This resolution was reaffirmed by the General Assembly in 1977. Endorsed by the General Assembly the same year, the safeguards application of the death penalty to certain categories of offenders - including people less than 18 years old at the time of the commission of the crime. They provide that anyone sentenced to death should have the right to appeal to a higher court and to petition for pardon or commutation of the sentence. It binds the states that are parties to it not to carry out executions and to abolish the death penalty. No matter what reason a government gives for killing prisoners in its custody and no matter the method of execution used, the death penalty cannot be separated from the issue of human rights.
Human rights belong to everyone.