Only seven other countries in the world have executed a juvenile in the last decade6, and the United States is perhaps the most egregious violator, with 3 other juvenile offenders executed this year alone. Since 1976, there have been 12 executions in the United States of people under the age of 18 at the time of their crime, including 9 out of 12 in the 1990s. Seventy-two other young people are on death row, awaiting execution. While some states and federal laws set 18 as the minimum age for the death penalty, the majority of states applying the death penalty allow 16- or 17-year-olds to receive this ultimate punishment.7And some government officials have called for lowering the minimum age even to 11.8 China remains the world`s leading executioner – but the true extent of the use of the death penalty in China is unknown because these data are classified as state secrets; The global figure of at least 657 recorded in 2019 excludes the thousands of executions that would have taken place in China. More than 70% of the world`s countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. However, the death penalty still exists in many parts of the world, particularly in countries with large populations and those with authoritarian rule. In recent decades, there has been a clear trend away from the death penalty, with many countries abolishing or discontinuing the use of the death penalty. The United States remains an exception among its close allies and other democracies in the continued use of the death penalty. A similar argument can be made that the execution of accused persons with intellectual disabilities is illegal under international law and therefore torture if applied to them. The above treaties are less clear with regard to the execution of the mentally retarded. It is used as a political instrument. Authorities in some countries, such as Iran and Sudan, use the death penalty to punish political opponents. The United Nations system as a whole, including UNODC, opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances (UNODC, 2010; UNODC, 2012; UNODC, 2016).
The UN recognizes that the death penalty is rejected because it is irreversible, even if it is supported by judicial proceedings. An increasing number of States in all regions have recognized that the death penalty violates human dignity and that its abolition contributes to the strengthening and progressive development of human rights. In fact, the global trend is towards abolition. Currently, the vast majority of UN member states have abolished the death penalty or do not practice it. The main States and territories where the death penalty is still applied, both in law and in practice, are Afghanistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Botswana, China, Comoros, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guinea. Guyana, Chad, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lesotho, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Lesotho, Malaysia, Nigeria, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, Somalia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Viet Nam, Yemen and Zimbabwe. Finally, the definition of torture prohibits the infliction of pain and suffering of any kind. There is ample historical and statistical evidence that the death penalty has been used in racially discriminatory ways in the United States. If so, article 2 of the Convention against Torture requires States to “take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture … ». 4 As I will see below, this issue is also generally addressed in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Racial Convention), also ratified by the United States in 1994. When Amnesty International began its work in 1977, only 16 countries had completely abolished the death penalty. Today, that number has risen to 106, more than half of the world`s countries.
