Human Rights Obligations on Consular Agents in Capital Punishment cases

It has been a long established principle of International Law that Consular Officials have the right to visit, communicate with and assist their nationals who are detained abroad. International litigation has highlighted the particular importance of this access in the context of nationals sentenced to death in a foreign country. Previously there has been a tendency to approach discourse in this area by analysing the obligations on the forum state along with the rights of the sending state. This paper will instead focus on the individual’s rights while in detention and facing the death penalty, and the extent to which the sending state is under a human rights obligation to ensure and secure the rights of their nationals detained abroad. Through consideration of the jurisprudence of both international and regional human rights treaty monitoring bodies, as well as relevant domestic court decisions, this paper will construct a framework for when a sending state’s obligations begin and end with regard to their nationals facing capital punishment charges abroad.