penalty.”42 The Court went on to note that “[i]n South Africa [the death penalty] is regarded as a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.”43 In Khade v. State of Maharashtra,44 the Supreme Court of India adopted a narrow interpretation of the phrase “most serious crimes.” The case involved sexual assault and murder of a minor child. The Court noted that the death penalty applied only to the rarest of rare cases which warrant it. Because the proposed Bills seek to reintroduce death penalty for crimes which are not possible to be defined as ‘the most serious crimes,” as that phrase is understood in international law, these will, if passed, constitute a breach of the international legal obligations of the Philippines, and thereby subject the Philippines to international approbation and criticism. To avoid doubt, international law clearly and unambiguously prohibits the imposition of the death penalty for: • • • • • • • all narcotics crimes (including crimes of importation, supply, possession, distribution, manufacture, use, or maintaining “dens”); kidnapping; crimes aggravated by being under the influence of a narcotic drug; all property crimes including the crime of “plunder” as that crime is understood in the Philippines, aggravated robbery and carjacking; all crimes of rape and sexual assault; child sexual offenses; and political crimes. This is because such crimes are not “the most serious crimes” as that term in the ICCPR has been interpreted. The proposed laws seek, in breach of the international law binding upon the Philippines, to impose the death penalty upon persons convicted of the property crime of “plunder”. They attempt to impose the death penalty for narcotics crimes, including the crime of maintaining a narcotics “den” or “resort”. They seek to impose the death penalty upon persons convicted of trivial or “ordinary” crimes where they are committed while under the influence of narcotic drugs. They arbitrarily attempt to impose the death penalty upon certain military and police officers who engage in broadly defined sexual assault or rape. They seek to impose the death penalty for offenses of child exploitation and pornography. They seek to impose the death penalty for those convicted of broadly defined treason. 42 Id. at 67. The risk of the Philippines becoming a ‘pariah State’ by breaching a binding treaty commitment is equally very real. 43 Id. at 68. 44 Shankar Kinsanrao Khade v. State of Maharashta, 5 SCC 546 (2013) (India). Page 14 of 23