DAY AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY

Europe will intensify its efforts to abolish capital punishment throughout the world by establishing an annual European Day against the death penalty on October 10, European Union officials said. The joint declaration from the EU and the Council of Europe will formalise European support for the World Day against the Death Penalty on the same day. "We Europeans are the number one advocate against the death penalty and for its universal abolition," EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement. "And we will not rest until the death penalty becomes history in every country of the world." Since 1994, the EU has allocated more than €11m toward public awareness campaigns, studies on death penalty systems and legal aid for death row inmates. EU foreign affairs ministers agreed on Monday to introduce an anti-death penalty resolution at the 62nd United Nations General Assembly in September 2008.
The declaration establishing a European Day against the Death Penalty is scheduled to be signed by the presidents of the EU and the Council of Europe on October 9 in Lisbon, Portugal.