On November 11, speaking at the Third Committee of...

On November 11, speaking at the Third Committee of the General Assembly (human rights) under item 116a (death penalty), Mexico's representative Luis Alfonso de Alba said all countries needed impartial support to carry out the task of ensuring human rights. With regard to the death penalty issue, he said it should be examined from the perspective not only of sovereignty but also from that of human rights, with a view to its abolition. He said many Mexicans had lost their lives to the penalty without due process over the border, a view supported by an opinion of the Inter-American Human Rights Court. Mexico would support the draft on the death penalty when it was introduced in the Committee. To arrive at a compromise between the cosponsors of the resolution for a moratorium presented by the EU at the 54th UN GA and the amendments presented by Egypt, Mexico proposed that the following paragraph be included in the preamble: "Recalling the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, in particular, Article 1, paragraph 3, which calls for promoting and encouraging respect for human rights, as well as Article 2, paragraph 7, which clearly stipulates that nothing in the Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any State." At a meeting of Foreign Ministers held in Brussels on November 15, the European Union decided not to accept this compromise and to postpone the debate on the resolution at the UN General Assembly.