TRNS – UN Head Calls For Worldwide Abolition Of Death Penalty
By LUKE VARGAS
UNITED NATIONS (TRNS) – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has repeated his call for the global abolition of capital punishment at a meeting of activists gathered this week in Geneva.
In a statement read to a meeting of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty (ICDP), Ban described the death penalty as, “too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict on another, even when backed by legal process.”
The United Nations has held four General Assembly votes on a non-binding death penalty moratorium since 2007. Each vote has seen a gradual increase in the number of countries in favor of ending capital punishment. Ban Ki-moon said such progress “echoes in every region and across legal systems, traditions, customs and religious backgrounds.”
The latest proposed moratorium received a General Assembly vote in December 2012, with 111 countries backing the moratorium and 41 opposed. Among the notable parties voting against the motion were the United States, China, Japan, and India.
41 countries, including the United States, voted against the December 2012 U.N. resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.