The Council of Europe endorsed an in-house report calling...

The Council of Europe endorsed an in-house report calling for the abolition of the death penalty in Japan and the United States, putting at risk their observer status in the 43-member organization dedicated to the promotion of democracy and human rights.
The Council's report said Japanese justice ministers decide the dates of executions arbitrarily and that there have been a growing number of death-row inmates executed in the 1990s. Japan is also criticized for its negligible domestic debate about scrapping the death penalty.
The draft also said some U.S. states including Texas, home of President George W. Bush, continue to execute a large number of people. The report was based on fact-finding activities by council inspectors in Japan and the U.S. in February and March.
The Council's Parliamentary Assembly approved by an overwhelming majority the report's recommendation of suspending the observer status for Japan and the U.S. if no improvement is made in the situation by January 2003. The Committee of Ministers, the organization's decision-making body, is expected to act on the issue when it meets in November.