In view of a resolution approved on 22 December 2003...

In view of a resolution approved on 22 December 2003 on the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Third Committee of the 58th General Assembly asked the country, with two ad hoc paragraphs, to re-impose a moratorium on executions and engage itself in completely abolishing the death penalty.
The two paragraphs, for which a separate vote was asked, were approved by 70 votes to 50.Hands Off Cain commented the decision: "Those who created doubts and said 'no' to a UN moratorium because, they said, it would have divided the General Assembly and thus risked loosing, should keep in mind for future reference the debate and vote taken at the General Assembly against the death penalty in the DRC.
It was a sensational vote considering the fact that the initiative had only been promoted by European states and that it is considered "impolite" to debate a question as controversial as the death penalty, an issue regarding many member states, in the context of a resolution aimed at only one of these.
The fact that only the DRC should pay the price for this vote is an injustice as it points the finger at only one country, which not by coincidence happens to be African and the weakest amongst African nations. Only recently has the country abandoned years of bloodshed and determined to take steps towards building a new future, even via the moratorium and the abolition of the death penalty.
President Kabila had given these assurances along these lines during a HOC mission in the country in the Summer of 2003.
The resolution shows, on the one hand, that Italy, Europe and certain NGOs prefer to impose themselves against the weak, on the other hand it shows that a universal moratorium would be a fight already won.
It should be clear that if the chance to have won the battle in 2003 was not taken up, it wasn't due to the lack of votes at the UN, but because Europe did not want to take on the fight in the first place."