DEATH PENALTY·MAY 3, 2002·1 MIN READ

36 Council of Europe member states undertake to abolish the death penalty

The Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Representatives of 36 member states of the Council of Europe, present in Vilnius, today signed Protocol No. 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights, concerning the abolition of the death penalty in all circumsta

Vilnius, 03.05.2002 - The Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Representatives of 36 member states (*) of the Council of Europe, present in Vilnius on the occasion of the 110th session of the Organisation´s Committee of Ministers, today signed Protocol No. 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights, concerning the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances.>br>With Protocol No. 6, and a moratorium in the countries that have not yet ratified it, the 44 Council of Europe member states already constituted a death-penalty-free zone in peacetime. Protocol No. 13 provides the Organisation with an instrument that prohibits capital punishment, whatever the circumstances.
"The Council of Europe was already proud to have banished the death penalty in peacetime on a continent where more than 800 million people live. With Protocol No. 13, it opens the way to abolishing this barbaric punishment in all circumstances. We hope that this will be a decisive step towards a universal abolition of the death penalty and we shall spare no effort in achieving this," declared Walter Schwimmer, Secretary General of the 44-nation Organisation.
The Protocol will enter into force with 10 ratifications.
(*) 36 signatory States : Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", Ukraine and the United Kingdom.Ireland, Malta and Switzerland signed and ratified this Protocol.