GENEVA. CHR APPROVES RESOLUTION CALLING FOR MORATORIUM AND ABOLITION

the UN Commission on Human Rights has approved a resolution calling on states to abolish the death penalty and in the meantime to establish a moratorium on executions, for the eighth consecutive year.
The text, presented by Luxembourg on behalf of the EU, was approved by 26 votes in favour, 17 against and 10 abstentions.
“The Luxembourg Presidency of the European Union has continued to further the European initiative at the UN to abolish the death penalty,” HOC Secretary General Sergio D’Elia stated, noting that the co-sponsors increased to a new record high of 79 from the 76 co-sponsors that supported the text in 2004.
“We reiterate that the time is ripe for a similar text to be presented at the UN General Assembly. The statistics support our faith in success in that forum. The majority of UN member states have, to different extents, decided to renounce the death penalty: 81 are totally abolitionist; 12 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes; 1 is committed to abolishing the death penalty as a member of the Council of Europe and currently observing a moratorium on executions; 6 have a moratorium on executions in place and 31 are de facto abolitionist. The countries that retain the death penalty total 60.
“HOC remains fully committed to strenghtening the campaign for a moratorium on executions and the abolition of the death penalty. This campaign is increasingly coincidental with the battle for democracy. In fact of the 60 retentionist states, only a handful are democracies and these carried out 74 of the world total of executions in 2003. Over 5,000 executions took place in the other retentionist, and non-democratic, states.
“The effective success of the initiative for abolition through the UN now depends on the political will of the EU to obtain a similar success to that obtained at the CHR also at the GA” D’Elia affirmed.