UN Assembly backs call for death penalty moratorium
- Published on 19/12/2007
UN Headquarters
The global campaign against the death penalty secured a landmark victory when the United Nations General Assembly, sitting at the UN headquarters in New York, endorsed the call for a worldwide moratorium.
In a landslide result, on 18 December 2007, 104 UN member states including Australia - voted in favour of the ground-breaking resolution. Fifty-four countries voted against it, while there were 25 abstentions. We welcome this resolution as a clear recognition of the international trend towards worldwide abolition of the death penalty.
In all, 133 countries, from all regions of the world, have abolished the death penalty in law or practice and only 25 countries carried out executions last year. A total of 91 per cent of all known executions took place in just six countries: China, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan and the USA. Recorded executions worldwide fell by more than 25 per cent last year, with a drop from at least 2,148 in 2005 to at least 1,591 Although not legally binding, the UN moratorium on executions carries considerable moral and political weight. The resolution is a reminder of member states' commitment to work towards abolition of the death penalty. It is also an important tool to encourage retentionist countries to review their use of the death penalty.
We call on countries which still use the death penalty to establish an immediate moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolishing capital punishment. The UN Secretary-General will report to the General Assembly in October next year on states' implementation of the resolution.
"This landmark resolution is a major step towards ending this cruel and inhuman punishment and an important contribution to protecting human rights," says Yvonne Terlingen, Amnesty International's Head of Office at the UN. "The death penalty is inhuman, inherently arbitrary and innocent people are invariably executed."
Comments
Comments are submitted by members of the public and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Amnesty International Australia. If you find a comment objectionable please contact the web editor.
It would b e consistent with its endorsement of this resolution for the Australian Government to request Indonsia to have a moratorium on the death penalty with specific reference to the Bali bombers.
comment by:
Kay Bennetts
20/12/2007
11:59 AM
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