The Thai Cabinet recently resolved that sentences of...

16 December 2001 :

The Thai Cabinet recently resolved that sentences of execution or life imprisonment for under 18 year olds shall be commuted to 15 years' imprisonment.
This is highly commendable and in accordance with Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Similarly, the Convention on the Rights of Children, also ratified by Thailand, prescribes that states shall ensure that "Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below 18."
The Cabinet also approved a change in the method of execution, from firing squad to lethal injection. While the end result is the same, a firing squad mutilates a body while lethal injection leaves it intact.
But whether firing squad or lethal injection, the Convention considers capital punishment a violation of life and a cruel and inhuman punishment as stated in Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
However, Thailand has a way to protect itself from being accused of violating human rights. We have laws that stipulate execution as punishments for certain violent crimes, such as premeditated murder, cruel murders, murders of state officials, or one's own father or mother, etc.
An appended clause states that capital punishment shall not be considered cruel or inhumane in such cases.
 

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