UN recommends suspension on application of death penalty

The United Nations has recommended introducing a suspension on application of the death penalty in Bangladesh.

"Introduce a moratorium on the application of the death penalty, including in the International Crimes Tribunal, while considering the complete abolition of the death penalty and accession to the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR," the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a report published today (12 February).

"The imposition of the death penalty also runs counter to the United Nation's opposition, as a matter of policy, to the application of capital punishment in any circumstances," the OHCHR said in the report.

"Building on established United Nations policy, OHCHR cannot assist any criminal justice processes that permit capital punishment or that raise, in OHCHR's view, serious concerns about fair trial, due process or other relevant international human rights standards," it added.

The OHCHR also recommended taking further steps to address the continuing due process and fair trial concerns related to Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal, and its retention of the death penalty. 

"In the meantime, and taking full account of the principle of complementarity, consider referring the situation described in this report to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for investigation, in line with Article 14 of the Rome Statute," reads the report.