At the UN Third Committee hearing for calls for priority...

At the UN Third Committee hearing for calls for priority attention to incorporating human rights treaty provisions into domestic law, the European Union welcomed the recent signatures and ratifications of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and called on all States party to the Covenant to ratify it as soon as possible.
It was deeply concerned that in many cases where capital punishment had not yet been abolished, it was often applied in flagrant breach of international standards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty.
The Union asked the governments of all States in which the death penalty had not yet been abolished to fulfil their obligations under the relevant provisions of international human rights instruments.