During Antigua and Barbuda’s fourth routine Universal Periodic Review session at the United Nations Human Rights Council, a cohort of UN member states has tabled targeted recommendations to push the Caribbean nation to fully formalize the elimination of capital punishment across its legal framework. Costa Rica led the calls by advocating for immediate, full legal abolition of the death penalty, paired with a binding, legislatively codified interim moratorium on all executions to prevent any resumption of capital punishment in the interim phase. Cyprus echoed this push, urging Antigua and Barbuda to roll out incremental, concrete policy and legislative steps to strike capital punishment from its statute books entirely, while completing the ratification of key international human rights treaties designed to permanently end the practice of state-sanctioned executions. Three additional European nations put forward more granular, targeted proposals aligned with global human rights norms: Finland explicitly called on the Caribbean nation to formalize its accession to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a landmark international agreement explicitly crafted to enforce the total abolition of the death penalty across all signatory jurisdictions. France paired its recommendation for a formal, legally binding national moratorium on executions with the same ratification requirement for the Second Optional Protocol, while Estonia pushed for a blanket official moratorium that would apply without exception to every category of criminal offense under Antigua and Barbuda’s legal system. These coordinated international appeals come even as Antigua and Barbuda’s official delegation presented clear evidence of its longstanding de facto pause on executions during the review. Foreign Affairs Minister E.P. Chet Greene confirmed to the UN Human Rights Council panel that the country has not carried out a single execution in over 30 years, and that as of the current review date, no prisoners are being held on death row at His Majesty’s Prison across the nation. Greene also highlighted that Antigua and Barbuda cast a supportive vote for the December 2024 UN General Assembly resolution that calls for a coordinated global moratorium on the death penalty, signaling the country’s existing alignment with broader international trends away from capital punishment. Notably, the Antigua and Barbuda government did not release any specific public timetable for full legal abolition of the death penalty during the review proceedings. The official national delegation stated that it is formally reserving its position on all the death penalty-related recommendations submitted during the session, and that every proposal will undergo a full, detailed internal review followed by cross-sector public and stakeholder consultations before the government issues a formal, final public response to the UN Human Rights Council.
Costa Rica and Cyprus urge Antigua and Barbuda to abolish death penalty
