EU Parliament to vote on initiative in favour of a universal moratorium on the death penalty

EU Parliament Members will vote tomorrow, Thursday 1 February, on a joint resolution on the initiative in favour of a universal moratorium on the death penalty.

The resolution is put forward by the EPP-ED, PES, ALDE, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL groups. The draft resolution to be voted on Thursday says that Parliament is deeply concerned by the fact that national laws still exist, or have been reintroduced, in dozens of countries around the world, providing for the death penalty and the execution of thousands of human beings each year. At the same time, the trend towards the worldwide abolition of the death penalty continues; the resolution welcomes, in this regard, the complete abolition of the death penalty in Liberia, Mexico, the Philippines and Moldova during the past years and the rejection by the Peruvian Congress of the draft law on the introduction into legislation of the death penalty for crimes of terrorism.

The draft resolution reiterates the Parliament's long-standing position against the death penalty in all cases and under all circumstances and expresses once more its conviction that the abolition of the death penalty contributes to the enhancement of human dignity and to the progressive development of human rights. The draft calls for a worldwide moratorium on executions to be established immediately and unconditionally through a relevant resolution of the current United Nations General Assembly, whose actual implementation the UN Secretary-General should be able to monitor. The resolution to be voted strongly supports the initiative of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and Government backed by the EU Council, the Commission and the Council of Europe. The resolution asks the EU Presidency to take appropriate action as a matter of urgency to ensure that such a resolution is urgently submitted to the current UN General Assembly. The resolution also asks the EU Presidency and the Commission to keep Parliament informed of the results achieved in the current UN General Assembly on a universal moratorium on the death penalty.

The draft resolution urges the EU institutions and the Member States to make every endeavour in the political and diplomatic spheres to ensure the success of this resolution within the current UN General Assembly. Finally, the draft strongly urges all EU Member States to ratify without delay the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), aiming at the complete abolition of the death penalty.

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• Death Penalty: EU Presidency Declaration on 400th execution in Texas (21/8/2007)
• Rwanda: EU Presidency Declaration concerning formal abolition of the death penalty (26/7/2007)
• EU Commission welcomes abolition of death penalty in Rwanda (26/7/2007)
• EU Presidency Declaration - Third World Congress against the Death Penalty, Paris, 1-3 February 2007 (31/1/2007)
• EU Presidency Statement - Abolition of Death Penalty (19/12/2006)
• EU Presidency Declaration on World Day against Death Penalty (10/10/2006)
• Celebration of World Day against the Death Penalty (10/10/2006)