EUROPEAN UNION: EU SEEKS APPROVAL OF RENEWED RESOLUTION AGAINST DEATH PENALTY

the European Union (EU) and other countries compiled a UN resolution calling for a temporary suspension of the death penalty. The resolution was distributed to a number of member states. It will be submitted to the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly in the near future, and the committee and assembly are likely to approve it. The EU submitted a similar resolution last year which was accepted in a majority vote in the General Assembly. The proposed resolution reaffirms the resolution adopted last year, and welcomes suggestions in a report that U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recently presented to the assembly. The report noted that abolition of the death penalty was becoming a worldwide trend and called for a temporary suspension of executions, adding that even in cases where it was difficult to suspend the death penalty, countries should place tough restrictions on carrying it out. The proposed resolution calls for an examination of the state of the death penalty worldwide in two years time, and seeks talks on how to influence countries that maintain the death penalty at that time.