Chapter 7. Minimum Possible Suffering This chapter considers Safeguard Nine, which states that capital punishment, where it occurs, shall be carried out so as to “inflict the minimum possible suffering”. We focus on the conditions in detention for those facing the death penalty in China. This includes the lack of a specific ‘death row,’ the extensive use of shackles, meeting with family, access to a lawyer, time until execution, the method of execution as well as the practice of procuring organs from executed prisoners. International Law The 2015 United Nations Economic and Social Council Report highlights five main ways in which Safeguard Nine may be violated: (1) death row conditions; (2) the death row phenomenon; (3) treatment of family members of persons sentenced to death; (4) method of execution; and (5) public execution. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights argues that physical deprivation, including insufficient food, water, and sanitation, as well as prolonged solitary confinement without opportunities to leave their cell for exercise all violate the rights of death row prisoners. The IACHR also emphasised the need for education, especially training on violence prevention and control. The death row phenomenon is the notion that prolonged incarceration on death row constitutes cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment. The UN Human Rights Committee has attempted to specify the precise length of detention period before the death row phenomenon becomes cruel, inhuman and degrading. Detention on death row for 13 years not only caused “psychological distress” but was also a consequence of negligent management of the prisoner’s case file. The UNHRC has also explained that detention of more than eight years, pending determination of an appeal, affected the physical and mental health of the applicant. The Human Rights Council, in a resolution adopted on 21 March 2013, called upon States to give due consideration to the best interests of the child in death penalty cases. Children should have access to any parent facing execution and to all relevant information about the situation. Most international and regional human rights bodies have generally avoided determining whether specific methods of execution violate Safeguard Nine, in part because mental and physical suffering are an unavoidable consequence of the death penalty, regardless of the method. Given the inevitable pain of any method of execution, some international and regional commentators have, however, questioned whether capital punishment itself should be considered cruel and inhumane. The Special Rapporteur on Torture has highlighted the right of detainees and family members to prepare for death and that secret executions may violate this right.40 In January 2013, three UN Special Rapporteurs stated that executions in public add to the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. 40 Méndez, Juan E. ‘Interim report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’. 9, August, 2012. A/67/279. 51