Methods of Execution and the Prohibition Against Torture and Other Ill-Treatment: Objective 3
Country: All
Partners: International Federation for Human Rights, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty
Issues: Death Penalty
Mechanism: UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
Report Type: Call for Inputs
This report provides a high-level survey of execution methods currently practiced or authorized
in multiple countries and evaluates their compliance with international human rights standards
at a general level. The report concludes that all authorized methods entail a substantial and
foreseeable risk of severe pain, prolonged suffering, and/or serious violations of human
dignity. Methods of execution such as hanging, electrocution, beheading, stoning, and crucifixion entail
the probable (if not inevitable) likelihood of extended suffering, with several being
compounded by intense psychological harm through the prolonged and sometimes public
spectacle of the execution itself. Some authorities assert that other execution methods are more "humane," such as lethal
injection, nitrogen hypoxia, and firing squad. Yet lethal injection and nitrogen hypoxia are
effectively experimental in nature, and the degree of suffering arising out of execution by firing
squad is entirely dependent on the skill and intention of the executioners. All three of these
methods have resulted in well-documented cases of significant physical suffering. None of the execution methods currently practiced or authorized can be consistently reconciled
with international human rights standards. The continued use of the death penalty, regardless
of method, violates the prohibition against torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or
punishment, thereby reinforcing the imperative of universal abolition.
