On 10 June 1993 the Comision de Constitucion, a commission set up by Congress to draft a new Constitution, approved an article which may extend the scope of the death penalty, in violation of the American Convention on Human Rights, which Peru ratified in 1978. In the event of a new law being applied, prisoners sentenced to death, some of whom may be prisoners of conscience, would be executed following conviction in trials, which under present procedures, fall far short of international human rights standards. Congress is expected to approve the new Constitution sometime in July 1993, for President Fujimori to present it to the nation on 28 July. The Constitution, prior to coming into effect, may then go forward to a national referendum, expected in August 1993.
