HOC GENERAL ASSEMBLY SETS TARGETS FOR MORATORIUM CAMPAIGN

the members unanimously approved a motion expressing the conviction that a moratorium on executions is the best way to give voice, hope and human dignity to all death row inmates, not just those in the US but also the people on death rows in China, Iran, the Palestinian territory, Cuba, and in other authoritarian and dictatorial countries.
The resolution considers that the final solution to the death penalty issue is closely linked to the struggle for democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and in view of this supports the initiatives undertaken by the Transnational Radical Party for a World Community of Democracies, of which the HOC Assembly voted to become a founding member.
The Assembly also established that the current political and judicial situation is radically different from the prevalent situation in 1994, when the Italian government presented the moratorium resolution for the first time at the UNGA. There are now 127, of a total of 191 UN member states, that are abolitionist to different extents and only 64 retentionists. The co-sponsors of the death penalty resolution at the UNGA and the UNCHR between 1997 and 2003 now total 89 countries. At the UNCHR this year, 75 countries adhered, a record number of co-sponsors for one session.
Considering all of the above, the Assembly gave mandate to the leadership of HOC to meet with European Union governments, starting with the incoming term president, Italy, and possibly before July 2, when it presents the presidency’s programme. HOC will ask the Italian government to include the presentation of the moratorium resolution at the forthcoming UNGA in its programme, and to consider the lobby plan in support of the approval of such a resolution prepared by HOC.
The Assembly directed the leadership to promote, in view of the upcoming UNGA, awareness of the death penalty issue and the moratorium resolution among international public opinion. This will be done in continued collaboration with Oliviero Toscani, Nexta Media and the National Italian Singers’ Football Association, and also with all others who want to co-operate with and support HOC in its campaign for a historic result in the battle for human rights: a global moratorium on executions.