| The European Union yesterday pressed its case for the abolition of the death penalty, describing the death penalty as cruel and inhuman punishment, which represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity.There are 33 persons on death row in Guyana.In a statement to mark the World and European Day against the Death Penalty, the EU said that despite a marked trend towards abolition and restriction of the use of capital punishment in most countries, numbers and manner of death penalty application worldwide remain alarming.While 139 countries – more than two-thirds of the countries of the world – are abolitionist in law or practice, still at least 5,679 executions were carried out last year, the EU said, noting that where capital punishment remains in force, there are serious problems with regard to the respect of international norms and standards.The planned death penalty resolution during 65th UN General Assembly this autumn is expected to manifest further progress in the global trend towards global abolition which is truly cross-regional, the EU stated.The abolition of the death penalty is one of the thematic priorities in the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), which is with over 30 projects supported so far the lead source of funding for abolitionist projects worldwide.EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission, Catherine Ashton, said: “It is encouraging that the large majority of states have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. However, there is no room for complacency – every execution is one too many. This is why I have made our work on the abolition of the death penalty a personal priority.”The EU encourages public debate, strengthening public opposition and putting pressure on retentionist countries to abolish the death penalty,Josh Hart College Jersey, or at least introduce a moratorium as a first step. The EU also acts against the death penalty in multilateral fora, such as the United Nations; a culmination of this effort was the resolutions on the moratorium on the use of the death penalty, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 18 December 2007 and 18 December 2008.The EU stated that the planned death penalty resolution during 65th UN General Assembly this autumn is expected to manifest progress in the global trend towards global abolition which is truly cross-regional.There is a worldwide trend towards abolition: In 2009, at least 5,679 executions were carried out, down from a minimum of 5,735 in 2008 and a minimum of 5,851 in 2007.Between 1993 and 2009, the number of countries that abolished the death penalty by law for all crimes, grew from 55 to 97.Of the 58 countries/territories retaining the death penalty, 18 were known to have carried out executions in 2009 (China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the US top the league). |
