On November 3, Ambassador Mahbubani, speaking at the...

On November 3, Ambassador Mahbubani, speaking at the Third Committee of the General Assembly (human rights) under item 116a (death penalty), said, "...the European Union has failed to explain why the issue of the death penalty is a human rights rather than criminal justice issue. The key question that abolitionists have to answer is this: Why should states, who retain the death penalty as part of their criminal justice system, be seen as violators of human rights?... If the committee decides to proceed (with examining the EU resolution on the death penalty), despite all these strong reactions, I hope that they will be ready for all consequences... One of my colleagues, a fellow Permanent Representative, told me: "Kishore, mark my words, if the EU proceeds with this resolution, there will be blood on the floor." He was speaking metaphorically, of course. But if any metaphorical blood is spilled on the floor, it will be because the EU has drawn the first knife. I hope they will think wisely before pulling out this knife."