A/HRC/42/28 commutation. 67 The Committee has stated that the right is individual to the person, and therefore automatic denials or exclusions of clemency based on categories of offence are incompatible with the State’s international human rights obligations to give consideration to the individual circumstances of each case. 68 Purported blanket denials, such as those announced in Indonesia in 2014 for drug offences or in India in 2013 in rape cases, raise concern as, according to the criteria defined by the Human Rights Committee, cases should be reviewed to ensure that each application receives individual consideration according to objective, transparent criteria.69 29. Following a final sentence, persons facing the death penalty must have the right to challenge a proposed method of execution that could be considered as cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 70 Accordingly, the State has a corresponding duty to inform the person sentenced to death, in a detailed and timely manner, about the applicable method of execution. VI. The argument of public support 30. Public support is frequently cited as a justification for either the retention or the resumption of use of the death penalty. However, few statistics are cited in this regard, and claims of public support without reference to evidence should be treated with caution. 71 In response to government claims of public support for reintroduction of the death penalty, the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines conducted a detailed national survey in which respondents chose among a range of options. The survey determined that, given a choice, 7 out of 10 people would choose not to reintroduce the death penalty.72 In Malawi, some politicians have called for a public debate about ending a moratorium on the death penalty for convicted killers of persons with albinism, in spite of a survey showing that 94 per cent of traditional leaders oppose the death penalty as a punishment for murder.73 31. Evidence suggests that where public support exists, it is based on a misconception that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to serious crime. 74 The lack of transparency regarding the death penalty in most countries that apply it allows erroneous assumptions to continue unchecked.75 In its submission, the Council of Europe notes that the more people know about the facts surrounding the execution process, the reasons for abolition and alternatives to capital punishment, the less resistant they are to abolition. 32. When information about discrimination in application of the death penalty is available, public support tends to fall. In the United States, where there is greater transparency surrounding capital punishment than in most other States that still apply it, less than half of the population reportedly believe that the death penalty is fairly applied. 76 An increasing number of states in the United States, most recently California and 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 10 Communication UA MDV 3/2017 of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. General comment No. 36, para. 47. Ibid. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 2 (3) read in conjunction with art. 7; and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Report No. 53/13, Case 12.864, Merits, Ivan Teleguz, United States, 15 July 2013, para. 123. See also Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 36, paras. 40 and 49. See generally www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/public-opinion.cfm. Submission of Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines; and Social Weather Stations, “March 2018 National Survey on Public Perceptions on the Death Penalty: 33% or less demand the death penalty for 6 of 7 crimes related to illegal drugs”, 10 October 2018. Paralegal Advisory Service Institute (Malawi) and Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide, “Malawian traditional leaders’ perspectives on capital punishment: A targeted survey of traditional leaders affected by the Malawi Capital Resentencing Project” (2017). See, for example, Girelli, The Death Penalty for Drug Offences, pp. 17–19. A/HRC/39/19, para. 16. Death Penalty Information Center, “The death penalty in 2018: year end report”, p. 3; and submission of the American Civil Liberties Union.