A/HRC/33/20 12. Human rights treaty bodies continued to call for the ratification of the Second Optional Protocol. In its concluding observations on the report of Haiti (see CCPR/C/HTI/CO/1, para. 11), the Human Rights Committee regretted that the ratification of the Second Optional Protocol had recently been withdrawn from the parliament’s agenda without satisfactory explanation and recommended that Haiti consider ratifying the Second Optional Protocol as soon as possible. The Committee also recommended that Iraq (see CCPR/C/IRQ/CO/5, para. 28), the Republic of Korea (see CCPR/C/KOR/CO/4, para. 23) and Suriname (see CCPR/C/SUR/CO/3, para. 20) consider acceding to this instrument. The Committee against Torture recommended that the Congo (see CAT/C/COG/CO/1, para. 7) and China (see CAT/C/CHN/CO/5, para. 50) ratify the Optional Protocol. 13. Death sentences should not be carried out as long as international interim measures requiring a stay of execution are in place. Such interim measures are designed to allow review of the sentence before international courts, human rights courts and commissions and United Nations treaty bodies. In paragraph 19 of its general comment No. 33 (2008) on the obligations of States parties under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Human Rights Committee noted that States have a good faith duty to comply with those measures even in the absence of a specific treaty provision to that effect. Belarus executed a death row prisoner whose complaint was before the Human Rights Committee, despite a specific request from the Committee for a stay of execution pending the examination of the petition.5 Non-compliance with the Committee’s request for interim measures constitutes a violation by Belarus of its obligations under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which it is a State party. 14. In article 11 of the European Convention on Extradition, it is stated that “if the offence for which extradition is requested is punishable by death under the law of the requesting Party, and if in respect of such offence the death-penalty is not provided for by the law of the requested Party or is not normally carried out, extradition may be refused unless the requesting Party gives such assurance as the requested Party considers sufficient that the death-penalty will not be carried out”. The Council of Europe reported that the accession of non-member States to this Convention requires a commitment, at the time of acceding to the Convention, to make a declaration on the non-execution of the death penalty. Under that condition, the Republic of Korea acceded to the Convention. A similar provision appears in article 21 (3) of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism, which has been ratified by 34 States to date. During the period in question, the Convention entered into force in Malta and Portugal on 1 December 2015 and was signed by the European Union.6 D. Reintroduction of the use of the death penalty, extension of its scope or resumption of executions 15. During the reporting period, the scope of the death penalty was expanded in a few States. The Iraqi Cabinet approved a proposed amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure that expedites the implementation of death sentences by granting the Minister of Justice the power to ratify executions if the President does not ratify, pardon, issue clemency or commute final death sentences within 30 days. 7 In Nigeria, two states 5 6 7 See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=19958&LangID=E. The submission of the Council of Europe is on file with the Secretariat and is available for consultation. Iraq, Ministry of Justice, “Cabinet vote on the draft law amending the Code of Criminal Procedure”,16 June 2015. Available from www.moj.gov.iq/view.1601/. 5