Death penalty and human rights

Article 3

" Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person."

Article 5

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6

" Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law."

What does the Declaration of Human Rights say about death penalty?

Everybody has a fundamental right to life. This is stated in article 3 of the declaration of human rights, and even though it must be clear enough for everybody to understand, it is not even the only article in the declaration that speaks against death penalty.

Photographer: Dave Shultz

What is UN’s opinion concerning death penalty?

In the light of the fundamental right to life, UN has tried to make the use of death punishment as limited as possible, aiming at a total stop. In 1989 UN’s General Assembly passed the "Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of death penalty". This Protocol declares that the abolition of death penalty will strengthen the human dignity and develop the human rights.