Australia should legislate so that its security agencies are not compelled to share information with countries that still have the death penalty, while using some of its dwindling foreign aid budget to try to stamp out the practice worldwide, human rights organisations say.
Eight organisations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Civil Liberties Australia, have released a blueprint for the government on how to stamp out capital punishment around the world.
It calls on the government to give some of the money earmarked for aid to anti-death penalty campaigners abroad, and legislate so that security agencies like the Australian federal police do not have to share information with counterparts in countries that still execute prisoners.
The AFP strenuously defended its decision to share information with Indonesia on Australian Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who were executed for drug offences in April.
“If the Bali Nine case happened again tomorrow, nothing would prevent the AFP from acting in the same way,” said Emily Howie, director of advocacy and research at the Human Rights Law Centre. “Parliament should amend the AFP Act to include sufficient safeguards to prevent police sharing information which could lead to the death penalty.”
The blueprint also calls for the government to create a public strategy document within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to direct anti-death penalty strategies worldwide, and the adoption of a global moratorium on capital punishment.
“The time is ripe for Australia’s foreign ministry to make public a new comprehensive policy to end the death penalty worldwide, with specific and achievable goals for individual countries,” said Elaine Pearson, Australia director at Human Rights Watch.
“The strategy should include consistent public and private diplomatic pressure to end this cruel practice, showing how the death penalty has failed to deter crime and been unjustly applied.”
Australian politicians mounted a strong bipartisan campaign against the executions of Chan and Sukumaran, pressing Indonesia for clemency through public and diplomatic channels.
The human rights organisations who wrote the blueprint say parliamentarians must not let that momentum fade.
“The time is right for Australia to take a lead role and build a regional coalition for abolition. We should make future generations proud,” said the vice-president of Reprieve Australia, Ursula Noye.
The national director of Amnesty International Australia, Claire Mallinson, said: “We must now ensure Australia’s stance against the recent executions is reflected in all government policy. We are asking for change across the Australian government – through diplomacy, our aid program, our federal law enforcement agencies.”
Amnesty urges Australia to raise objections in all cases where the death penalty has been applied, including cases of terrorism.
The call comes just days after Boston marathon bomber Dzhokar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death in the US for his role in the 2013 terrorist attack that killed three people and wounded 260.
Australia is one of 140 countries around the world that has abolished the death penalty. Amnesty International estimates 607 people were executed in 2014, with some of Australia’s largest trading partners – the US and China – among the top offenders.
The number of executions in China is unknown because it is a state secret but Amnesty estimates it could be as many at 1,000 in 12 months.
Iran, with whom Australia just signed an information-sharing deal, ranks third on the list of the world’s most prolific executioners.
