Letters | Consensus on death penalty must be reached through dialogue
- Readers discuss the international reaction to the hanging in Singapore of a man convicted of a drug offence, nations’ failure to prioritise peace, and the Hong Kong equality watchdog’s sensitivity to potential discrimination

There is a growing consensus across the globe that the death penalty breaches human rights, in particular the right to life and the right to live free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
About two months ago, on February 28, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) held its biennial high-level panel discussion on the death penalty and the focus this year was on limiting the death penalty to the most serious crimes. In the discussion, many speakers said that the right to life was inviolable, asserting that capital punishment was a human rights issue, and not just a matter of criminal justice, and that all states should therefore pursue the path towards full abolition of the death penalty.
One speaker, however, pointedly asked how a state could legislate against the death penalty when public opinion was in favour of it.
Another speaker noted that there was no consensus on the universal abolition of capital punishment, nor even consensus on what constituted the “most serious crimes” for the death penalty. Moreover, international law does not prohibit capital punishment.