Ottawa 2000
Resolution on Death Penalty
As adopted by the Congress of Liberal International, Ottawa/Hull, Canada 26-28 October 2000
According to Amnesty International’s Annual Report approximately 1,800 people all over the world were executed last year. Executions were carried out in over 30 countries, mostly in China. In certain countries, like Iran, Saudi-Arabia and the United States the amount of death penalties put in action still increased from the year before.
In April 1999, the United Nations Human Rights Commission passed the Resolution Supporting Worldwide Moratorium On Executions. The resolution calls on countries which have not abolished the death penalty to restrict the use of the death penalty, including not imposing it on juvenile offenders and limiting the number of offences for which it can be imposed. Ten countries, including the United States, China, Pakistan, Rwanda and Sudan voted against the resolution. Also this year UNHCR passed a resolution on death penalty, it goes a little bit further than the resolution passed last year. The resolution calls upon all states that still maintain the death penalty to ‘progressively restrict the number of offences for which the death penalty may be imposed; to establish a moratorium on executions, with a view to completely abolishing the death penalty’; and ‘to make available to the public information with regard to the imposition of the death penalty.’
Also the European Parliament has several times passed and adopted resolutions on the death penalty, particularly death penalty in the United States. The abolition of capital punishment constitutes a fundamental step towards enhancing human dignity and ongoing developing of human rights and increasing respect for those rights. The European Parliament has reiterated its call for the abolition of capital punishment and the immediate imposition of a moratorium in countries where capital punishment still exists.
Presently, more than half of the countries in the international community have abolished the death penalty completely, de facto, or for ordinary crimes. Slowly the international community is moving towards a consensus of that the death penalty is incompatible with the respect for the inherent dignity of human life. For instance the number of countries carrying out executions of juvenile offenders is decreasing. However, over 90 countries retain the death penalty, including China, Iran, and the United States, all of which rank among the highest for international executions. Much work is still needed for the total abolition of the death penalty.
The situation in the United States deserves special attention. The death penalty is still in use in 38 of 50 American states, but encouraging enough a critical debate is emerging. In fact, it is the first time that death penalty is subject for a wide-ranging national debate during an on-going election campaign. New Hampshire is the first American state to abolish the death penalty after 1976. The total number of executions put in action in the United States since 1976 including this year (50 by June 2000) is 648 persons and the total number of death row inmates in the United States is 3.670 (April 2000). Since 1973, over 80 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence. However, the average time spent on death row before release is 7.5 years. Indeed, the European Court of Human Rights concluded in its judgement in the Soering case that death row as practiced in the United States constitutes inhuman treatment as defined by Article 3 of the European Human Rights Convention.
Liberal International and the appropriate bodies of LI should:
