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NGOs, Italy Seek Worldwide Ban
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NGOs, Italy Seek Worldwide Ban
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by Sabina Zaccaro
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ROME - In the 13 years since its birth in Italy, the global campaign to abolish the death penalty has convinced more than half the countries in the world of its cause.
For them, however, that is not enough. Their goal is a total worldwide ban on the practise.
To that end, they are pushing the European Union to back an Italian initiative at the United Nations current sessions for a resolution asking all countries to work towards a full, universal moratorium on executions.
To mark the World Day Against the Death Penalty, Oct. 10, European Commission Vice President Franco Frattini and Terry Davis, Council of Europe Secretary General, will hold a joint press conference Tuesday to praise the efforts of civil society for their support. They also are expected to announce their backing of an international conference against the death penalty to be held in February 2007 in Paris.
Furthermore, the European Parliament's Human Rights Commission, composed of 25 experts from each member state, will meet Tuesday to discuss the Italian initiative. A recommendation from the commission could help the EU reach agreement on whether to support Italy's effort.
"The issue is key to the whole EU Parliament," Luisa Morgantini, president of the parliament's development committee, told IPS. Last week Morgantini sent a letter addressed to high-ranking EU officials and to the foreign affairs ministries of all member states, stressing its support for Italy's initiative.
"The European Union could and should play a major role in promoting this initiative at the UN level," she said, quoting the letter signed by all the EU parliamentary committees. "We hope that the Council of Ministers will give due consideration to our views."
Riccardo Mosca, a spokesman for the European Commission's Justice, Freedom and Security issues, said that while the abolition of the death penalty is a priority for Brussels, it is not likely that the EU will support a moratorium resolution this session.
"At the EU level, there is no resolution draft," Mosca told IPS. He added, however, "The commission would like one day to have a resolution for a universal moratorium."
The news disappointed Elisabetta Zamparutti, a lawyer and coordinator of an annual report on the death penalty by Hands Off Cain, an abolition group. For the past nine years, anti-death penalty organisations like HOC have successfully lobbied the UN Commission on Human Rights to pass a moratorium resolution.
The last one, passed April 2005, states, in part: "The abolition of the death penalty contributes to the enhancement of human dignity and to the progressive development of human rights."
It further asked countries with capital punishment still on the books "to establish a moratorium on executions, with a view to completely abolishing the death penalty."
Earlier this year, at the request of the leftist party Rosa nel Pugno, Italy's government agreed to present a moratorium resolution proposal to the UN General Assembly. A motion to do so had unanimous support in Italy's parliament, achieving an extraordinary convergence of both the majority and the opposition parties.
"I think it is opportune to resume the Italian initiative to end the death penalty, which is a fixed point of our culture and our civilisation" Premier Roman Prodi told Parliament at the time.
It has been thwarted, however, because the government has not yet obtained approval from the other EU members. "Our aim is to present the moratorium together with the European Union, and then try to actively involve other countries not included in the Union," Gianni Vernetti, Olive Tree senator and foreign affairs undersecretary, told IPS.
"We have many go-aheads from our European partners, some still have a few uncertainties, but I trust we'll be able to keep to our commitment," Vernetti added.
Hands Off Cain, along with 53 groups which form the World Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, believe they have the consensus of parliaments from 92 countries that would co-sponsor such a moratorium resolution at the UN.
Figures released by HOC show that such a resolution would be approved by an overwhelming majority. The group reckons between 95 and 107 countries would vote in favour and between 61 and 68 would oppose it.
The government of Italy was the first to address the issue in 1997 by obtaining UN Commission on Human Rights (now Human Rights Council) approval of a resolution against the death penalty. Since 1999, a statement on the death penalty has been presented jointly with the European Union and has passed the commission every year.
Now, however, unity on the death penalty has begun to fade because some of the oldest EU members do not want to press the issue with influential countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran. Moreover, Poland's new prime minister has stated publicly that he wants to re-instate the death penalty as a means to deter spiralling crime in his country.
The European Commission's Mosca agreed that achieving consensus is a problem. "There are some politicians who have a political agenda that is veering away from the EU. That is no secret."
Belarus, though not an EU member, carried out two executions in 2005, after it had agreed to a moratorium. Though a halt is in place in Russia, that country still has not eliminated death penalty laws, as required for its membership in the Council of Europe.
Since the driving concept of European Union is unanimity, the unravelling of the unity surrounding the issue has become a challenge.
"Such a key and worldwide problem cannot be entrusted to the sole responsibility of European countries," said Zamparutti. "Since there are many countries joining the international campaign every year, it is necessary to avoid defining the issue as a European and Western one and try instead to create alliances with states representative of all continents," she said.
Mosca agreed that European countries cannot go it alone. "It is not within our competence to ask China or Thailand to stop. We don't have the power to ask the U.S. to stop."
Indeed, the biggest potential opposition within the world body is expected to come from two of the world's most frequent executioners -- prominent UN members China and the United States. Both countries are members of the Security Council. Zamparutti believes it is a hurdle, but not a barrier.
"U.S. and China have always rejected the proposal of a moratorium," Zamparutti told IPS, "but, to be honest, they have never pushed other countries on not voting for the resolution. They simply must vote against it because of their internal system."
Copyright © 2006 IPS-Inter Press Service
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