HOC REITERATES THE NEED FOR A MORATORIUM NOW AT NOBEL SUMMIT

The last day of the summit, Sunday, included “The World Against the Death Penalty” a special session on the death penalty, in which the St. Egidio Community, Amnesty International, the Soka Gakkai Buddhist Institute and Hands Off Cain participated. “The UN moratorium is essential and serves above all to give a voice, hope and dignity – the dignity of death row inmates- to the forgotten, unnamed and unknown people in death rows in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and other illiberal countries where abolitionist associations do not even get access for their public mobilisations.”
“We are now in a situation where 97.5% of the executions carried out worldwide – over 4,000 annually – take place in countries run by authoritarian governments, whereas people’s energies, resources and mobilisations are at ‘97.5%’ aimed at executions carried out in democratic countries like the United States and Japan, where annual executions number less than a 100, that would equal 2.5% of the world total,” D’Elia said.
“The real scandal at this point are not the 3,138 executions in China in 2002 – that we have already put on account- the real scandal is that abolitionist Europe refuses to take to the UN a proposal for at least a moratorium on capital executions.” On taking on the term presidency of the European Union, the Italian government had announced such an initiative, but then “it hid behind an alleged EU veto.”
“The truth is that we are faced with the same lack of political will that led Europe to present and then withdraw the moratorium resolution at the General Assembly in 1999 so as not to offend the world most powerful country and the world’s biggest potential market.”
Replying to the position expressed by the representative of Amnesty International, contrary to a pro-moratorium resolution at the UN General Assembly because of the risk of failure, D’Elia said: “We had all the necessary votes to win at the General Assembly already in 1999, and more so today as the worldwide situation with regard to the death penalty has been getting better abolition-wise, with 3 to 4 legal or de facto abolitions every year since then.”
Stefania Tallei and Mario Marazziti of the St Egidio Community - that is promoting the “Cities for Life-Cities Against the Death Penalty” annually on November 30, a day on which cities worldwide light up important monuments against capital punishment - said they are in favour of a pro-moratorium resolution being presented at the General Assembly, in times and using methods to be established.