STATE OF ABOLITION IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC BY COUNTRY
ABOLITIONIST FOR ALL CRIMES (17 countries)
Countries whose laws do not provide for the death penalty for any crime
ABOLITIONIST FOR ORDINARY CRIMES ONLY (1 country)
Countries whose laws provide for the death penalty only for exceptional crimes such as crimes under military law or crimes committed in exceptional circumstances
ABOLITIONIST IN PRACTICE (10 countries)
Countries which retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes such as murder but are considered abolitionist in practice in that there has either been a commitment not to carry out executions and/or there have been no executions during the past 10 years.
The list includes countries which have made an international commitment not to use the death penalty by becoming a State Party to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.
RETENTIONIST (13)
Countries which retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes
Of the 41 countries in Asia and the Pacific, 13 are retentionist, 1 is abolitionist for ordinary crimes, 10 are abolitionist in practice, 17 are abolitionist for all crimes and 28 have abolished the death penalty in law and /or practice.
[1] The two Special Administrative Regions of China: Hong Kong and Macau, have separate criminal law and justice systems and are abolitionist for all crimes.
