A/HRC/42/28 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 36/17, the Human Rights Council requested the Secretary-General to dedicate the 2019 supplement to his quinquennial report on capital punishment to the consequences arising at various stages of the imposition and application of the death penalty on the enjoyment of the human rights of persons facing the death penalty and other affected persons, paying specific attention to the impact of the resumption of the use of the death penalty on human rights, and to present it to the Council at its forty-second session. 2. In January 2019, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, on behalf of the Secretary-General, sent notes verbales to States, international, regional and intergovernmental bodies, national human rights institutions and nongovernmental organizations, requesting information to inform the Secretary-General’s report.1 3. The international trend towards abolition of the death penalty continues. Since the previous yearly supplement (A/HRC/39/19), published in September 2018, a record 121 States voted in favour of General Assembly resolution 73/175 on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. The Gambia and the State of Palestine respectively ratified and acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. Benin and Burkina Faso removed the death penalty from their Penal Codes, and the Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea announced the drafting of legislation to take that step. 2 Malaysia declared a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. 3 In the United States of America, the State of California declared a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, 4 and in the State of Washington the death penalty statute was declared unconstitutional as a matter of state law. 5 The Islamic Republic of Iran removed the death penalty for a number of drug offences, which led to a significant decrease in executions. 6 Amnesty International reported that 19 of the 193 Member States of the United Nations carried out executions in 2018, a 1 2 3 4 5 6 2 Submissions were received from Australia, Azerbaijan, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Colombia, Egypt, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Montenegro, Slovakia, South Africa, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the State of Palestine, the European Union, the World Health Organization, the Council of Europe, the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria and the Ombudsman of Portugal, Advocates for Human Rights and World Coalition against the Death Penalty (joint submission), the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (joint submission), Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain and the European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (joint submission), Association nationale de promotion et de protection des droits de l’homme, Children Education Society, Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms and Reprieve (joint submission), Ensemble contre la peine de mort, Foundation for Fundamental Rights and Reprieve (joint submission), Friends World Committee for Consultation, Harm Reduction International, International Federation of ACAT (Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture), Justice Project Pakistan, Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Masyarakat (Community Legal Aid Institute) and Reprieve (joint submission), Project 39A of National Law University, Delhi, Reprieve and The Rights Practice. Andrew Novak, George Mason University, and Dr. Daniel Pascoe, City University of Hong Kong, also provided a joint submission. All submissions are on file with the Secretariat and are available for consultation. Benin, Law No. 2018-15 on the Penal Code; Burkina Faso, Penal Code of 21 June 2018; A/HRC/40/12 and Corr.1, para. 20; and www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/04/equatorial-guineapresidential-announcement-welcome-step-towards-abolishing-the-death-penalty/. See www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24215&LangID=E. See www.gov.ca.gov/2019/03/13/governor-gavin-newsom-orders-a-halt-to-the-death-penalty-incalifornia/. Supreme Court of Washington, State v. Gregory, No. 88086-7, judgment of 11 October 2018. Amnesty International Global Report: Death Sentences and Executions 2018, p. 8. See also A/HRC/39/19, para. 8.