Cox v. Canada

Abstract

Extradition — Capital offences — Offence carrying death penalty in requesting State but not in requested State — Right of requested State to seek assurances that death penalty will not be imposed — Canada — United States Extradition Treaty, 1976, Article 6 — Decision by Canada to extradite fugitive without seeking assurances that death penalty would not be imposed — Whether contrary to International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966

Human rights — Right to life — Inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment — Threat of death penalty — Whether contrary to Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 — Article 6(2) — Application to State which has abolished death penalty — Article 7 — Relevance of “death row phenomenon” — Relevance of fact that author not yet tried or sentenced — Whether execution by lethal injection constituting inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment

Human rights — Scope of human rights treaty — International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 — Extradition proceedings — Threat of death sentence in requesting State — Relevance of Article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 1984