Question of the Death Penalty

A/HRC/RES/54/35View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2023.

What other versions does this mandate have?

3 versions · 2021–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/60/17

2025A/HRC/RES/60/17Question of the death penaltyLatestCompare with previous version
2023A/HRC/RES/54/35Question of the death penaltyCompare with previous version
2021A/HRC/RES/48/9Question of the death penalty

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 topics

Capital Punishment Criminal Justice Criminal Procedure Human Rights International Obligations Judicial System

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2025.

2025A/HRC/60/47Question of the death penalty report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

16 operative paragraphs

Urges all States to protect the rights of persons facing the death penalty and other affected persons by complying with their international obligations;

Calls upon States that have not yet acceded to or ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, to consider doing so;

Calls upon States that have not yet abolished the death penalty to take active steps to reduce the number of offences for which the death penalty may be imposed and to limit them strictly to “the most serious crimes”;

Calls upon States that provide for or apply the mandatory death penalty to end this practice;

Urges all States to respect international standards that provide safeguards guaranteeing protection of the human rights of those facing the death penalty, in particular the minimum standards, as set out in the annex to Economic and Social Council resolution 1984/50;

Also urges all States to ensure that all legal proceedings, including those before special tribunals or jurisdictions, and particularly those relating to capital offences, uphold the rights and are consistent with the minimum procedural guarantees contained in article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including:

That those facing the death penalty can exercise their right to apply for pardon or commutation of their death sentence, notably by ensuring necessary procedural guarantees, such as that conditions for attaining pardons or commutations are not unnecessarily burdensome, discriminatory in nature or applied in an arbitrary and non-transparent manner, that clemency applications are heard within a reasonable period of time, and that certainty is provided regarding the pardon and commutation procedures;

That everyone sentenced to death has the right to have his or her conviction and sentence reviewed by a higher tribunal according to the law, and that the conviction and sentence are reviewed on the merits, on the basis of the sufficiency of the evidence and the law, while taking particular care to consider and investigate fully allegations that a death sentence is based on evidence elicited through torture or ill-treatment, noting that the Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Istanbul Protocol) can provide useful guidance regarding investigations into such allegations, and that civilian courts have the right to review any death sentences issued against civilians by military tribunals;

Calls upon States to ensure that all accused persons, in particular poor and economically vulnerable persons and persons with disabilities, can exercise their rights relating to equal access to justice, to ensure adequate, qualified and effective legal representation at every stage of civil and criminal proceedings in cases of capital punishment through effective legal assistance, and to ensure that those facing the death penalty can exercise their right to seek pardon or commutation of their death sentence;

Also calls upon States to comply with their obligations under article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and to inform without delay foreign nationals who have been arrested or detained of their right to contact the relevant consular post and to communicate with their consular representatives, bearing in mind that failure to promptly inform detained foreign nationals of their right to consular notification pursuant to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, resulting in the imposition of the death penalty, would likely violate the right to life;

Calls upon States that have not yet abolished the death penalty to make available systematically and publicly full, accurate and relevant information, disaggregated by gender, age, nationality, race, disability and other applicable criteria, with regard to their use of the death penalty, inter alia, the charges, number of persons sentenced to death, the number of persons on death row and the location of their detention, the number of executions carried out and the number of death sentences reversed, commuted on appeal or in which amnesty or pardon has been granted, as well as information on any scheduled execution, which can contribute to possible informed and transparent national and international debates, bearing in mind that access to reliable information on the imposition and application of the death penalty enables national and international stakeholders to understand and assess the scope of these practices, including about compliance with the obligations of States with regard to the use of the death penalty;

Requests the Secretary-General to dedicate the 2025 supplement to his quinquennial report on capital punishment to the consequences arising at various stages of the imposition and application of the death penalty on the enjoyment of the human rights of persons facing the death penalty and other affected persons, paying specific attention to equality of arms, the need to prevent miscarriage or failure of justice, and the irreversibility of the death penalty, and to present it to the Human Rights Council for consideration at its sixtieth session and to make it available in all languages before the session;

Decides that the upcoming biennial high-level panel discussion to be held during the fifty-eighth session of the Human Rights Council will address the contribution of the judiciary to the advancement of human rights and the question of the death penalty;

Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to organize the high-level panel discussion and to liaise with States, relevant United Nations bodies, agencies, treaty bodies, special procedures and regional human rights mechanisms, as well as with parliamentarians, civil society, including non-governmental organizations, and national human rights institutions with a view to ensuring their participation in the panel discussion, and to make the biennial panel discussion fully accessible;

Also requests the Office of the High Commissioner to prepare a summary report on the panel discussion, also in an accessible format, and to submit it to the Human Rights Council at its sixtieth session;

Decides to continue its consideration of this issue in accordance with its programme of work.

Paragraph content is machine-extracted from UN documents. For authoritative content, please refer to the official UN document.

No headings found in this document.

Who created this mandate?

What other versions does this mandate have?

What subjects does this mandate have?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What does this mandate say?

Table of contents