HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION ACTS ON TEXTS RELATED TO UNILATERAL COERCIVE MEASURES, TOXIC WASTES, RIGHT TO FOOD AND EXTREME POVERTY CORRECTION

Press Release
HR/CN/788/

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION ACTS ON TEXTS RELATED TO UNILATERAL COERCIVE MEASURES, TOXIC WASTES, RIGHT TO FOOD AND EXTREME POVERTY CORRECTION

In Press Release HR/CN/788 issued on 7 April, the fifth full paragraph on page 7, should read as follows:

Through a draft resolution on the question of the death penalty (document E/CN.4/1997/L.20), the Commission would, among other things, call upon all States parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that had not yet done so to consider acceding to the Covenant's Second Optional Protocol, aiming at abolition of the death penalty; and urge all States still maintaining the death penalty to comply fully with their obligations under the Covenant and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, notably not to impose the death penalty for any but the most serious crimes, not to impose it for crimes committed by persons below age 18, to exclude pregnant women from capital punishment and to ensure the right to seek pardon or commutation of sentence. A draft amendment to this proposal (document E/CN.4/1997/L.35), submitted separately, would, among other things, delete a number of its operative provisions; recall that the Covenant provides that sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes in accordance with the law in force at the time of the commission of the crime and not contrary to the provisions of the Covenant; and reaffirm the sovereign right of States to determine the legal system appropriate to their societies, taking into account the relevant provisions of international law.

In the first paragraph on page 8, the name of the representative of Italy should be the following: MARIO ALESSI.

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