Pakistan has executed no death row convict in the past 22 months, Ambassador of the European Union to Pakistan Androulla Kaminara said on Thursday, while appreciating its top court’s decision to prohibit meting out the capital punishment to prisoners who were severely mentally ill.
She was speaking at an event hosted jointly by the EU delegation and Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) to commemorate the upcoming World Day Against the Death Penalty on October 10.
She reminded that Pakistan had signed the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 2010 – well before the existence on GSP+. The ICCPR calls for the death penalty only to be applied to the “most serious crimes”. However, Pakistan currently has 33 crimes that can lead to a death penalty.
“This year’s global theme is ‘women and the death penalty’, which focuses on inequalities within the justice system and how this disproportionately affects women as they engage with courts and law enforcement authorities,” she noted.
