Oct 10, 2014

Death Penalty: Neither Useful, Nor Necessary


10th October 2014 is the Twelfth World Day against the Death Penalty, organised by the World Coalition against the Death Penalty, a network of more than 150 NGOs, bar associations, local authorities and unions that fight for the abolition of capital punishment. In 2007 the Council of Europe also declared 10th October the European Day against the Death Penalty, to highlight the European contribution to abolition efforts.

The Council of Europe and the EU, in reinforcing their "strong and absolute opposition to capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances, and their commitment to its worldwide abolition", called once again today on all UN Members to support the resolution on a moratorium on the use of death penalty, which will be put to a vote at the General Assembly in December 2014. Similarly, a coalition of twelve governments released a joint statement calling for a world that respects human dignity and hoping that dialogues will soon make of death penalty “a sentence of the past”.

According to Amnesty International, the death penalty is no longer applied in 140 states. Although capital punishment is still foreseen for some crimes by the laws of 58 countries, the majority of those do not apply the penalty; in 2013 only 22 states executed prisoners.

As an organization, UNPO strongly condemns the death penalty. Much as the philosopher Cesare Beccaria stated in 1764, we consider it “neither useful, nor necessary”. UNPO notes with great concern that several of its members live in countries that deploy capital punishment on a regular basis; in East Turkestan over 20 Uyghur people have been executed by the Chinese state in the last four months alone; in Iran the number of executions of Ahwazi and Iranian Kurds has considerably grown.

This year, the World Coalition draws particular attention to the situation of people with mental disabilities, who are still at risk of being executed in some countries, in violation of existing human rights standards.

UNPO adds its voice to the calls for state-sponsored killing, in rich countries and poor, to be abolished once and for all.

Photo courtesy of: mlhradio @flickr