Human Rights Subcommittee to examine Australia’s international efforts to eliminate the death penalty

The Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, through the Human Rights Subcommittee, is conducting an inquiry into Australia’s efforts to advocate for the global abolition of the death penalty.

The inquiry will consider Australia’s international commitment to advance the elimination of the death penalty. It will examine the opportunities and risks for Australia in advancing the elimination of the death penalty overseas.

This includes through working with international organisations and other “likeminded” nations and advocacy for Australians subject to, or likely to be subject to the death penalty. The inquiry will also look into the increased risk of the death penalty being ordered for someone due to their sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, religion, and political beliefs.

The inquiry will examine how Australia has fared on the recommendations made in the 2017 Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade report, “A world without the death penalty: Australia’s Advocacy for the Abolition of the Death Penalty.”

Chair of the subcommittee Maria Vamvakinou MP says, “there is no place for the death penalty in the modern world.”

“State executions are cruel and are often associated with miscarriages of justice; all too often, innocent people are put to death and around the world, minorities and those with disabilities are disproportionately sentenced to death,” she says.

Submissions on the terms of reference will close on 2 August 2024.