Speaking at the UN Commission on Human Rights on item...

Speaking at the UN Commission on Human Rights on item 17, the promotion and protection of human rights, Federica Bigi said her country supported any initiatives which aimed at abolishing the death penalty or the application of a moratorium on capital punishment. The death penalty represented a negation of the fundamental freedoms of the individual - the right to life. No one would deny the right and obligations of a State to punish criminals, however, no crime could justify depriving an individual of his or her life. Such a decision was immoral and inhumane. Past experience had shown that the application of the death penalty did not prompt in the rate of criminality in a given country. The death penalty was therefore unacceptable.