Contemporary Human Rights

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Evaluate the effectiveness of the legal and non-legal responses in concerns
with the contemporary human rights issue of capital punishment.
Human rights are the basic universally recognised liberties and entitlements
accorded to all people that are inalienable but unfortunately these rights in the
use of capital punishment are abused. Capital Punishment also referred to as
the death penalty, or execution is a legal process whereby a person is put to
death by the state as a punishment for a crime such as murder, aggravated
sexual assault, apostasy, treason and in more recent times the trafficking of
humans and drugs. Over 60% of the world's population live in countries where
a persons right to humane treatment and to a life of liberty and freedom is
violated because of the use of capital punishment. Both legal and non-legal
methods have undertaken various measures to address the issue of capital
punishment.
Legal methods such as United Nations Resolutions and Protocols and
international and domestic legislation have been put in place in order to
achieve A Global Moratorium on Capital Punishment.
The United Nation as a Global Entity encourages its nation states to move for a
Global Moratorium on Capital Punishment through its binding resolutions and
protocols. The United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child in article 37
prohibits the subjection of a juvenile to torture, capital punishment and
deprivation of liberty and the Second Optional Protocol to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in its 11 articles stresses the necessity of
a universal ban on capital punishment. Although the United Nations is a very
influential power without the initial signing and ratification of its binding
resolutions and protocols a nation state is not liable when breaching any of the
articles within the resolution/ protocol due to a its right to state sovereignty a
countries ability to enforce its own laws.
Global legislation concerning the abolishment of capital punishment is
dependent on the initial signing and ratification of United Nations resolutions
and protocols.
The Australian Federal Government passed into Legislation the abolishment of
capital punishment with the Death Penalty Abolition Act 1973 (Ctlh) which
ratifies the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This legislation
forbids the use of capital punishment and makes R v Ronald Ryan (VIC ) 1966
the last person executed on Australia soil.
But without the initial signing and ratification of United Nations resolution and
protocols nations are allowed to use capital punishment in the sentencing of an
offender. An example of this is the case of Singapore v Van Tuong Nguyen
(2005) ("Terrified Walk to a Long-Drop Execution." The Daily Telegraph.
December 1, 2005), were Van Nguyen (an Australian citizen) was hung in
Changi prison on the 2nd of December 2005 under Singapores Mandatory
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Capital Punishment Section 316 of the Criminal Procedure Code for smuggling
396 grams of heroin into Singapore.

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Non-Legal methods such as United Nations many declarations, The European

Union and Council of Europe requirement of membership, Amnesty
International campaigns and NSW Council for Civil Liberties campaigns also
strive to achieve A Global Moratorium on Capital Punishment.
The United Nations has a number of declarations which aim to move towards a
Global Moratorium on Capital Punishment. The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights in both Article 3 and Article 5 deem capital punishment to be a
breach of Human Rights and encourage its abolishment within their nation
states. More recently in 2007 The United Nations passed a declaration which
introduced the idea of a Global Moratorium on Capital Punishment which
encourages global abolishment of capital punishment.
However a declaration is not binding therefore nation states are able to use
state sovereignty a countries ability to enforce its own laws to vote against a
declaration which the nation states of the United States of America, the
Peoples Republic of China, India and Singapore have done have with the 2007
declaration of a Global Moratorium on Capital Punishment.
Both The European Union and The Council of Europe require its observer
nations to abolish the use of capital punishment specifically in times of peace
and war or risk the chance of losing their observer status.
As The Council of Europe and The European Union enable countries to have say
in continental issues and communicate with other countries it has been able to
abolish capital punishment within most of its observer nations and even
suspended its use in countries such as Russia.
This requirement has even been able to eradicated capital punishment within
countries that wish to become a part of particularly The Council of Europe. In
2002 Turkey, through the abolishment of legislation legalising capital
punishment became part of the Council of Europe.
Amnesty International is a worldwide organisation that campaigns for the
international recognition of human rights. Amnesty has through its campaign
End The Death Penalty has created a great sense of awareness globally
through its blogs, case stories and protesting movements especially in the
Pacific Asia region where of the infringement of human rights caused by capital
punishment is colossal. Through this campaign Amnesty successfully aided
Cambodia in abolishing its legislation legalising capital punishment through the
ratification of Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, which aims to eradicate capital punishment.
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties is an organisation which aims to establish
and secure the rights of all people especially in nations were governmental
power is abused. NSWCCL through its media release tries to create a greater
sense of awareness in the Australian community of the human rights breached
in using capital punishment. The media release Government Authorises More
Death Penalty Cooperation on 8 August 2007 notified and outraged the public
as it told of the Australian Federal Police involvement in authentication of the
capital punishment in cases in Indonesia, Malaysia and Tonga.
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Through the combination of both legal and non-legal measures it can be noted
that some success has been achieved in reaching a Global Moratorium on
Capital Punishment as, as of 2012 97 countries have abolished capital
punishment. Legal methods although internationally recognised and legally
binding, enable freedom to countries that wish to use capital punishment
through state sovereignty which has allowed 58 nations to actively practice
capital punishment. Non-legal measure seem to be more effective they aware
the international community of the breach of human rights attained through
capital punishment and have even convince countries such as Cambodia to
eradicate the use of capital punishment in their legal system. In order to
achieve a Global Moratorium on Capital Punishment legal methods need to
adopt measures that that are not only internationally recognised and legally
binding but methods that aware the governmental powers of each nation
state the breach of human rights they have legalised which could like in
Cambodia convince nation states to abolish capital punishment without taking
away their right to state sovereignty.

INTERNATIONAL CRIME ESSAY

International Crimes involves the crossing of international borders in the
commission or planning of a breach of the criminal standards imposed by the
international community. There are varies categories of international crime
such as crimes against the international community including war crimes and
genocide and transnational crimes including human trafficking. International
Crimes are legally, financially and socially challenging so international and
national methods have been put in place to stop and prevent international
crime such as legislation, treaties, courts and organisations.
Crimes against the international community are a collection of offences that
are condemned by the whole international community and are punishable
internationally. These crimes can be committed in the brutality of war, in the
name of politics or be ordered or committed by the State itself. Two crimes of
such nature are war crimes and genocide.
A war crime is an action carried out during the conduct of a war that violates
accepted international rules of war. The criminal violations must have taken
place during an armed conflict, either international or domestically.
For example the Liberian President Charles Taylor during civil war in Sierra
Leone from 1991-2002 committed the war crimes of instigated murder, rape,
mutilation, sexual slavery and conscription of child soldiers.
Genocide is the intentional act of destroying through various brutal acts of all
or part of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. Genocide could be the
killing, causation of serious bodily/ mental harm, birth prevention or forcibly
transferring children of the group to another group.
For example the Guatemala Genocide Case where by the Guatemala military
and paramilitaries from 1983- 1984 killed or removed 200,000 Mayans on the
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grounds that the Mayans were forming a sub verse internal communist enemy
against the government.
Methods that have been put in place to deal with Crimes against the
international community are international treaties and international courts.
International treaties outline actions that are considered acts of Genocide and
War Crimes and determine their criminal jurisdiction. The Geneva Convention
1949 is four treaties and three protocols that set out the standards in
international law for the humane treatment of the victims of war. Article 6 of
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of 2002 gives the ICC
criminal jurisdiction over the acts of genocide that have occurred since July
2002.
These treaties can only apply to those States who sign and ratify the treaty and
a Sate who hasnt signed or ratified the treaty can easily claim state
sovereignty and not be held responsible under alleged crimes claimed in the
treaty.
Extradition Treaties are bound by bilateral agreements between countries
where by one country surrenders a suspect or convicted criminal to another
country to face criminal charges or sentencing.
The Extradition Act 1988 (Clth) ensures that the guilt of the accused has to be
proven beyond all reasonable doubt and that the accused will receive a fair trial
in the state to which they are being returned. This has proven to be effective
in the case of Dragan Vasilijkvoic an alleged war criminal who through an
extradition treaty between Croatia and Australia is now being trailed fairly in
Croatia where the alleged war crimes during conflict in Balkans 1991-1993 took
place.
Although extradition treaties have proven to be a great method an extradition
treaty is not granted if the offence is considered political in nature and the
requested state can easily grant refugee status to criminal protecting the
criminal.

International Criminal Court is a permanent Court separate from any

international entity. The ICC developed through the Roman Statute can act
independently of state jurisdiction where they are unwilling or able to do so.
The ICC has the power to impose a sentence of imprisonment up to life which
will be served in a state prison designated by the court and in addition can also
order a fine or forfeit of assets.
This has proven to be effective in the ongoing trail of the war crimes associated
with the Democratic Republic of Congos military group the FPLC from form 2
June 2002 to 13 August 2003.
The problems with the ICC is that it deals with the international crimes after
they have been committed, the enormous costs of investigations and
prosecutions need to be borne by the members of states involved, lack the
input and support of the worlds most influential powers such as the USA and
most effected countries such as Vietnam and the fear of a state subjecting
themselves to investigation over their own affairs such as China over the
Xinjiang.

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Transnational Crimes are crimes that involve movement across international

borders as an element of the criminal act. Transnational crimes may originate
in one country but be completed or committed in another country. An example
of a transnational crime is human trafficking which is the commercial trade or
trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sex, mining or agricultural
slavery across borders by force or deceptive means.
A well-known case of human trafficking in Australia was that of a thai national
Miss Puangthong Simaplee who was sold by her parents in 1986 to traffickers
and was brought to Australia to work in a brothel up until 2002.
Methods that have been put in place to deal with transnational crimes include
Australian legislation as well as international organisations
The Australian Legislation Crimes (Child Sex Tourism) Amendment Act 1994
(Clth) convicts those who encourage, benefit or profit from any activity that
promotes sexual activity with children. This legislation allows the prosecution
to proceed without evidence from the destination country if sufficient evidence
can be found in Australia. Proven to be effective in the case of John Arthur Lee
who in 1999 was convicted of child-sex crimes in Cambodia by a Western
Australian court under Australia's child-sex tourism laws and was sentenced to
14 years' jail.
Although this legislation has been proven effective in Australia, Australia is not
a country targeted by transnational criminals. Those countries especially in
South- East Asia and Africa have been targeted due to their lack of legislation,
resources, funding and intelligence in preventing and stopping transnational
crimes.
The worlds largest international police organisation Interpol established in
1923 allows for the collaboration of intelligence agencies around the world.
Interpol world-wide operations investigate and provide advice to national law
enforcement agencies on transnational crimes.
Proven to be effective in Operation Bia 2009 in West Africa which rescued over
50 children of varies nationalities working in unliveable conditions harvesting
cocoa and palm and arrested eight alleged traffickers involved.
However Interpol does not have the authority or power in many jurisdictions to
capture offenders especially when they remain inside their own state
jurisdiction.
International Crime has slightly subsided due to international and domestic
efforts in preventing and stopping these crimes. But in order to completely
stop and prevent international crimes from occurring skills, resources, funding
and intelligence need to be accessible and shared equally on an international
scale.

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