government: constitutional republic
state of civil and political rights: Free
constitution: 29 December 1993
legal system: based on civil law system
legislative system: unicameral Congress of the Republic of Peru or Congreso de la Republica del Peru
judicial system: Supreme Court of Justice whose judges are appointed by the National Council of the Judiciary
religion: Roman Catholic 81%, other
death row:
year of last executions: 0-0-0
death sentences: 0
executions: 0
international treaties on human rights and the death penalty:International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
1st Optional Protocol to the Covenant
Convention on the Rights of the Child
Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
American Convention on Human Rights
Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture
Statute of the International Criminal Court (which excludes the death penalty)
situation:
Peru has been abolitionist for common crimes since 1979, when the last execution was held. Under the military code the act of treason committed during wartime with foreign powers is punishable by death.
In 1993, Congress approved a new Constitution introducing a new capital offence: terrorism. Article 140 of the new Peruvian Constitution states: ‘The death penalty shall only be imposed for the crime of treason against the state in time of war, and for the crime of terrorism, in accordance with the laws and treaties to which Peru is a party."
In doing this Peru violated the American Convention on Human Rights to which it is party, which prohibits the reintroduction of the death penalty under Art 4.2. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights, in an advisory opinion delivered on December 9, 1994 stated: ‘That the promulgation of a law in manifest conflict with the obligations assumed by a state upon ratifying or adhering to the Convention is a violation of that treaty.’
In January 2007, Peru's Congress rejected President Alan Garcia's bill seeking to introduce the death penalty for terrorists.
On December 19, 2016, Peru voted again in favour of the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly.
