HL Deb 03 July 1990 vol 520 c2085WA
Lord Windlesham

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they have signed or ratified Protocol No. 6 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms concerning the abolition of the death penalty which was opened for signature on 28th April 1983.

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Brabazon of Tara)

The United Kingdom has neither signed nor ratified this protocol.

Lord Windlesham

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many other member states of the Council of Europe have signed or ratified Protocol No. 6 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and how many still retain the death penalty as a judicial sentence in peace time.

Lord Brabazon of Tara

Seventeen member states have signed or ratified: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, FRG, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Four states (Belgium, Greece, Republic of Ireland and Turkey) presently retain the death penalty as a judicial sentence in peace time. No one has been executed in a member state since 1984.