HOC INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR A MORATORIUM ON EXECUTIONS ENDS

The conference – organised by Hands Off Cain under the auspices of the European Union – concluded with the approval of a resolution that commits the association to re-launch the campaign for the presentation of a pro-moratorium resolution at the UN General Assembly.The conference resolution calls for initiatives aimed mainly at the institutions of the European Union (Parliament, Council and Commission) and its member states. The initiatives would begin with Ireland and The Netherlands, that are respectively the EU’s term presidents for the first and second semesters of 2004 and would include missions to European capitals.
The Rome Conference focused on HOC’s proposed campaign for a moratorium with a view to abolition in Africa, that was enthusiastically received by all participants in particular representatives of African states.
HOC Secretary Sergio D’Elia and Treasurer Elisabetta Zamparutti were entrusted with the assessment of the political and financial feasibility of this project.
In the meantime, HOC’s executives and the participants of the Rome conference agreed to work towards the presentation of a moratorium proposal in institutional forums, beginning with the next scheduled meetings in Africa of the ACP – EU Parliamentary Assembly.
The Board of Directors also pledged to support campaigns of the Transnational Radical Party (led by conference participants Marco Pannella MEP and Emma Bonino MEP) “For a World Organization of Democracies and Democracy” and for the ratification of the statute of the International Criminal Court.
The conference also discussed HOC’s campaign for a worldwide moratorium through a UN General Assembly resolution, that HOC believes would be approved by 95-102 votes in favour, 21-31 abstentions and 60-65 votes against. An amendment affirming “domestic jurisdiction” - that may be proposed by retentionist countries - would be rejected with 96 votes against, 77 in favour, and 14 abstentions, according to HOC forecasts. 4 additional countries appear undecided between a vote against the amendment or an abstention.
“This is a battle that can be won,” D’Elia emphasised. “It can only be defeated by the EU’s renunciation of it.
“Europe proclaims its defence of human rights, but does not always act consequently. However we shall continue to keep working towards the presentation of a pro-moratorium resolution at the UNGA by the EU.”
The Rome Conference was attended by government and parliament representatives from African countries in which the democratisation process underway has brought about or signalled significant steps towards the abolition of the death penalty.
Leonard She Okitundu, roving Ambassador for the DRC, Kenya’s Deputy Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Robinson Njeru Githae, Mali’s Demba Traore MP and Member of the Justice Commission, Ghana’s Deputy Minister for Justice Gloria Akuffo, Senegal’s Minister for Human Rights Mame Bassine Niang, Nigerian MPs Abdul Oroh and Jumoke Okoya Thomas, Zambian MP Norman Kapungwe Chibamba, and Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to the UN in New York Allieu I. Kanu all expressed their country’s commitment to the worldwide moratorium on executions.
Oliviero Toscani, author of the controversial “We, on death row” campaign featuring pictures of US death row inmates and HOC Board Member, declared himself willing to undertake a similar project on African death rows.
“Photography is the historical memory of humanity,” Toscani said, “I believe it’s a good way to help those who are nameless, voiceless and faceless. If justice is done covertly it is never justice.”
The death penalty, as repeatedly emphasised by delegates, was alien to African culture prior to colonisation and only a small percentage of the worldwide total of executions are carried out there. On the other hand, China - where the number of executions is a state secret – and Iran accounted for 85% of executions worldwide in 2002. Grave human rights violations in these two countries were denounced at the Rome Conference by Erping Zhang, international spokesperson for the spiritual movement Falun Gong and Mehrafrouz Peykarnegar and Ali Ghaderi, representatives of the Iranian resistance in exile.