CROATIA. ROUND TABLE FOR RELAUNCH OF UN MORATORIUM

European states must work towards United Nations approval of an anti death penalty resolution.
This was the message that emerged from round table discussions organised in Zagreb by the human rights department of the Croatian government by request of Hands Off Cain and the Transnational Radical Party. Participants at the event included MEP Emma Bonino, national and international experts, NGO representatives and diplomatic representatives in Croatia. Head of Human Rights for the Croatian government, Luka Maderic, stated that the country feels itself called to promote debate on the death penalty.
Croatia abolished the death penalty following independence, despite the fact it was fighting a war which witnessed some of the worst human rights violations of our times.
Emma Bonino said that since 1994 Italy has been campaigning for a UN backed universal moratorium on executions. Since then there has been a drastic reduction in the number of states which retain the penalty, down to 60 from 97.
Elisabetta Zamparutti, editor of Hands Off Cain's  reports - The death penalty Wordwide, illstrated the project for a moratorium on executions and the abolition of the death penalty in the African continent which will play a pivetal role in view of the presentation of a pro moratorium resolution at the UN General Assembly.
Marina Szikora, representing the Transnational Radical Party, reiterated her party's commitment and that of Hands Off Cain to gain support for an anti death penalty resolution at the forthcomming UN Commission on Human Rights.