A/HRC/45/20 I. Introduction 1. Pursuant to Human Rights Council decision 18/117, the present report is submitted to update previous reports on the question of the death penalty, including the most recent quinquennial report of the Secretary-General,1 and includes supplementary data and tables (see annex). Pursuant to resolution 22/11, the report also includes information on the human rights of children of parents sentenced to the death penalty or executed. 2. The report covers the period July 2018–May 2020. It is based largely on a call for inputs circulated to States, national human rights institutions, United Nations entities, international and regional intergovernmental bodies and non-governmental organizations.2 Attention is also drawn to the report on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, being submitted by the Secretary-General to the General Assembly at its seventy-fifth session, in which he outlines efforts made towards the implementation of resolution 73/175. II. Changes in law and practice 3. Changes in law include new legislation abolishing the death penalty, restricting it or expanding its scope, and ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. Changes in practice comprise non-legislative measures, including policies and executive and judicial measures. A. Abolition of the death penalty or initiatives taken for its abolition, including commitments provided to abolish it 4. The Human Rights Committee has stated that article 6 (6) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights reaffirms the position that States parties that are not yet totally abolitionist should be on an irrevocable path towards complete eradication of the death penalty, de facto and de jure, in the foreseeable future. The death penalty cannot be reconciled with full respect for the right to life, and abolition of the death penalty is both desirable and necessary for the enhancement of human dignity and progressive development of human rights.3 5. Some 170 States have abolished or introduced a moratorium on the death penalty either in law or in practice, or have suspended executions for more than 10 years. In 2018, the General Assembly adopted resolution 73/175, its seventh in which it called on retentionist States to establish a moratorium on executions, with a view to abolition. In their submissions, several States described their process of and support for abolition.4 6. During the reporting period, Chad abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Angola, the Gambia and the State of Palestine became States parties to the Second Optional Protocol, and Armenia signed it. Benin and Guinea adopted constitutions that confirm the abolition of the death penalty. In the United States of America, 32 states have either abolished the death penalty or have not carried out executions in more than a decade. 5 The 1 2 3 4 5 2 E/2020/53. Submissions will be available at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/DeathPenalty/Pages/CallForInputs_DeathPenalty.aspx. General comment No. 36 (2018) on the right to life, para. 50. Armenia, Cyprus, Ireland, Italy, Kyrgyzstan and Switzerland. See also submissions from the Council of Europe, the European Union, the Danish Institute for Human Rights and the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman of Nicaragua. Cuba highlighted that it was opposed to the application of the death penalty and was in favour of eliminating it when favourable conditions existed. Egypt and Cuba maintained that there was no international consensus with regard to the death penalty and Egypt indicated that it opposed any attempt by the United Nations to impose a moratorium or abolition. See https://files.deathpenaltyinfo.org/reports/year-end/YearEndReport2019.pdf.