Rwanda: EU Presidency Declaration concerning formal abolition of the death penalty

The Rwandan decision constitutes a fundamental advance in the promotion of human rights and a solid commitment to ensure justice and reconciliation in Rwanda 13 years after the genocide while rejecting violence in all its forms.

Members of the European Union consider that the abolition of capital punishment contributes to the enhancement of human dignity. The European Union reaffirms its objective of working towards universal abolition of the death penalty. It believes that abolition by Rwanda is an important step towards that aim and hopes that this decision will encourage other countries in the region to follow suit.

The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia align themselves with this declaration.


* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process

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• EU Presidency Statement - United Nations General Assembly: Reports of the ICTY and ICTR (15/10/2007)
• EU united against capital punishment  (9/10/2007)
• Death Penalty: EU Presidency Declaration on 400th execution in Texas (21/8/2007)
• EU Commission welcomes abolition of death penalty in Rwanda (26/7/2007)
• Launching the European Day against the Death Penalty (19/6/2007)
• Rwanda: 26 jeunes européens se rendent pour faire l'expérience de l'aide au Développement de la Commission européenne (17/4/2007)
• EU Parliament to vote on initiative in favour of a universal moratorium on the death penalty (31/1/2007)
• EU Presidency Declaration - Third World Congress against the Death Penalty, Paris, 1-3 February 2007 (31/1/2007)