The Right to Life in the Palestinian Society: The Case of the Death Penalty from Comparative Human Rights Perspective

Responsible for the doctoral project: Motaz Alnaouq, LL.M. Human Rights
Funded by: Humer-Foundation for Academic Talent
Project duration: September 2011 – August 2014
Doctoral committee: Prof. Dr. Matthias Mahlmann , Institute of Law/URPP Asia and Europe
Research Field: Norms and Social Order(s)

Abstract

The research will focus on the right to life and the imposition of the death penalty in the Palestinian society. It will examine the legal, cultural and religious influences on the continuation of the institution and the administration of the death penalty in the Palestinian territories. The analysis will be developed in a comparative legal framework: The relevant laws and regulations that determine the imposition of such punishment on humans will be contrasted with the European Convention on Human Rights and other international and regional instruments and conventions that protect the right to life and sometimes explicitly abolish the death penalty. The research aims at developing normative parameters for the normative evaluation of the death penalty in the specific social, cultural and religious context of the Palestinian society. It hopes to outline a framework on how to reform the legal system of the Palestinian authority in line with contemporary human rights law in order to support and promote a conception of right to life for the future sovereign and independent Palestinian state that respects human rights and adheres to the rule of law.