These international missions have four objectives:
1. To condemn a form of punishment that has been abolished
in 85 countries for all crimes and in 11 for ordinary crimes
only; 24 countries have de facto abolished-----meaning that
although legislation allowing for the death penalty is still in
effect, there have not been any executions in the last ten
years;
2. To verify that the trials of those persons that have been
condemn to death or have been executed filled the minimum
standards of due process established, in particular, in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
3. To clarify and expose, when necessary, the living conditions
of prisoners on "death row", from the time they are sentenced
to the time of their execution. Living conditions for prisoners
on death row can frequently be qualified as cruel, inhuman
and degrading treatment and are in violation of international
human rights law;
4. To formulate recommendations to relevant authorities and
parties in corresponding countries, with an aim to establish
dialogue and support, whenever possible, the efforts carried
out to abolish the death penalty, or at least to work towards a
moratorium on executions.
The current report presents the results of the mission on the
death penalty in Guatemala carried out in Guatemala City
from the 5th-14th July 2004, by three representatives of the
FIDH: Marcela Talamas, an attorney based in Mexico,
Catherine Delanoë-Daoud and Emmanuel Daoud, both
attorneys based in Paris.