Clemency for Death Penalty Cases under International Law and Standards

Abstract

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council’s ground-breaking decision conferred on the right to clemency a quasi-judicial status and gained immediate resonance in the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The right to seek pardon or commutation of a death sentence features prominently among the safeguards established by international human rights law to protect the rights of those facing the death penalty. The development of the right to seek pardon or commutation of a death sentence under international law and standards has been influenced greatly by the political discourse that has accompanied the evolution of the human rights framework more broadly. The representative of Chile proposed to include a new paragraph to recognise that ‘Amnesty, pardon or commutation of the sentence of death may be granted in all cases’. The ensuing 15 years saw international law and international standards mostly maintain the status quo on the right to seek pardon or commutation of a death sentence.