By SAT News Desk.
Melbourne, 9 May: Leading human rights lawyers have welcomed recommendations of the Death Penalty Enquiry conducted by the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Report, A World without the death penalty.
Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) Vice President Kerry Weste says “The report’s 13 practical recommendations effectively deliver a blueprint for Australia’s global leadership to abolish the death penalty and we urge both major political parties to immediately adopt them as part of their policy platform.”
“There are currently no Australian laws that prevent a repeat of the circumstances that saw the Bali Nine sentenced to death and Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran executed. Current laws and guidelines still risk-exposing Australians to the death penalty in foreign countries. ALHR considers this to be inconsistent with Australia’s obligations under international human rights law, moreover, it undermines Australia’s principled opposition to the death penalty” said Mrs. Weste.
The Committee recommends that the Attorney General’s Department conduct a review of the current legislative arrangements for extradition and mutual assistance to ensure that they uphold Australia’s obligations as a signatory to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
It also recommends the Australian Federal Police (AFP) National Guideline on International Police-to-Police Assistance in Death Penalty Situations be amended to include a stronger focus on preventing exposure
of all persons to the risk of the death penalty.
Mrs. Weste said, “Implementation of the report’s recommendations would prohibit the AFP from sharing information about drug crimes where that could lead to the imposition of the death penalty. Importantly, the report also urges Australia to advocate against the death penalty regardless of the citizenship of the person concerned. ALHR strongly supports this facet of the recommendations, particularly where the death penalty is imposed on pregnant women, juveniles and people with mental or intellectual disabilities.
We are also very pleased to note the report recommends the Australian Government develop, fund and implement a whole-of-government strategy that focuses our efforts on retention countries in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as the United States of America.
Australia’s position in the Asia Pacific, where mandatory death penalties are retained by many of our closest neighbors, renders the Australian Government uniquely placed to take on a leadership role in regional efforts to abolish the death penalty and achieve a moratorium on death sentences.
In ALHR’s view, this engagement is particularly important given that the Asia Pacific is the only region without a comprehensive intergovernmental human rights mechanism.
– SAT News Service.
