Council of Europe leaders welcomed the entry into force...

Council of Europe leaders welcomed the entry into force of Protocol No. 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights - outlawing the death penalty in all circumstances, including crimes committed in times of war and imminent threat of war. Parliamentary Assembly President Peter Schieder said the death penalty was the worst of all human rights violations. "Our ambition is to extend the de facto death-penalty-free zone of our 45 member states to the USA and Japan, who both enjoy observer status with the Council of Europe", said Mr Schieder. "We are concerned, because, as Martin Luther King said: 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly'", he added. "I welcome that the recent agreement between the USA and the EU on extradition allows for refusal in cases where the death penalty may be imposed," concluded Mr Schieder. Council of Europe Secretary General Walter Schwimmer said that the Council of Europe was the first international organisation to draw up a legal text banning the death penalty in peacetime. "Now we are the first to extend that to times of war, and I am delighted with the speed at which governments have signed up to the protocol. It is a sure sign of their belief in a civilised society which values above all the right to life. It is also another sign of the irreversible trend towards universal abolition," added Mr Schwimmer. Stressing that 1 July marked a milestone in the protection of human rights and dignity, the Secretary General urged member states that had not yet done so to ratify the protocol.