Our Stakeholder report to Qatar鈥檚 Universal Periodic Review, led by Dr Amna Nazir, makes specific recommendations to the government on the issue of capital punishment.
Researchers
Consultancy background
In March 2024, the UPR Project at BCU submitted a Stakeholder Report to Qatar鈥檚 fourth UPR cycle, led by Dr Amna Nazir. This submission focuses on capital punishment. We make recommendations to the Government of Qatar on this key issue, implementation of which would also see Qatar moving towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 16 which aims for peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice for all and effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
On 31 July 2024,听the UN鈥檚 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published its Stakeholder Summary Report for Qatar, which cited the Stakeholder Report submitted by UPR Project at BCU:
鈥淏CU and JS1 recommended that Qatar ratify the ICCPR-OP 2.鈥� (para 16)
鈥淏CU also noted that the Penal Code provided the death penalty for a range of offences. It recommended that Qatar: uphold and enforce its international obligations to safeguard the right to life, pursuant to the ICCPR; whilst it retains the death penalty, ensure it complies with the ICCPR most serious crimes principle, restricting punishment to crimes of intentional killing; develop a comprehensive action plan towards a moratorium, with a view to abolition, within the next four years; affirm its commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 16 through its support at the next biennial vote on the United Nations General Assembly Resolution on the moratorium on the use of the death penalty; and provide its National Human Rights Institution with a mandate on legislative abolition of the death penalty.鈥� (para 30)
Following the citations in the Stakeholder Summary Report. The outcome of the review published on 23 December 2024 in the Report of the Working Group stated that听Qatar听will be included in the outcome report adopted by the Human Rights Council at its fifty-eighth session:
Establish a formal moratorium on the death penalty and seek alternative outcomes for those already sentenced to capital punishment.听Recommending state:听Australia (170.61); Italy (170.71);
Ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.听Recommending state:听Colombia (170.3); Estonia (170.4); Iceland (170.56); Paraguay (170.57); Luxembourg (170.58); Madagascar (170.59); Liechtenstein (170.60); New Zealand (170.74); Republic of Moldova (170.75); France (170.76);
Establish an official moratorium on the death penalty.听Recommending state:听Paraguay (170.57); Liechtenstein (170.60); Australia (170.61); Brazil (170.62); Costa Rica (170.63); Spain (170.64); Cyprus (170.65); Togo (170.66); Estonia (170.67); Portugal (170.68); Madagascar (170.69); Norway (170.70); Italy (170.71); Lithuania (170.73);听Republic of Moldova (170.75); France (170.76);
Provide its NHRI with a mandate on legislative abolition of the death penalty.听Recommending state:听Djibouti (170.37); Liechtenstein (170.38); Mongolia (170.39);
Cooperate with civil society organizations in the follow-up to and implementation of the recommendations from the universal periodic review.听Recommending state:听Albania (170.40);
These Member State recommendations are consistent with the categories of recommendations identified in the UPR Project at BCU鈥檚 Report for Qatar.
About the UPR Project at BCU
The Centre for Human Rights (CHR) has been engaging with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) since 2016. Under the auspice of the Human Rights Council, the UPR is an intergovernmental process providing a review of the human rights record of all Member States.
Through the UPR Project at BCU, the CHR we engage with the UPR through听taking part in the听UPR Pre-sessions, providing capacity building for UPR stakeholders and National Human Rights Institutions, and the filing of听stakeholder reports in selected sessions. The UPR Project听is designed to help meet the challenges facing the safeguarding of human rights around the world, and to help听ensure that UPR recommendations are translated into domestic legal change in member state parliaments.
We fully support the UPR ethos of encouraging the sharing of best practice globally to protect everyone's human rights. The UPR Project at BCU engages听with the UPR听regularly as a stakeholder,听having submitted numerous reports and been听cited by the OHCHR.