A/RES/63/182
Criminal Court, 5 and recalling in this regard that each individual State has the
responsibility to protect its populations from such crimes as set out in General
Assembly resolution 60/1 of 16 September 2005,
4F
Convinced of the need for effective action to prevent, combat and eliminate the
abhorrent practice of extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, which
represent flagrant violations of human rights, particularly the right to life,
Strongly condemns once again all the extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
1.
executions that continue to occur throughout the world;
2.
Demands that all States ensure that the practice of extrajudicial, summary
or arbitrary executions is brought to an end and that they take effective action to
prevent, combat and eliminate the phenomenon in all its forms and manifestations;
Reiterates the obligation of all States to conduct exhaustive and impartial
3.
investigations into all suspected cases of extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
executions, to identify and bring to justice those responsible, while ensuring the right
of every person to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial
tribunal established by law, to grant adequate compensation within a reasonable time
to the victims or their families, and to adopt all necessary measures, including legal
and judicial measures, to put an end to impunity and to prevent the further occurrence
of such executions, as recommended in the Principles on the Effective Prevention and
Investigation of Extralegal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions; 6
5F
4.
Calls upon Governments and invites intergovernmental and
non-governmental organizations to pay greater attention to the work of national-level
commissions of inquiry into extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions with a
view to ensuring the effective contribution of these commissions to accountability
and to combating impunity;
Calls upon all States, in order to prevent extrajudicial, summary and
5.
arbitrary executions, to comply with their obligations under relevant provisions of
international human rights instruments, and further calls upon those States which
have not abolished the death penalty to pay particular regard to the provisions
contained in articles 6, 14 and 15 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights2 and articles 37 and 40 of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, 7 bearing in mind the safeguards and guarantees set out in Economic and
Social Council resolutions 1984/50 of 25 May 1984 and 1989/64 of 24 May 1989,
and taking into account the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur of the
Human Rights Council on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions regarding
the need to respect essential procedural guarantees, including the right to seek
pardon or commutation of sentence;
0H
6F
6.
Urges all States:
(a) To take all necessary and possible measures, in conformity with
international human rights law and international humanitarian law, to prevent loss of
life, in particular that of children, during public demonstrations, internal and
communal violence, civil unrest, public emergencies or armed conflicts, and to
ensure that the police, law enforcement agents, armed forces and other agents acting
_______________
5
Ibid., vol. 2187, No. 38544.
Economic and Social Council resolution 1989/65, annex.
7
United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1577, No. 27531.
6
2