International Mechanism Submissions

This report addresses Dominica’s compliance with its international human rights obligations with respect to the death penalty; the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; conditions of detention; gender-based violence; enforced disappearances; and administration of justice and fair trial. Dominica has not formally abolished the death penalty or implemented a moratorium on executions, nor has it limited the application of the death penalty to the “most serious” crimes. Although Dominica has not sentenced anyone to death or executed anyone in many years, capital punishment remains a possibility under Dominica’s existing laws, particularly in response to political pressures and the seriously overburdened and under resourced judicial system. This report examines the current state of the death penalty in Dominica and recommends Dominica: (1) abolish the death penalty and ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In the interim, this report recommends Dominica: (2) institute an official moratorium on executions, (3) limit the death penalty to the most serious crimes, as defined by international human rights standards, (3) address shortages of judicial, prosecutorial, and police staffing, which contribute to lengthy pretrial detentions and severe backlogs in the judicial system; (4) ratify the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its Optional Protocol and implement them in domestic legislation; and (5) enact an updated National Policy and Plan of Action on Gender Equality.