Page - 371 - in Menschenrechte und Gerechtigkeit als bleibende Aufgaben - Beiträge aus Religion, Theologie, Ethik, Recht und Wirtschaft

© 2020, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847111658 – ISBN E-Lib: 9783737011655 2.7. Theglobal trend towardsabolitionof capitalpunishment So far,wehaveonlyconsideredcertain aspects surrounding thedeathpenalty, such as themethodof executionand the crimes forwhich capital punishment maybeimposed,asclearviolationsof international law.Thishas todowiththe factthatthemorefundamentalquestion,namelywhethercapitalpunishmentas such violates international law, is still highly controversial in human rights theoryandpractice.Thosewhoarguethatcapitalpunishmentisstillcompatible with international law refer to the continuing practice of the deathpenalty in powerfulstates,includingtheUnitedStates,Japan,China,Indonesia,Iran,Saudi ArabiaandotherIslamicstates,andtothefact thatArticle6ICCPRandsimilar provisions in regionalhumanrights treaties are formulated inamannerwhich permits thedeathpenaltyunder certain conditions (only for the ‘most serious crimes’,notagainstchildrenandpregnantwomenetc.)asanexplicit exception of the right to life. It follows logically, according to this lineof systematic legal reasoning, that capital punishment as such cannot be considered as a cruel, inhumanordegradingpunishment. Those who argue, including the authors of the present article, that capital punishmentinanycaseconstitutesacruelandinhumanpunishmentwhicheven amounts to torture andwhich is, therefore, absolutely prohibitedunder inter- national law,basethemselvesonadynamicinterpretationoftheseterms.When the ICCPR was drafted, corporal and capital punishment were still widely practicedinallregionsoftheworldwhichisthereasonfortheexplicitexemption ofthedeathpenalty fromtherighttolife.Inthemeantime,ourunderstandingof theterm‘cruel, inhumanordegradingpunishment’hasevolvedtoanextentthat all formsof corporal punishment are today considered as inhumanor at least degrading and, therefore, absolutely prohibited under international law and jurisprudence.71For thesamereason,capitalpunishmenthasbeenincreasingly recognized as cruel, inhuman and degrading and, therefore, abolished by the majority of states in all regions. Pioneerswere European and LatinAmerican states.Alreadyin1983,ontheinitiativeoftheformerAustrianMinisterofJustice ChristianBroda, the deathpenaltywas abolished in times of peacewithin the Council of Europe by the 6thAdditional Protocol (AP) to the European Con- ventiononHumanRights, followed in2002by the13thAPalso in timesofwar. Similarly,theOrganisationofAmericanStates(OAS)adoptedin1990aProtocol to theAmericanConventiononHumanRights toAbolishtheDeathPenalty. In reality, all European states with the exception of Belarus and almost all Latin Americanstateshaveabolishedthedeathpenalty in themeantime. 71 Seeaboveunder2.5. The impactof religiononuniversalhumanrights inBrunei’sSyariahPenalCode 371 Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY 4.0