Topic:
Country: Mexico
Delegate Name: Oscar Gomez – Gutierrez
Oscar Gomez – Gutierrez
City High Middle School
Mexico
Human Rights Council
Use of the Death Penalty
In 2005, Mexico abolished the use of the death penalty. The death penalty was mostly used when someone committed adultery or fornication, and when someone was an alcoholic or had same-sex intercourse. The death penalty is now abolished because the Mexican government thinks that it’s a violation of human rights, it’s unconstitutional, and it undermines the dignity of people.
The Code of Military Justice was the only criminal system that kept the death penalty in force, but it was only really provided in very serious cases, almost in no cases which made it harder to wrongfully prosecute somebody. Instead the penalty would be imprisonment for twenty years. Today the Code of Military Justice outlawed the death penalty making it illegal and is replaced by the prison sentence of 30 to 60 years. According to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is highly against the use of the death penalty. It says that absolutely nobody should be executed, unless it’s for a war related reason. The exception being if someone did a very serious crime during war time. The Convention of the Rights of a Child allows people to respect children’s opinions, have the right to live, and to not be discriminated against. That being said, if a parent or guardian is malnourishing a child, they will not get the death penalty, but they will get prison time. Most of the media agrees that the death penalty is a bad punishment, but they believe that it was never going to bring a stop to crime rates. They also made a point that said “No one has the ability to take another’s life. There are those who kill a human being, but this action doesn’t have to be official.”
The media and the Mexican government seem to find a middle ground where both sides believe that the death penalty overall is a wrong and unjust action. Making it very difficult to receive the death penalty makes it easier for wrongfully prosecuted criminals to not have to face the death penalty, which was a problem in the past. It’s appropriate that one of the only ways you could receive the death penalty is by committing a war crime.
Sources:
https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/english/story-death-penalty-mexico/
http://www.gaceta.udg.mx/la-pena-de-muerte-es-inconstitucional/
https://dp.spring96.org/en/cancel/82186
https://www.gob.mx/sre/prensa/mexico-condena-la-ejecucion-en-texas-del-connacional-roberto-ramos-moreno?state=published
https://www.ohchr.org/es/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/second-optional-protocol-international-covenant-civil-and
https://www.gob.mx/sipinna/articulos/a-29-anos-de-la-convencion-sobre-los-derechos-del-ninos-cdn-garanticemos-los-derechos-de-ninas-ninos-y-adolescentes-nna
