UK FOREIGN POLICY ON THE DEATH PENALTY

That this House reiterates its opposition to the use of the death penalty under any circumstances; notes with concern the Government's recent decision to abandon its death penalty strategy at a time when executions in countries such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have hit record numbers; further notes with deep concern the recent report by the Reprieve campaign which states that Saudi Arabia executed 157 people in 2015 and killed 47 prisoners in just one day on 2 January 2016; notes with concern Reprieve's statement that Pakistan executed 325 people since lifting a moratorium on the death penalty in 2014, and that Iran executed nearly 1,000 people in 2015 where at least 600 of those hanged were convicted of drugs offences, understood to be the highest total for 16 years; and calls on the Government to continue to oppose the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, to reinstate its death penalty strategy, to make it a formal objective of UK foreign policy to seek the global abolition of capital punishment, and to make high level and specific diplomatic representations in relation to all death sentences that violate the particular principles of international law.