India rejects UN call to pause executions
NEW YORK: India voted against a United Nations draft resolution calling for a pause in the use of the death penalty. During Friday’s vote in the General Assembly’s Third Committee, India said countries should be able to decide their own laws and penalties. It argued that there was no international agreement against capital punishment.
India backed a separate draft resolution urging countries to end unlawful executions. However, it refused to support a paragraph asking governments to consider recommendations from a UN expert whose report said the death penalty itself amounted to torture or ill-treatment. India said its support for that draft reflected its opposition to executions carried out without legal authority.
Bhavika Mangalanandan, a first secretary at India’s UN mission, said courts in India reserve the death penalty for the “rarest of rare” cases. She said a higher court must confirm every death sentence and that courts must consider circumstances that could justify a lesser penalty. She also argued that an international treaty on civil and political rights allows countries to use the death penalty under strict limits.
India’s vote followed the position it took on similar proposals in 2016, 2018 and 2024. The United States also voted against the draft. US representative Yaryna Ferencevych said decisions on capital punishment should go through each country’s democratic process and comply with international law. She called for fair trials and a ban on execution methods designed to cause needless suffering.
The committee approved the draft calling for a pause by a large majority. France welcomed the result, saying a halt to executions would bring countries closer to ending the death penalty worldwide.
