Our Stakeholder report to Japan’s Universal Periodic Review, led by Dr. Alice Storey, makes specific recommendations to the government regarding the right to life and capital punishment.
Researchers
Consultancy background
This Stakeholder Report focuses upon capital punishment and makes recommendations to the Government of Japan on this key issue, implementation of which would also see Indonesia 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.
Download the stakeholder report
On 31 October 2022, the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published its Stakeholder Summary Report for Japan, which cited the UPR Project at BCU:
“AI, HO, JS10 and BCU recommended acceding to ICCPR-OP2.” (para 2)
“AI, CGNK, HRN, BCU, JS6 and JFBA noted that Japan continued to carry out executions under the death penalty.” (para 15)
“AI, BCU, JS6 and JS10 were disappointed that during the third UPR Cycle, Japan noted 23 recommendations related to the death penalty and establishing a moratorium on executions. They noted that people on death row are not informed of their execution date until the morning of their execution. They recommended that Japan complies with the ‘most serious crimes’ principle; and provide death row inmates and their families with reasonable advanced notice of the scheduled date and time of their executions.” (para 16)
“AI, BCU, HRN, JS6 and JS10 called for an immediate introduction of a formal moratorium on executions as a first step toward the abolition of the death penalty and commute all death sentences to terms of imprisonment…BCU recommended that Japan uphold and enforce its international obligations to safeguard the right to life, pursuant to Articles 6, 7 and 14 of the ICCPR.” (para 17)
“BCU stated that whilst retaining the death penalty, any person with appeals pending, including appeals for retrials, should not be executed.” (para 18)
The outcome of the review was published on 21 April 2023 in the Report of the Working Group. The following relevant recommendations were made to Japan:
Ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. Recommending state: France, Lithuania & Chile (158.2); Germany (158.3); Argentina (158.4); Sweden (158.5); Luxembourg, Malta, Panama, Slovenia & Spain (158.6); Belgium (158.103)
Abolish the death penalty. Recommending state: Uzbekistan (158.92); Angola (158.94); Ireland (158.96); Timor-Leste (158.97); Kazakhstan (158.99); Poland (158.103)
Put in place a de facto moratorium, with a view to abolition. Recommending state: Cyprus (158.93); Iceland & Paraguay (158.96); Ireland (158.96); URUGUAY & Italy (158.98) Fiji (158.100); Norway, Slovakia, Estonia, Finland, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland & Australia (158.101)
These Member State recommendations are consistent with the categories of recommendations identified in the UPR Project at BCU’s Stakeholder Report for Japan’s UPR.
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 taking part in the UPR Pre-sessions, providing capacity building for UPR stakeholders and National Human Rights Institutions, and the filing of stakeholder reports in selected sessions. The UPR Project is designed to help meet the challenges facing the safeguarding of human rights around the world, and to help 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 with the UPR regularly as a stakeholder, having submitted numerous reports and been cited by the OHCHR.