UN PLANS TO RESUME CAPITAL PUNISHMENT DEBATE

the contentious debate on the death penalty, which split the 192-member UN General Assembly last December, is refusing to die. A group of 58 countries, strongly supportive of capital punishment, wrote to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "placing on record that they are in persistent objection to any attempt to impose a moratorium on the use of the death penalty or its abolition."
Any attempts to place either a moratorium or abolish capital punishment are in violation of existing stipulations under international law, according to their written submission, described in UN jargon as a "note verbale," to the secretary-general.
The list includes virtually all of the members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), along with the Bahamas, China, North Korea, Japan, Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Uganda, Singapore, and Zimbabwe.
At least four countries, Belize, Chad, India, and the United States, which voted against the resolution in December, did not sign the note verbale for unknown reasons.