Is Capital Punishment Authorized Under International Law?

Abstract

This paper studies the unclear position of international law on death penalty by highlighting the contradiction between the content of international treaties and the practice of States. The question of rise of changes in human rights standards and societal values has revived the debate to abolish capital punishment. Nevertheless, balancing between the satisfaction of most of the public opinion and the possibility of actions of States through international law and regional rights is difficult to achieve.The presentation of the various international and regional texts dealing with the death penalty, as well as the judicial advances in the matter, make it possible to highlight the current limits of the struggle for the abolition of the death penalty in the world. In fact, States ratify treaties to abolish capital punishment, but in their practice, they don’t abolish it due to their attachment to their sovereign power to control their criminal judicial system, and their conviction that applying death penalty does not violate international law and cannot affect international peace and security.

Keywords: Death penalty – Genocide – Abolition – Retention – Sovereignty - Right to life –– ICCPR – Rwanda – UN

DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/120-15

Publication date: April 30^th 2022