Vincent and the Grenadines, the Human Rights Committee ruled on the
applicant's assertion that the mandatory nature of the death penalty and its
application amounted
to an arbitrary
deprivation
of life. The
Committee
stressed that "such a system of compulsory imposition of the death penalty deprives
the individual of his most fundamental right, the right to life, without considering
whether this exceptional form of punishment is appropriate in the particular
circumstances of his life. his business". The result was that the mandatory death
penalty was an arbitrary deprivation of life in violation of article 6(1) of the
Covenant.ll
13.|t was perfectly possible for the African Court to consider in this case that the
state of international law recommended a common system of prohibition
applicable to all "kinds of death sentences". The European system which
excludes reservations by Article 3 of its latest Protocolwhich prohibits the death
penalty sets the tone. lt is noted that "No derogations to the provisions of this
Protocol shall be made under article 57 of the Convention". The Protocol takes care
to stress that "The death penalty shall be abolished. No one shall be condemned to
such penalty or executed".l2 lt is further indicated that this constitutes " the flnal
step in order to abolish the death penalty in all circumstances".l3
14. ln this decision the Court was very circumspect and "legalistic". lt endeavored
to observe scrupulously the normative sovereignty of the Respondent State. ln
its non-pecuniary measures, however, it ordered the Respondent State to "take
all the necessary measures, within one year of notification of the present
judgment, to abolish the mandatory death penalty its legal system ". Here lies
the meaning of this opinion. This "chiaroscuro" maintained on the regime of the
death penalty deserves discussion. ln the state of international law, there are
rr See: article 6(2) of the IiCCPR; Eversley Thompson v. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Communication No.
806/1998, U.N. Doc. CCPNC/70/D/806i 1998 (2000) (U.N.H.C.R.),8.2.
12
Article 1, Protocol No. 13 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,
conrerning the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances, Vilnius, 3 May 2002
13
Idem., Preamble to the Protocol
6