has been deprived of the enjoyment of a right in conformity with the Covenant. Article 6, paragraph 2, of the Covenant, although it does not prohibit the death penalty, cannot be understood as an unrestricted authorization for it. In the first place, it has to be viewed in the light of paragraph 1, which declares that every human being has the inherent right to life. It is an unconditional right admitting of no exception. In the second place, it constitutes – for those States which have not abolished the death penalty – a limitation on its application, in so far as it may be imposed only for the most serious crimes. For those States which have abolished the death penalty it represents an insurmountable barrier. The spirit of the article is to eliminate the death penalty as a punishment, and the limitations which it imposes are of an absolute nature. 16. The fact that the death penalty constitutes a special circumstance derives from article 6 of the Extradition Treaty. Of all the provisions of the Treaty, only this one (relating to the extradition of persons who may be sentenced to death or who have already been so sentenced) makes it possible for one of the parties to seek from the other assurances that the individual whose extradition is requested will not be executed. This article stipulates that the death penalty is different from other sentences and must be viewed in a special way. 17. This provision also accepts that the States parties to the Extradition Treaty have values and traditions in regard to the death penalty which the requesting State must respect. Consequently, in order to guarantee respect for those values and traditions, both have provided, in article 6, for the inclusion of an exception rule in the Extradition Treaty. This fact is closely linked to the assertion which Canada made before the Human Rights Committee to the effect that the request for assurances was not pertinent in the case in question in so far as "The Government of Canada does not use extradition as a vehicle for imposing its concepts of criminal law policy on other States".t This contention seems to me to be unacceptable for three main reasons: 20. In this connection, when Mr. Kindler entered Canadian territory he already enjoyed an unrestricted right to life. By extraditing him without having requested assurances that he would not be executed, Canada has denied the protection which he enjoyed and has necessarily exposed him to be sentenced to death and foreseeably to being executed. Canada has therefore violated article 6 of the Covenant. (a) It is stipulated in the Extradition Treaty that, where it is possible that the death penalty may be applied, the State requested to hand over the fugitive may seek assurances that he will not be executed and the requesting State has accepted a priori that it may be asked to apply a philosophy that does not accept death as a punishment for a crime under the ordinary law; 21. Further, Canada's misinterpretation of the rule in article 6, paragraph 2, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights raises the question of whether it has also violated article 5, specifically paragraph 2 thereof. The Canadian Government has interpreted article 6, paragraph 2, as authorizing the death penalty. (b) The Extradition Treaty envisages that a person may not be extradited to the United States except for offences that are recognized as such in Canada. This would be the clearest case of the imposition of the penal concepts t u I must point out that article 6 of the Extradition Treaty between Canada and the United States of America places no limit on requests for assurances. The exceptional circumstances which could provide a basis for requesting assurances form part of the Extradition Act. Views, para. 8.6. 132