Today, on the October 10, the World Day against the Death Penalty, EU HR for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton and Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe,have issued a statement.
The statement is urging all countries which retain the death penalty to immediately apply a moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition.
The EU and the Council of Europe urged Belarus, the only European country which still executes people, to introduce a moratorium with a view to complete abolition.
“Capital punishment is inhumane and unnecessary. Experience has also shown that it does not serve as a deterrent to crime. No legal system is flawless; any miscarriage of justice could lead to the tragic loss of an innocent life". Abolition of the death penalty throughout Europe, and beyond, is an objective common to all the EU member states.
"The European Union and the Council of Europe encourage all European States which have not yet abolished the death penalty de jure under all circumstances, to do so by ratifying the relevant protocols to the European Convention on Human Rights".
"On the other hand, we are concerned about the sharp increase in executions during the past twelve months in some of those countries which still apply and implement the death penalty".
The declaration urged all countries which retain the death penalty to immediately apply a moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition, concluding, "The Council of Europe and the European Union reaffirm their commitment to continue their persistent efforts to promote abolition in Europe and throughout the world”.
In a separate press release, the EU said it regularly reaffirmed its opposition to the death penalty and used the various diplomatic tools at its disposal - including statements, demarches and Human Rights Dialogues with its partners “in its recently adopted Strategic Framework and Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy, as well as under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR)” - to advance the cause of worldwide abolition.
The EU was active in multilateral fora such as the United Nations and was contributing to the adoption of the 67th United Nations General Assembly resolution on a moratorium on use of the death penalty, as well as the structure was “the first regional body to have adopted rules prohibiting trade in goods used for capital punishment (or torture and ill-treatment), as well as on the supply of technical assistance related to such goods”.
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