A/HRC/8/11
page 5
9.
During the reporting period, five States acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to the
ICCPR, namely, Albania on 17 October 2007, France on 2 October 2007, Mexico on
26 September 2007, Moldova on 20 September 2006, and Ukraine on 25 July 2007. Three States
ratified the Optional Protocol, namely Andorra on 22 September 2006, Honduras on
1 April 2008, Turkey on 2 March 2006 and the Philippines, which had signed it on
20 September 2006 before ratifying on 20 November 2007. Argentina signed the
Optional Protocol on 20 December 2006. Turkey signed the Second Optional Protocol to the
ICCPR on 6 April 2004. Following its declaration of independence in June 2006, Montenegro
ratified the Optional Protocol on 23 October 2006.
10. On 6 June 2006 Protocol No. 6 to the ECHR entered into force for the newly independent
Montenegro.
11. Six States ratified Protocol No. 13 to the ECHR, namely, Albania on 6 February 2007,
France on 10 October 2007, Luxembourg on 21 March 2006, Moldova on 18 October 2006, the
Netherlands on 10 February 2006, and Turkey on 20 February 2006. Armenia signed the
Protocol on 19 May 2006. Protocol No. 13 entered into force for the newly independent
Montenegro on 6 June 2006.
12. Mexico ratified the Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the
Death Penalty on 20 August 2007. Argentina had signed this protocol in 2006.
E. Countries observing a moratorium on executions
13. Prior to abolishing the death penalty for all crimes in 2007, Kyrgyzstan had renewed a
moratorium on its application in 2006. A de facto moratorium in place in the Russian Federation
since August 1996 continued to be observed. In the United States of America, following the
decision of the Supreme Court to consider the constitutionality of lethal injections in Baze et al.
v. Rees, Commissioner, Kentucky Department of Corrections, et al., a de facto moratorium of
executions occurred from September 2007 until the Court rejected the petitioners’ arguments in
April 2008. A further execution took place in May 2008 in the state of Georgia.
F.
Countries which have reintroduced the use of the death penalty,
extended its scope or resumed executions
14. In December 2006 Bahrain carried out its first execution in 10 years. In September 2006,
the Military Commissions Act of the United States Congress allowed for the imposition of the
death penalty on “alien unlawful enemy combatants”. In January 2008 the Islamic Republic of
Iran extended the death penalty for certain offences related to the production of pornographic
materials.
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