ITALY WILL FRONT THE CAMPAIGN FOR A UN MORATORIUM ON EXECUTIONS

Italy intends to front the campaign for a global moratorium on executions through a UN resolution following the defeat of the same proposal at the UN General Assembly in 1999, the Italian Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs Mario Baccini said at the launch of Hands Off Cain’s 2002 Report THE DEATH PENALTY SITUATION WORLDWIDE in Rome today.
“Where the death penalty is concerned there is always the risk of backtracking and therefore it is necessary to endeavour to affirm the moratorium principle everywhere,” Baccini said. “This is why Italy will re-propose the resolution at the UN and will work to have it out to the vote in 2003.”
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, in a message to Hands Off Cain, said the Italian government appreciates and supports the campaign against the death penalty, and wished activists the utmost success in “an initiative of such human and cultural significance.”
Hands Off Cain’s 2002 Report is a comprehensive overview of the worldwide situation as regards the practice, debate and legislation concerning the death penalty. It includes a country by country record of news gathered from independent sources concerning capital punishment.
The most important developments in 2001 and the first half of 2002 confirm the accelerated trend towards the abolition of the death penalty on course for the past ten years.
In 2001 the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia became totally abolitionist, Chile abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes, Ireland removed all references to the death penalty from its constitution, Burkina Faso joined the group of de facto abolitionists not having carried out any executions for more than ten years, and Lebanon has imposed a moratorium on executions.
On May 16, 2002, Mali adopted a bill suspending the death sentence for two years.
On May 19, 2002, East Timor became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century. Its Constitution bans the death penalty and life imprisonment.
To date the great majority of states members of the international community have renounced the death penalty. The total number of states that are abolitionist for all crimes is 77; for ordinary crimes: 14; de facto abolitionist (i.e. not having carried out executions in ten years): 28; committed to abolishing the death penalty or observing a moratorium as members of the Council of Europe: two.
Six states are observing a moratorium on executions, whereas 69 states still retain the death penalty.
Paradoxically, though the trend is towards abolition, the number of executions increases from one year to the next. In 2001 at least 4,700 executions were carried out in 34 countries. Of this total, 4,452 executions were carried out in Asia, 161 in Africa, 21 in Europe (Chechnya) and 66 in America (United States).
The 2002 Report THE DEATH PENALTY SITUATION WORLDWIDE is already available in Italian in bookshops in Italy. The English version of the 2002 Report will be out in July.