FRANCE

CCPR SECOND OPTIONAL PROTOCOL

OBJECTIONS MADE TO OTHER STATES PARTIES RESERVATIONS AND DECLARATIONS

(Ed. note: for the text targeted by the following objections, see the Reservations and Declarations of the State which is the subject of the objection)

Note

With regard to the reservation made by Azerbaijan upon accession, the Secretary-General received communications from the following States on the dates indicated hereinafter:

France (8 February 2000)

The Government of the French Republic has taken note of the reservation made by Azerbaijan to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, which was adopted on 15 December 1989. This reservation, in allowing the application of the death penalty for grave crimes committed during war or 'in condition of the threat of war', exceeds the scope of the reservations permitted under article 2, paragraph 1, of the Protocol. Under this article, only a reservation made 'at the time of ratification or accession that provides for the application of the death penalty in time of war pursuant to a conviction for a most serious crime of a military nature committed during wartime' is admissible. Consequently, the Government of the French Republic expresses its objection to this reservation, without prejudice to the entry into force of the Protocol between Azerbaijan and France.

...

Subsequently, on 28 September 2000, the Government of Azerbaijan communicated to the Secretary-General a modification to its reservation made upon accession. Within a period of 12 months from the date of its circulation, i.e. on 5 October 2000, none of the Contracting States to the Protocol notified the Secretary-General of an objection. Consequently, the modified reservation was deemed to have been accepted for deposit upon the expiration of the 12 month period, i.e., on 5 October 2001.

(Note 9, Chapter IV.12, Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General)