UN nixes death penalty

The United Nations (UN) on Thursday said there is no room for death penalty in the 21st century, as it cited declining support for capital punishment.

Ivan Šimonović, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights of the United Nations, said there has been a decline in the number of countries upholding capital punishment in the last 40 years.

He said that in 1975, about 97 percent of countries were executing criminals but in 2015 only 27 percent of countries handed down the death penalty.

The UN will soon be launching the book “Moving Away from the Death Penalty: Arguments, Trends and Perspectives.”

According to the UN official, though there is a drop in the number of documented executions, there is a possibility of several executions being conducted which are not registered or reported accurately.

Šimonović said that in 2014 there had unfortunately been a 28 percent increase in the number of people condemned to death.

“It represents an overall increase in member states resorting to death penalty to prevent terrorism or drug related offences,” he explained.

Šimonović said that one of the biggest drawbacks of death penalties is the “wrongful conviction” of suspects.

He added that advancement in the field of investigation, such as DNA testing, has shown evidence that wrongful convictions do happen “as there is no perfect justice system.”

He said that the biggest challenge of death penalty is its finality; as there is no way of rectifying the verdict even after the person is found innocent after execution.

Šimonović further said that according to several studies, there is no convincing evidence of any deterring effect death penalty has on crimes committed.

“However, there is conclusive evidence that there is a correlation between death penalty and discrimination and unequal treatment against vulnerable groups,” he said.

Šimonović also said that in most cases, people who end up getting executed are poor, or those in vulnerable groups or the socially- disadvantaged minority groups or have mental disabilities.

Just last month, the Philippines signed a joint declaration for the worldwide abolition of death penalty.