The European Union said the evidence from around the world shows that there is no evidence that the Death Penalty deters crime.
Advertisement
On the occasion of the release of this report, the FIDH and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, also published an interactive map indicating a few key facts and figures on the death penalty in Asia over the last 10 years.
He notes that seven decades ago, only 14 countries had abolished the death penalty.
“International law limits the application of the death penalty to the ‘most serious crimes.’ This means that it should only – if at all – be applied to the crime of intentional killing”, the Secretary-General said. The European Union and its Member States therefore encourage Tonga to follow other countries in the Pacific and remove the death penalty in its entirety from their legal system.
“I urge all States and individuals to join the United Nations as we continue to advocate for an end to the imposition of the death penalty”, he concluded.
Meanwhile, certain quarters of society stressed that the death sentence should be enacted to reduce crimes taking place in the country.
According to them, the death penalty does not have any proven significant deterrent effect, and allows judicial errors to become irreversible and fatal. “In a few parts of the world drug crimes are punished by execution and we are focusing on that this year to bring about the abolition of the death penalty”, Francis told the Times. Both Organisations are particularly alarmed when this involves the execution of minors, which is contrary to global law.
“In addition to not reducing crime, the death penalty for drug-related offences is applied in a discriminatory manner against those in the most vulnerable situations”, said Karim Lahidji, FIDH President.
The statement noted that the Death Penalty represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and violates the right to life universally affirmed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and reaffirmed in the worldwide Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“There is a misconception that the death penalty is good to fight crime”, he commented, adding that despite a general move away from capital punishment around the world, the number of execution cases in China, Iran, Saudia Arabia and Iraq had recently been on the increase.
Advertisement
This day was introduced in 2003 by the Worldwide Coalition against the death penalty, a group of nations and organizations including Canada, France, Italy, Mexico, Belgium, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the European Union.
