A/HRC/42/28 Washington, have recognized the risk of discrimination in death penalty cases, and have abolished or established a moratorium on the death penalty, at least in part as a result. The Human Rights Committee has noted that data suggesting that members of religious, racial or ethnic minorities, indigent persons or foreign nationals are disproportionately likely to face the death penalty may indicate an unequal application of the death penalty, which raises concerns regarding the right to non-discrimination in application of the right to life, and the right to equality before the law. 77 People with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities are also disproportionately subject to the death penalty where it is still applied. 78 VII. Impact of calls for resumption 33. Where a State has abolished the death penalty in law, calls for its formal reintroduction may undermine the framework of existing international legal obligations concerning its progressive abolishment. Such calls are particularly grave in States parties to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which precludes such a step.79 Liberia remains the only State party to the Protocol to have reintroduced the death penalty in law, although no executions have been carried out. 80 The Human Rights Committee has recommended that, in order to comply with its obligations under the Protocol, Liberia should remove the death penalty from its legislation, commute all existing death sentences and refrain from carrying out any executions. 81 34. A resurgence of public calls to resume use of the death penalty often accompanies a prominence of populist, autocratic and/or authoritarian voices in public discourse. Politicians may threaten to resume use of the death penalty in order to enhance a reputation as being tough on crime, or to target people whose religious beliefs or political opinions do not align with theirs.82 Even where such threats are not in fact carried out, they may have a chilling effect on political participation and freedoms of religion, expression, association and assembly, and constrict civic space. 83 35. When politicians or other high-profile individuals make public calls for the resumption of the death penalty for conduct such as blasphemy or consensual same-sex relations, this carries a risk of increasing the rate of hate crimes, in particular against religious or sexual minorities. 84 The re-emergence of the death penalty as an actual or threatened punishment for conduct that should not be criminalized not only impairs the right to life but could also affect the enjoyment of the freedoms of religion, expression and association, as well as the right to privacy.85 36. Calls for the resumption of executions can have a significant impact on the families and communities of persons on death row, and on persons sentenced to death. The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment has highlighted the right of death row inmates and their family members to prepare for death. 86 The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions noted that, as a consequence, following a change in positions on executions, the reinforced anxiety of both prisoners and their family members had to be mitigated by giving them sufficient time to 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 General comment No. 36, para. 44. Submission of the World Health Organization. Submissions of Australia, Harm Reduction International and Reprieve and joint submission of Advocates for Human Rights and the World Coalition against the Death Penalty. See www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/LBR_national_legislation.pdf. CCPR/C/LBR/CO/1, paras. 28–29. See, for example, joint submission of Advocates for Human Rights and the World Coalition against the Death Penalty and submission of Reprieve. See www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20435&LangID=E. See, for example, Amnesty International, “As Good As Dead”: The Impact of the Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan (London, 2016). Joint submission of Advocates for Human Rights and the World Coalition against the Death Penalty. A/67/279, para. 40. 11