The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights The Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty. The European Convention on Human Rights (Protocol No. 13) bans use of the death penalty at all times, even during war. Although international law says that the death penalty can be used for the most serious crimes, like murder, Amnesty believes that the death penalty is never the answer.