Trinidad and Tobago-Universal Periodic Review-CCPR-September 2023
Country: Trinidad and Tobago
Type: Intl Mechanism Submission
Issues: Death Penalty, Gender-Based Violence, International Advocacy, Women's Rights
Mechanism: UN Human Rights Committee
Report Type: Shadow/Parallel Report
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This report addresses Trinidad and Tobago’s compliance with its human rights obligations with
regard to the death penalty. In 2022, courts issued a minimum of five death sentences, with 43
people known to be on death row. Trinidad and Tobago is the only country in the Americas to maintain a mandatory death penalty
for murder. Although the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has held that such mandatory
death penalty would constitute arbitrary depravation of life, violating Articles 4(1) and 4(2) of
the American Convention on Human Rights, Trinidad and Tobago has not complied with the
Court’s order that the country should abstain from applying its “Offences Against the Person
Act” and should amend the Act to comply with internal norms of human rights protection.