HRCP for urgent safeguards to comply with state obligations  

Lahore: On the eve of World Day against the Death Penalty on October 10, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has urged the government to urgently institute safeguards to ensure that a generalised resumption of executions does not violate Pakistan’s human rights obligations.

In a statement issued to the media, the Commission said: “As we observe the World Day against the Death Penalty, HRCP calls upon the government to take stock of the pressing issues that have arisen ever since it terminated the moratorium in December last year.

“In addition to the various and well-documented challenges that a generalised recourse to capital punishment presents, there is an urgent need to introduce safeguards in instances where the age of the convict or his or her mental or physical ability is in question.

“While HRCP calls upon the government to suspend the death penalty in the country as a first step towards abolition, it demands that these new issues should be urgently addressed through a conscious policy and not merely through last minute action in response to pleas from civil society in individual cases.”