A/HRC/42/28 III. Restriction of the use of the death penalty to the most serious crimes 8. Article 6 (2) of the Covenant provides that, in countries that have not abolished the death penalty, it may be imposed only for the most serious crimes. The Human Rights Committee has taken the view that the term “most serious crimes” must be interpreted restrictively and appertain only to crimes of extreme gravity, involving intentional killing. According to the Committee, crimes not resulting directly and intentionally in death, such as attempted murder, corruption and other economic and political crimes, armed robbery, piracy, abduction, and drug and sexual offences, can never serve, within the framework of article 6, as the basis for the imposition of the death penalty. 13 Several submissions for the present report note that expansion of the death penalty to offences that do not meet the definition of “most serious crimes” leads to fundamental uncertainty and erodes the rule of law.14 9. The Government of the Philippines has proposed reintroducing the death penalty for drug offences.15 The Philippines is a State party to the Second Optional Protocol, and so any such reintroduction would be inconsistent with that Protocol. The President of Sri Lanka has indicated his intention to resume executions of drug traffickers, which, if carried out, would bring to an end a moratorium on the death penalty in place since 1976. 16 In January 2019, the parliament of Egypt approved a law that would expand the application of the death penalty to include the import and export of synthetic narcotics. 17 The Human Rights Committee has stated that drug-related offences can never serve as the basis for the imposition of the death penalty.18 10. Introduction or reintroduction of the death penalty for drug offences is disproportionate to the aim of deterring drug-related crime, as there is no evidence that the death penalty in fact deters drug-related or other crime more than other methods of punishment.19 Calls for resumption of the use of the death penalty for drug offences may be counterproductive, as punitive approaches could reduce the capacity of drug users to access treatment for addiction and other health services. 20 In contrast, public health approaches have led to significant successes in a range of national contexts. 21 In Pakistan, the Ministry of Human Rights has proposed a review of the imposition of the death penalty for drugrelated crimes.22 11. In recent years, several States have widened their application of the death penalty to include terrorist offences not resulting directly and intentionally in death, which may not reach the high bar of “most serious crimes”. In 2014, the United Arab Emirates adopted a law permitting application of the death penalty to non-violent offences, including membership of a terrorist organization. 23 In 2015, Chad adopted a law permitting 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 4 General comment No. 36, paras. 35–36. Submissions of Harm Reduction International and Reprieve and joint submission of Advocates for Human Rights and World Coalition against the Death Penalty. House Bill No. 4727 of 11 January 2017, available at http://congress.gov.ph/legisdocs/first_17/CR00047.pdf. The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka granted interim relief pending appeal of the President’s decision. See www.reuters.com/article/us-sri-lanka-drugs/sri-lankas-top-court-delays-first-executions-in-43years-idUSKCN1U00WC. Joint submission of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms and Reprieve. General comment No. 36, para. 35. A/73/260, para. 60. See also A/HRC/33/20, para. 62; General Assembly resolution 71/187, seventh preambular paragraph; and Roger Hood, “The question of the death penalty and the new contributions of the criminal sciences to the matter: a report to the United Nations Committee on Crime Prevention and Control”. See, for example, Giada Girelli, The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2018, Harm Reduction International (February 2019), pp. 9, 17, 20 and 25. See, for example, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report, vol. 1 (2019), p. 24; and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, “A public health and rights approach to drugs”, 2015, p. 1. Submission of Justice Project Pakistan. Federal Law No. 7 of 2014 on Combating Terrorism Acts; and submission of Reprieve.