UN overwhelmingly backs call to suspend executions
Today the UN General Assembly endorsed the call for a worldwide moratorium on executions by an overwhelming majority.
The resolution enjoyed strong cross-regional support.
"This landmark resolution is a major step towards ending this cruel and inhuman punishment and is an important
contribution to protecting human rights," said Yvonne Terlingen, Amnesty International's Head of Office at the UN. "The
death penalty is inhuman, inherently arbitrary and innocent people are invariably executed."
This important resolution is further evidence of the world-wide trend towards abolition. It clearly demonstrates how
world opinion has moved further against the death penalty since the issue was last discussed by the General Assembly in
1999.
The resolution was adopted by 104 countries voting in favour, 54 against and 29 abstentions. This is an increase of five
votes in favour since the Third Committee of the General Assembly adopted the resolution in mid November.
"Amnesty International pays tribute to the leadership shown by 104 countries that supported the moratorium with a view
to abolishing the death penalty," said Terlingen.
Given the size of the majority vote, the resolution carries considerable moral and political weight.
Amnesty International calls on all states that still retain the death penalty to institute an immediate moratorium on
executions. "A moratorium should allow all sectors of civil society to participate in an informed debate and prompt
governments to review laws on capital punishment in accordance with the resolution's provisions," said Terlingen.
Background information On The Death Penalty
The General Assembly, sitting in plenary, endorsed today the text of a resolution that had adopted on 15 November 2007
by its Third Committee with 99 votes for, 52 against and 33 abstentions. This cross-regional initiative for a global
moratorium on executions was led by ten countries: Albania, Angola, Brazil, Croatia, Gabon, Mexico, New Zealand, the
Philippines, Portugal (for the EU) and Timor Leste. The General Assembly saw two unsuccessful attempts to address the
issue of the death penalty, in 1994 and 1999, but since then the number of countries that have abolished the death
penalty in law or practice has risen.
In 1971 and 1977 the General Assembly adopted two resolutions on capital punishment, saying that it was "desirable" for
states to abolish the death penalty. Today's resolution goes further, calling on states that still maintain the death
penalty "to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty". It urges these states "to
respect international standards that provide safeguards guaranteeing the protection of the rights of those facing the
death penalty" and "progressively restrict the use of the death penalty and reduce the number of offences for which it
may be imposed." The resolution also requests the UN Secretary-General to report to the UN General Assembly in 2008 on
the implementation of the resolution.
So far, 133 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Only 25 countries actually carried out
executions in 2006. In 2006, 91 percent of all known executions took place in China, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan and the
USA. Amnesty International recently uncovered evidence that at least seven prisoners were executed in Nigeria, despite
repeated assurances from the government that no executions had taken place in recent years. Amnesty International's
statistics also show an overall decline in the number of executions in 2006 -- a recorded 1,591 executions, compared to
2,148 in 2005. Countries that abolished the death penalty in recent years are Rwanda in 2007, The Philippines in 2006
and this week the US state of New Jersey abolished the death penalty. In 1977 just 16 countries had abolished the death
penalty for all crimes, now, the figure has risen to 90. By November 2007, 133 countries had abolished the death penalty
in law or in practice.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, without exception. The death penalty is the ultimate
denial of human rights -- the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state in the name of
justice. It violates the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is the ultimate
cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
ENDS