RP prohibited from re-introducing death penalty

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is prohibited from reintroducing the death penalty because it is a signatory to the 2006 United Nations Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

This was revealed by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo who signed the protocol for the Philippine government.

By signing the protocol, Romulo said the Philippines has strengthened its commitment to turn its back on capital punishment. The signing was also part of the Philippines’ pledge as a founding member of the UN Human Rights Council based in Geneva.

He said former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had proven the country’s resolve to uphold human life when she signed into law Republic Act 9346, which removed the death penalty.

But even before the enactment of RA 9346, Mrs. Arroyo had ordered a moratorium on the carrying out of the death penalty.

Meanwhile, the European Union has expressed alarm over the large number of state-sanctioned executions worldwide and the way they had been carried out.

Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and vice president of the European Commission, said in a statement that the EU is using all available means and diplomatic channels in working for the abolition of the death penalty throughout the world.

Despite a marked trend towards abolition and restriction of the use of capital punishment in most countries, Ashton said the numbers and manner of death penalty application worldwide remain alarming.

Ashton said more than 5,600 executions were carried out last year.

“Where capital punishment remains in force, there are serious problems with regard to the respect of international norms and standards. This makes abolitionist initiatives the more important,” Ashton said.

“It is encouraging that the large majority of states have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. However, there is no room for complacency - every execution is one too many. This is why I have made our work on the abolition of the death penalty a personal priority,” Ashton added.

The EU considers the death penalty a cruel and inhuman punishment, and an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity.

The EU’s campaign against the death penalty had prompted the UN General Assembly to issue resolutions on death penalty moratorium - one in December 2007 and the other in December 2008.

“The EU’s political commitment has been matched by substantial financial support for concrete projects,” she said. She cited a worldwide trend towards abolition.

In 2009, at least 5,679 executions were carried out, down from 5,735 in 2008 and 5,851 in 2007.

Between 1993 and 2009, the number of countries that abolished the death penalty by law for all crimes, grew from 55 to 97.

At present, 139 countries - or more than two thirds of nations across the globe - have already abolished death penalty.

Of the 58 countries and territories with death penalty, 18 were known to have carried out executions in 2009 topped by China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the US.

In her June 16 speech in the European Parliament, Ashton declared that the EU’s work on abolishing the death penalty worldwide is a “personal priority.”

Since 1994, the EC has funded through the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights or EIDHR over 30 projects worldwide, with an overall budget of over €15 million, aimed at raising public awareness in countries still carrying out executions.

The EIDHR has also allocated more than €8 million to 16 “abolitionist” projects around the world, thereby making the EIDHR the lead source of funding for abolitionist projects worldwide.

Pia Lee Brago, Philippine Star