Brunei – New criminal legislation (2 April 2019)
Brunei announced the entry in force of a new criminal code on April 3, which provides for corporal punishment and the death penalty for crimes including homosexuality, apostasy, blasphemy, and adultery.
France is very concerned by this decision, which is inconsistent with the international commitments taken by Brunei Darussalam on human rights, and specifically the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment signed by that country in 2015; the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; and the Human Rights Declaration adopted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2012.
France calls on Brunei to renounce this project and to maintain its de facto moratorium on capital punishment, which has been in place since 1957. It reiterates its opposition to the death penalty everywhere and in all circumstances.