Lehrfreund talk

Here is the audio cast of Saul Lehrfreund's talk at IALS to SIRHG on 8th February. Regrettably, due a technical hitch only the first core 30 minutes of his excellent presentation recorded, leaving out the Q and As. [You may have to click your refresh page command to load the audio cast properly - Ed.] A written report from Dave Palmer is below.

Photo courtesy FCO photostream

Restricting the use of the Death Penalty: the relevance of international human rights norms

Saul Lehrfreund, Chief Executive of the Death Penalty Project provided an informative talk on restricting the use of the death penalty, on 8 February 2012 at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. The Death Penalty Project works in countries where the penalty still exists using international human rights standards, to restrict its use.

This was a well attended talk, and was optimistic in tone in so far as it noted that that the vast majority of states no longer imposed this barbaric penalty and that where it was still available, in some countries at least, its use was declining.

The talk began by referring to the vote concerning a UN resolution in 2010, where 109 UN member states voted in favour of a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, with only 41 states voting against.

The main UN standards relating to the death penalty were cited, which included: the abolitionist goal, limitations on its use for the most serious crimes, and not being available for pregnant women or those under 18. We were also informed that international law does require some extra legal safeguards before this penalty can be applied, and that all the UN international tribunals have rejected its use.

An overview of the situation in Europe and Africa was provided. This included an explanation of the almost total complete acceptance of abolition of the death penalty by member states of the Council of Europe, and its lack of use by many states in the Americas. We were encouraged to hear of the none- availability of the death penalty in many more African states than was the case in the past.

However, despite the fact that the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights are both working towards the end of the use of the death penalty, it was regrettable to hear of its continued application in the Caribbean and some States of the USA. It was heartening to hear that a judge from the Inter-American Court has stated that he envisages the abolition of the death penalty in the Americas at some future stage. Moreover, two academics were cited as having stated that customary international law will probably make the death penalty illegal in years to come.

It was disquieting to learn that only 17 of the 54 Commonwealth states have abolished the death penalty. Moreover, the liberal use of the term “most serious crimes” has been applied by some Asian countries. This has for example, led to its use for drug offences.

It was interesting to hear that the Death Penalty Project have found that judges are more prepared than they were in the past, to adopt international human rights standards in relation to the death penalty and particularly so with regards to fair trials, pardons and methods of execution.

The methods of execution, availability of clemency and other issues were considered using particular states and cases as examples. The states from which cases or their policy were considered included: Bangladesh, Singapore, India, Jamaica, Barbados, St Kitts, the Bahamas, the USA and Japan There harsh attitude of Singapore towards the death penalty was particularly noted.

The talk generated an interesting discussion on such issues as progress towards reducing the use the death penalty in China and the USA. There was some optimism in relation to both countries, for example, China has reduced the number of offences to which the death penalty is applied from 67 to 54. It was also surprising to learn that many politicians in countries that use the death penalty, in private, support its abolition.

This was also an opportunity to establish further partnership working. SIHRG looks forward to working with the Death Penalty Project on the death penalty section of the Life and Liberty Database

Report by David Palmer