A firm and unanimous “no”

At least in its campaign against the death sentence the European Union shows no signs of backtracking or defections. The summit of Foreign Ministers of the 27, held in Luxembourg on 18 June, in fact gave rise to a unanimous agreement to take a resolution for a universal moratorium on capital punishment to the General Assembly of the United Nations in the early autumn. This is a strategic passage to achieving – in the not too distant future, it is hoped – the final abolition of what the EU and the Council of Europe consider a “barbaric practice”. APPOINTMENT AT UN HEADQUARTERS. The rejection of the death sentence may be considered a question of identity for the European Community. And the heads of the chanceries of the member states of the European Union have moved in this direction. Italian Foreign Minister MASSIMO D’ALEMA , to whom was assigned the direction of the enterprise, said he was “satisfied” by the decision taken, although he had hoped to the last minute to be able to take the resolution to the UN General Assembly now in progress in New York. The proposed moratorium, on the other hand, “will be presented in September” and will also be able to count “on the co-sponsorization of at least another 35 states in various parts of the world”. D’Alema, speaking in Luxembourg, added: “It’s a major initiative”, but to become a reality it needs to obtain 96 votes in the UN in New York; “we are however persuaded that in the end we will get the vote of the majority of the member countries of the UNO”. A similar initiative, presented to the UN in December 2006, obtained 93 signatories. Since then interventions and appeals to put an end to hangings, electrocutions, shootings, and lethal injections have multiplied. There are 54 countries that still use capital punishment; a further 42 nations still have it on their statute books, but do not apply it at the present time. “LIFE, INALIENABLE RIGHT”. “In the European Union respect for human rights is firmly rooted in the values that it embodies. The death sentence is contrary to the fundamental principles of the EU and the renunciation to have recourse to it is an essential prerequisite for the countries that apply to join it”, says HANS-GERT POETTERING , President of the European Parliament, commenting with unambiguous words on the EU initiative. “The European Parliament – he explains to SIR – reiterates its radical opposition to the death sentence and has long fought for the abolition of capital punishment with international campaigns to raise awareness and resolutions of condemnation”. On several occasions the EP in Strasbourg has recurred to the question: in 2007 alone two resolutions to this end were voted on, the first in late January, the second in April. In its June session in Strasbourg the go ahead was given to the creation of a “European Day against the death sentence”, to be held each year on 10 October. To follow up this decision, an international conference was convened on the initiative of the EU and with the contribution of the Council of Europe; it will be held in Lisbon on 9 October. Poettering adds: “It’s true that the tendency towards the abolition of the death sentence is continuing at the world level, but in Parliament we are deeply concerned by the fact that national legislations still exist, or have been re-introduced, in scores of countries in the world that make provision for capital punishment and involve the execution each year of thousands of human beings”. Poettering concludes. “Life is an inalienable right and a fundamental value of the EU. The abolition of the death sentence will contribute to the reinforcement of human dignity and the progressive development of human rights”, in Europe and in the world. NO ADVANTAGE FOR JUSTICE. RENÉ VAN DER LINDEN , President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, declares his “convinced support” for the decision taken by EU Foreign Ministers. The Council of Europe, with its 47 member states, “has made the abolition of the death sentence an essential condition for membership”. The countries that still apply it “are ever more isolated in the international community – says the Dutch politician in a briefing to SIR -. The USA, China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and Sudan alone account for 90% of executions in the world”, while “Europe, with the exception of Belarus, has abandoned this barbaric practice”. According to Van der Linden the reduction of executions in 2005 and 2006 (-25% in the world) “could be the result of a reinforced awareness” that the suppression of a condemned man “has no dissuasive effect on criminality”. ABACUS NEEDED. For his part FRANCO FRATTINI , EU Commissioner for justice, is preparing for the Lisbon Conference which, he explains, “not by chance is being held on 9 October, bang middle in the UN Assembly session”. But Frattini warns: “What we need now is an abacus: we need to carefully tally how many countries there are that pledge to sign up to and confirm the EU resolution, if we are not to run the risk of failing to reach the majority” at the time of the vote in the General Assembly.