On December 10, Britain ratified the Second Optional...

On December 10, Britain ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Peter Hain, Foreign Office Minister for Human Rights said: "It is fitting that on International Human Rights Day the UK is in a position to ratify the Protocol to the ICCPR which abolishes the death penalty. As part of our commitment to bring human rights higher up the agenda, the UK has already removed the death penalty from its statute books for all crimes. As a result we are now, along with our EU partners, actively encouraging States who retain the death sentence to abolish its use."