The UN Human Rights Committee met to consider Mongolia`s...

The UN Human Rights Committee met to consider Mongolia`s fourth periodic report on compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Members of the Committee underscored the brevity of responses and the lack of detailed examples provided by the Mongolian delegation in response to specific questions. During the meeting, the issue of the death penalty was raised with one expert stating that it was not clear whether Mongolia had considered abolishing it. Dash Ganbold, Minister for Justice of Mongolia, explained that the scope of the death penalty had been gradually reduced. While in 1994 it had applied to 18 categories of crimes, now only four crimes were subject to it. At this stage, Mongolia was trying to move to a point where that terrible punishment could be abolished completely, Ganbold said.