On Dec. 18, 2007, the approval of a resolution for a moratorium on executions by the United Nations General Assembly was hailed as a milestone in the struggle to abolish the death penalty worldwide. It is true that the United Nations may not impose the abolition of the death penalty, but the moral and political value of the resolution is undeniable.

Since the founding of the abolitionist organisation Hands Off Cain in 1993, 56 of the 97 retentionist States that were members of the U.N. at that time have abandoned the practice of the death penalty. Fifteen of them have done so since 2006, the year following the re-launching of the initiative at the U.N. General Assembly. Three more countries (Palau, East-Timor and Tuvalu) that became members of the U.N. after 1993 are also abolitionist.

On the eve of the fourth U.N. General Assembly vote on the death penalty resolution, expected later this year, it is important to review the current situation.

There are 154 countries and territories that, to varying degrees, have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these: 100 are totally abolitionist, seven are abolitionist for ordinary crimes, five have a moratorium on executions in place and 42 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. countries that have not carried out any executions for at least 10 years or countries that have binding obligations not to use the death penalty). On the other hand, there are 44 retentionist countries.

There were 19 countries that carried out executions in 2011, compared to 27 countries in 2006.

In 2011 there were at least 5,000 executions, compared to at least 5,946 in 2010, at least 5,741 in 2009, at least 5,735 in 2008 and at least 5,851 in 2007. A major turnabout came after the introduction in China of a legal reform on Jan. 1, 2007, which requires every capital sentence handed down to be reviewed by the Supreme Court. According to the U.S.-based Dui Hua Foundation’s estimates, executions in China have dropped 50 percent since 2007 (to around 4,000 per year).

However, the most significant facts concerning abolition came from Africa, home to the largest number of de facto abolitionist countries and where abolition had the same rhythm as the U.S. Since 2007, Connecticut, Illinois, New Mexico and New Jersey abolished the death penalty, while the governor of Oregon declared a moratorium on all executions last year.

In Africa, Rwanda, Burundi, Gabon, Togo and Benin completely eliminated the death penalty. In the first two countries in particular – being lands where the endless cycle of vengeance and the eternal drama of Cain and Abel has been played out most truly and tragically – abolition took on an extraordinary symbolic, as well as legal and political, value.

Africa remains the primary target-continent of the lobbying for additional support to the new Resolution on a moratorium on executions at the U.N. General Assembly 2012 because we continue to register the most significant political and legislative steps towards abolition.

During the last mission carried out by Hands Off Cain in the Central African Republic from Oct. 24-27, our arrival was greeted with news of the approval, by the Council of Ministers, of a bill for the abolition of the death penalty from the penal code. When minister of Justice Jacques M’Bosso met the delegation, he expressed the will of his country to become one of the protagonists of the abolitionist process.

Prime Minister Faustin-Archange Touadera himself assured us that the Central African Republic would vote in favor of the resolution on the Universal Moratorium that will be presented next month at the U.N. He expressed the political will to implement all legal means available to remove the death penalty, which has not been applied in the country for over 30 years, thus confirming the commitments undertaken by his government before the U.N. Human Rights Council for the ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

These openings must, however, correspond to a commitment by the international community to improve prison conditions. While in the capital Bangui, the delegation visited the female prison of Bangui-Bimbo and the male prison of Ngaragba.

The former was a small institution that housed 31 women and three girls in three separate dormitories. Two-thirds of these women are awaiting trial and many have been accused of witchcraft.

The male prison houses 328 men, two-thirds of whom are awaiting trial. The structure is divided into blocks depending on the prisoner’s security risk and type of crime. Each block has a different name: the White Room, reserved for political prisoners today, is a maximum security facility; Couloir is reserved for those caught practicing sorcery; Iraq for violent crimes; Golo-Waka for theft and consumption of cannabis, and DDP’for crimes against the public administration.

The institute is in very poor condition: the vast majority of detainees sleep directly on the floor in conditions that barely meet the minimum hygiene standards and where the food is prepared and distributed in unsanitary conditions. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

Elisabetta Zamparutti is deputy in Italian parliament and treasurer of Hands Off Cain.

By Elisabetta Zamparutti and - -
ROME, Mar 15 2010 (IPS)

The latest report of Hands Off Cain (1) documents no fewer than 346 executions in Iran in 2008, a figure far exceeded by the total for 2009. Iran’s theocratic regime is second only to China in its implementation of the death penalty.

However, the real numbers might even be even higher, given that Iranian authorities do not release official statistics for executions. The figures available are culled from local newspapers by humanitarian organisations, which have no complete source of information on the practice.

According to Iranian lawyer Mohammed Mostafei, the real number of executions is much higher than those given by humanitarian organisations. Mostafei provides legal defense for many charged with capital offenses, particularly 25 prisoners condemned to death for crimes committed when they were minors. “In my calculations, in 2008 there were over 400 executions, and perhaps as many as five or even six hundred,” says Mostafei, who was arrested and taken to an undisclosed location on June 26, 2009, for having taken part in the mass demonstrations that swept the country in response to the fraudulent elections of last June 12, when President Ahmadinejad was officially proclaimed the victor.

The execution of people who were minors when they committed their crimes is a clear violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Iran signed and ratified and yet continues to violate.

The method of execution preferred by Islamic law is hanging. though recent years have seen cases of stoning and even throwing the condemned off a cliff.

Repression of members of religious and ethnic minorities has also continued, especially against the Azeris, Kurds, and Baluch, as has the imposition of capital punishment for what are essentially political motives and for non-violent offenses.

Two men, Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani, 37, and Arash Rahmani Pour, 20, were hanged on January 28 for allegedly being militants in the pro-monarchy organisation Tondar. It would seem that this is the first execution for participation in protests against the fraudulent re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, though 13 other people have been charged with the same offense and sentenced to death.

In addition to the death penalty, Iranian Islamic law sanctions various forms of torture, the mutilation of limbs, whipping, among other cruel, inhuman, and degrading practices. Nor are these restricted to isolated cases; they are cited by thousands and thousands of young people each year who are whipped for drinking alcohol or attending parties where men and women are both present. The regime is particularly severe with women whom it considers to be insufficiently covered in the street or other public places.

When in 2007 the UN General Assembly approved its historic resolution in favour of a universal moratorium on executions, Iran was the only country that categorically refused to consider the proposal. The government of Teheran instead opted for a categoric opposition to international law and human rights conventions.

The significance of this intransigent attitude is most easily understood in relation to the continuing development of Iran’s nuclear programme. However, it is necessary to consider the fact that if the government of Iran today represents a threat to international security on the nuclear front, this is because it has been allowed for too long to be a threat to the security of its own citizens. In this context, European policy and its search for a “constructive dialogue” with Teheran has resulted in the omission of demands that Iranian authorities respect human rights; its responsibility for the current situation must therefore be acknowledged.

It is equally grave that Italy continues to consider Iran a valid interlocutor in the search for a solution to the problems of the Middle East; instead, it should be recognised as part of the problem. It is precisely the respect for fundamental human rights that the current theocratic system simply cannot allow, because this would plunge it into crisis. Europe and the West must revise their policy towards Iran regarding this contradiction and reorient it towards the necessity of respecting human rights. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

(1) Hands Off Cain is an international organisation against the death penalty.

(*) Elisabetta Zamparutti is deputy in Italian parliament and treasurer of Hands Off Cain.

Excerpt:

By Elisabetta Zamparutti and - -
ROME, Aug 4 2009 (IPS)

Movement towards the global abolition of the death penalty and the reduction in the number of executions over the last decade were confirmed in the last report of Hands Off Cain. Moreover, in China, which accounts for more than 80 percent of the world’s executions, this reduction was accompanied by another promising development: the vice president of the Chinese Supreme Court, Zhang Jun, announced in a statement on June 29 that the country would gradually slow the implementation of capital punishment to the point that there is “a very limited number of executions”.

It is estimated that in the last two years Chinese courts have handed down 30 percent fewer death sentences, while the Supreme Court has annulled 15 percent of the death sentences it reviewed. The additional reduction announced by the Supreme Court would reinforce the downward trend, and even though it would not indicate a policy shift towards an immediate suspension of the death penalty or radical democratic reforms, it is a very significant development in terms of human lives, given the thousands of executions that China carries out each year.

Now this process must be supported and accelerated such that China can move in the direction of the universal moratorium on executions approved by the United Nations, in the wider context of the definitive abolition of the death penalty worldwide.

For the abolitionist organisation Hands Off Cain, the primary goal is to eliminate the keeping of “state secrets” regarding the death penalty, a practice still found in China as well as many other countries, nearly all authoritarian.

Experience has taught us that the lack of public information on the actual implementation of the death penalty is one of the concrete causes of the elevated number of executions. Because of this we are calling on the secretary general of the UN to name a Special Envoy charged with observing the implementation of the death penalty in countries with capital punishment and demanding greater transparency in its administration.

The Hands Off Cain report, which covers 2008 and the first six months of 2009, shows that the number of countries or territories that have abolished the death penalty in law or practice has risen to 151, of which 96 are absolutely abolitionist. There are now 42 de facto abolitionist countries, which have either not had an execution in at least ten years or are internationally committed to abolition. As for countries that still have the death penalty, the number drops every year, from 54 in 2005, 51 in 2006, 49 in 2007, and 46 in 2008. It is estimated that the number of total executions worldwide has fallen from 5851 in 2007 to 5727 for last year.

In this context, Asia is once again the continent where nearly all of the world’s executions take place: at least 5666 in 2008, or 98.9 percent of the total -down slightly from 5782 in 2007. In contrast to these frightening figures, there were 38 executions in the Americas (37 in the US and one in St. Kitts), 19 in Africa, and four in Europe, all in Byelarus, which remains the only death penalty country on the Old Continent. The three countries that lead the world in executions are China, ahead by far, followed by Iran and Saudi Arabia -all three ruled by authoritarian regimes.

China’s record is staggering. Hands Off Cain estimates that there were at least 5000 executions in China last year, a number close to that for 2007 though slightly lower than in previous years. According to the Dui Hua Foundation, which also specialises in monitoring this issue, the true number of executions for 2008 was well above 5000 and may have neared 7000. However, there is no way of verifying these figures because information on the death penalty is a state secret in China.

Nonetheless, it is known that there has been a significant drop in the number of executions in China since January 1, 2007, when the judicial reform went into effect requiring Supreme Court review of all death sentences handed down by lower courts; 15 percent of capital sentences reviewed in 2008 and the first semester of 2009 were overturned, though the exact number is not known.

Despite this initial sign of an apparently legalist trend regarding China’s death penalty, the maximum sentence continues to be imposed for both violent and non-violent crimes, while Chinese lawyers denounce the fact that they are denied access to their clients and that many confessions are obtained by force.

Another criticism is that the death sentences of government bureaucrats who steal massive quantities of money from the state are frequently suspended while normal citizens who steal far smaller amounts have their sentences carried out and die by lethal injection or a bullet to the head. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

(*) Elisabetta Zamparutti is a deputy in the Italian parliament, a leader of the Radical Party, and editor of the annual report on the Death Penalty in the World for Hands Off Cain.

Excerpt:

By Sabina Zaccaro and Elisabetta Zamparutti
ROME, Oct 9 2008 (IPS)

The call for a universal moratorium on executions made by the U.N. General Assembly last year is a landmark. But the ultimate goal of worldwide death penalty abolition could be delayed unless the new General Assembly goes further.

In order to strengthen the resolution politically, "some other urgent steps are needed, and they can be taken now by the General Assembly meeting in New York," says Elisabetta Zamparutti, Italian MP and editor of the annual report on the death penalty by the Rome-based abolitionist organisation Hands Off Cain.

On the eve of the World Day Against the Death Penalty (Oct. 10), Zamparutti told IPS that while the 2007 U.N. resolution has produced numerous positive developments around the globe, "the real work begins now and, if we don't want to dissipate this success, the current New York meeting has to be substantial rather than merely a formal process."

IPS: The U.N. General Assembly is going to return to the death penalty issue. After its moratorium approval, what do you expect from this year's discussion? Elisabetta Zamparutti (EZ): As explicitly stated in the declaration approved last year, the resolution is part of the agenda of the current General Assembly, which is asked to simply reiterate its support for the moratorium. This has to be done annually.

The discussion could be a simple procedural process, confirming the 2007 resolution's contents. Or it could be a debate of substance, even strengthening those contents; this is what we are hoping for.

IPS: How could this happen, concretely? EZ: In two ways. What we are requesting is that this year's resolution includes the elimination of state secrecy surrounding the death penalty. This means that countries must provide the U.N. Secretary-General with all information concerning their death sentences and executions.

We are persuaded that the lack of information available to the public is one of the causes for an increase in the number of executions in some countries. The annual global report released by Hands Off Cain, covering the death penalty situation in 2007 and the first half of 2008, says that 39 out of 49 pro-death penalty countries have dictatorial, authoritarian or repressive regimes. Twenty-one of these are responsible for 99 percent of all executions worldwide in 2007.

Of course, if retentionist states are required to provide information about all those condemned and executed, they would naturally reduce the number of death sentences because they would respond not only to their own people but to international public opinion.

This is something the General Assembly could ask to be included in this year's resolution.

Our second key request is for the appointment of a special envoy to the Secretary-General. This special envoy should have the responsibility of not just monitoring the global death penalty situation but also helping individual countries realise the U.N. call for a moratorium. The envoy would see countries maintain a high degree of transparency about their capital punishment systems.

A very pragmatic role, then, that would help retentionist countries deal with their problems moving towards democracy and the respect for political and civil liberties, not just the abolition of the death penalty.

IPS: Does the Italian government support your requests? EZ: The U.N. Secretary-General has openly recognised the prominent role played by Italy in the abolitionist process. We are now waiting to see if the current government (centre-right government elected in April) wants to continue with this commitment.

The chamber of deputies recently approved a draft law ratifying protocol 13 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Liberties. This concerns the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances. The draft law will now go to the Senate.

The ratification of the protocol was perfectly consistent with the Italian judicial ruling removing the death penalty for military crimes. After Italy's commitment to the U.N. resolution for the universal moratorium, our country now has the moral and political responsibility to strengthen and realise the contents of this resolution.

We have also asked the Italian government to support our requests to the U.N., and we hope to see a concrete reaction to this.

IPS: One condition of last year's resolution was that the U.N. Secretary-General reports annually on the death penalty to the General Assembly. His recent report shows positive worldwide progress after the resolution's approval. What is your view on that? EZ: Hands Off Cain has positively welcomed the report. It essentially confirms that the moratorium has accelerated the abolitionist process.

The U.N. findings substantiate how the adoption of a moratorium is a key step towards the definitive legal abolition of state executions. The U.N. essentially confirms the global trend towards the abolition of capital punishment stated in our 2008 report.

We had pointed out that while the resolution is not binding and the General Assembly in fact cannot impose a moratorium on its member states, the number of countries that have adopted a moratorium is actually growing. And the Secretary-General's report confirms this positive development.

IPS: After the resolution, is the climate of the World Day Against the Death Penalty in some ways different this year? EZ: The World Day celebration is a chance for us to determine what has changed in one year, and what still has to be done. Yes, this year we feel we have a bigger responsibility because the approval of the moratorium on executions has not ended the struggle. We feel like we have signed a contract with the U.N., and we now have to apply its terms. And this is the hardest part of the job.

Excerpt:

By Elisabetta Zamparutti and - -
ROME, Jul 22 2008 (IPS)

The 2008 world report on the death penalty from Hands Off Cain confirms that there has been positive movement in the fight to end capital punishment for more than a decade, and highlights the most striking advance yet: the universal moratorium against capital punishment approved by the UN last December, writes Elisabetta Zamparutti, a leader in the Radical Party who prepared the annual report on the Death Penalty in the World for Hands Off Cain. She was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies in 2008 In this analysis, the author writes that there is one manner in which the resolution could be significantly strengthened: the elimination of the secrecy surrounding the death penalty. Many countries, mostly authoritarian, do not provide official figures on executions, and the general public\’s lack of information is a direct cause of their escalation. Accordingly, a provision should be immediately introduced into the resolution requesting that death-penalty states release to the UN and the general public all information regarding the implementation of capital punishment and executions. On closer examination, it becomes clear that in death penalty countries, the problem goes beyond the specific practice of capital punishment; it is a matter of democracy, the rule of law, the promotion of and respect for political rights and civil liberties.

With this resolution, which was introduced by Italy together with 86 other countries from around the world, the UN established for the first time the fundamental principle that the death penalty implies a violation of the respect for human rights and that its elimination will represent an important step forward in human progress.

The resolution crowns a campaign waged for more than 15 years by the abolitionist movement Hands Off Cain and the Non-violent Radical Party, which in 2007 decided to ramp up their efforts, involving parliaments, governments, and public opinion from around the world, through various non-violent actions.

The number of countries that have decided to abolish the death penalty in practice or through legislation has now topped 148. Of these, 95 are completely abolitionist; 8 bar the death penalty for ordinary crimes; one, Russia, as a member of the Council of Europe is required to abolish it and for now has put in place a moratorium on executions; 3 have imposed moratoria; and 41 are considered ”de facto abolitionists” insofar as they have not carried out a capital sentence in over ten years.

Meanwhile, the number of death penalty countries has dropped to 49 from 51 in 2006 and 54 in 2005. In 2007, the number of countries that carried out executions was 26, down from 28 in 2006. That notwithstanding, the number of executions worldwide has increased. In 2007 there were at least 5851, up from at least 5635 in 2006 and 5494 in 2005. This recent jump is due to the sharp increase in executions carried out by Iran -up by a third- and by Saudi Arabia, where they quadrupled.

Once again Asia was the continent responsible for the vast majority of executions -5782- of which China carried out at least 5000, slightly fewer than the previous year. There were at least 5492 in Asia in 2006, and at least 5413 in 2005.

The Americas would be completely free of the death penalty were it not for the United States, which executed 42 people in 2007, down from 53 in 2006 and 60 in 2005.

In Africa in 2007, capital punishment was imposed in seven countries: Botswana (at least one); Egypt (the number is unclear); Ethiopia (one), Equatorial Guinea (three); Libya (at least nine); Somalia (at least five); and Sudan (at least seven). The total for the continent of at least 26 was down significantly from 87 in 2006.

In Europe, Byelorus remained the only exception to an otherwise abolitionist continent, with at least one execution in 2007 and three more in the first months of 2008.

Of the 49 pro-death penalty countries, 39 are dictatorial, authoritarian, or repressive regimes. Twenty-one of these were responsible for 99 percent of all executions worldwide in 2007, or at least 5798.

The December 18 vote in the UN amounts to a sort of contract, and as with contracts, difficulties begin with the question of compliance. Thus it is time to redouble our efforts to prevent this success from being undermined and work towards the definitive abolition of capital punishment.

As clearly set out in the resolution, the next General Assembly will have to revisit the issue. This will involve making the resolution known around the world, country-by-country monitoring of the situation, and organising political, parliamentary, and public events in countries that still have the death penalty such that the decision of the UN is made known and complied with.

There is one way in which the resolution could be significantly strengthened: the elimination of the secrecy surrounding executions. Many countries, mostly authoritarian, do not provide official figures, and the general public’s lack of information is a direct cause of the escalation of the number of executions.

Accordingly, a provision should be introduced into the resolution requesting that death-penalty states release to the UN and the general public all information regarding the implementation of capital punishment and executions.

To this end, it should be positive that the new resolution provides for a Special Envoy from the Secretary General who will not only monitor the situation but also encourage and accelerate those domestic processes underway to comply with the requirement to impose a moratorium as well as bring about greater transparency in the implementation of capital punishment.

On closer examination, it becomes clear that for the most part of death penalty countries, the problem goes beyond the specific practice of capital punishment; it is a matter of democracy, the rule of law, the promotion of and respect for political rights and civil liberties. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

Excerpt:

By Elisabetta Zamparutti and - -
ROME, May 28 2008 (IPS)

Any attempt to measure the effects of the resolution for a universal moratorium against the death penalty approved by the UN General Assembly last December 18 must also take into account the fact that its very passage has created an atmosphere conducive to elimination of the practice, writes Elisabetta Zamparutti, a leader in the Radical Party who prepared the annual report on the Death Penalty in the World for Hands Off Cain. She was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies in 2008 In this analysis, the author writes that the most significant steps towards abolition have occurred almost exclusively in Africa. However, the delays of the UN vote have also led European countries to go ahead and definitively eliminate the death penalty from their legal codes. This happened in France and Italy, where the death penalty was banned by the 2007 Constitution. But there is an important element of the resolution beyond the call for abolition of the practice: a demand that the death penalty countries furnish information on its implementation to the UN Secretary-General. Ninety-nine percent of the world\’s executions are carried out by totalitarian regimes in many of which, China especially, information relative to capital sentencing and executions is considered a state secret. In all of these countries, the definitive solution involves less a battle to end the death penalty than the fight for democracy, the affirmation of the rule of law, and the promotion of respect for political rights and civil liberties for which transparency is fundamental.

There were two rival approaches to winning passage of this document: the first was that of the bureaucracy of the European Union which wanted to maintain its monopoly on the initiative but which ended up producing no more than a series of postponements and achieving nothing. The second was that proposed by Hands Off Cain, which was supported by the abolitionist groups and hoped to build a world-wide coalition of representative governments that would introduce the resolution. It was the latter which eventually prevailed thanks to a campaign promoted by Hands Off Cain and the Non-Violent Radical Party that lasted almost a year and involved governments from every continent, some of which were energised by the initiative and decided to eliminate capital punishment in view of the upcoming vote.

In July 2007, Rwanda, which had been a supporter of the death penalty, passed a law abolishing the practice for all crimes. In September of the same year, the government of Gabon followed suit, issuing a decree abolishing the punishment which is now under consideration by Parliament. Gabon subsequently played a crucial role during the debate at the UN on the resolution, arguing in favour of the moratorium. The government of Burundi then issued a similar decree which it submitted to its parliament. Senator and ex-Minister for Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Leonard She Okitundu, announced the introduction of an anti-death penalty bill, while the country’s Commission on Justice has been charged with revising the criminal code and will present its recommendations to the government in coming days. The revision of the penal code represents a new opportunity for the abolitionist movement in a country that has suffered some of the worst crimes against humanity in recent history.

The most significant steps towards abolition, including across-the-board commutation of death sentences, have occurred almost exclusively in Africa. However, the delays of the UN vote have also led some European countries to definitively eliminate the death penalty from their legal codes. This happened in France and Italy, where the death penalty was banned by the 2007 Constitution.

Uzbekistan reversed its support for capital punishment on 1 January 2008 and last April the country’s supreme court initiated a review of death sentences, commuting 17. For those guilty of homicide, prison sentences from 20-25 years, less time served, were imposed. And in April 2008 Cuba announced the commutation of all death sentences it had handed out.

In contrast, in 2007 and the first months of 2008, only two countries -Afghanistan and Ethiopia- resumed imposition of the death penalty, which had been suspended for a few years. By comparison, there were six such cases in 2006.

As for the United States, on 16 April 2008 in a 7-to-2 decision the US Supreme Court ruled that lethal injection was a constitutionally acceptable method of execution, ending a de facto suspension of the punishment that had lasted six months, from the day the court agreed to hear the appeal. The case involved two death-row inmates in Kentucky who argued that lethal injection as currently administered causes terrible pain and thus violates the constitutional ban on “cruel and unusual punishment”.

Some consider this decision a step backwards with respect to the UN moratorium resolution. But in reality the Supreme Court was not asked to rule on the constitutionality of the death penalty per se but specifically on whether this particular method of execution was cruel and unusual and thus in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The fundamental problem is not whether this or that method of execution is humane, or civilised, or not, but the death penalty itself, an anachronism that should no longer exist at this point in history. The Supreme Court’s decision cannot, therefore, be considered a blow to the abolitionist movement or a measure of the political value of the UN resolution, which, to begin with, is not juridically binding.

Moreover, the recent abolition of the death penalty in New Jersey and the legal or de facto moratoria in Illinois, Maryland, California, New York, and North Carolina are proof that an irreversible process is underway in the US as well, where abolition or a moratorium can be imposed only by the US Congress or, given the US’s federalist system, by the legislatures or governors of individual states.

But there is an important element of the resolution beyond the call for abolition of the practice: a demand that the death penalty countries furnish information on its implementation to the UN Secretary-General. Ninety-nine percent of the world’s executions are carried out by totalitarian regimes in many of which, China especially, information relative to capital sentencing and executions is considered a state secret.

In all of these countries, the definitive solution involves less a fight against the death penalty than the fight for democracy, the affirmation of the rule of law, and the promotion of respect for political rights and civil liberties for which transparency is a fundamental component. This is why it is important to act on that part of the resolution that provides for the transmission of information via the Report on the Death Penalty that was demanded by the office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights. The UN Secretary General is supposed to present the report at the next General Assembly. In this regard, Hands Off Cain is lobbying for the appointment of a Special Envoy on the death penalty that would on the one hand gather necessary information for the report, and on the other, work until this state secret is abolished. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

Excerpt:

By Elisabetta Zamparutti and - -
ROME, May 23 2007 (IPS)

During the last European Union Council on General Affairs on May 14-15, the Italian government and the German Presidency of the EU received a mandate to present a proposal for a universal moratorium on the death penalty in the UN General Assembly, writes Elisabetta Zamparutti, a leader in the Radical Party who prepared the annual report on the Death Penalty in the World for Hands Off Cain. In this article, Zamparutti writes that the conditions for approval of the proposal in the Assembly have existed for some time but until now the EU has blocked such a move. Thanks to the non-violent campaign of Hands Off Cain and the Radical Party, the preparation of a text of the moratorium resolution now has the green light and the search by the Italian government and the Presidency of the EU for co-sponsors has begun. The latter step is crucial to avoid leaving an initiative of such importance only in the hands of the EU.

This decision is a step forward in the 14-year campaign by Hands Off Cain and the Radical Party to get the General Assembly to approve a universal moratorium on the death penalty. Though the conditions in the Assembly have been right for this to happen, until now the EU has blocked such a move.

On April 16, Marco Pannella, Sergio D’Elia, and other radical militants began a hunger strike in support of the moratorium, which influenced the EU decision to end a long series of delays and strengthened the position of the Italian government in its effort to bring to pass what the Italian parliament has repeatedly and unanimously demanded and an overwhelming majority of the European Parliament has called for: that the UN General Assembly be given the opportunity to approve the proposal for a universal moratorium and so broaden the scope of protection for human dignity.

The resistance of European Countries to concede to others the same rights they won for themselves –in this case freedom from the death penalty– has been hard to overcome.

In 1994 an Italian moratorium proposal was defeated in the General Assembly by just 8 votes ( 21 European governments abstained). In 1999 the EU presented a proposal for a resolution that it withdrew at the last minute. According to Francesco Fulci, at the time Italy’s ambassador to the UN, a message came from Brussels ”to all European ambassadors to completely suspend all initiatives.”

In 2000, the government of Silvio Berlusconi came under attack for not having complied with the mandate to present the moratorium proposal before the General Assembly.

In July 2006, the Italian Chamber of Deputies unanimously demanded that Rome present the moratorium proposal to the General Assembly (which is still in session), but Italy and the EU opted for a declaration –which had no official weight– that was presented to the General Assembly on December 19.

On January 2 of this year the Italian government declared its commitment to make sure that the current General Assembly includes the death penalty moratorium proposal in its Order of the Day. It did so after Marco Pannella, who had begun a thirst strike to protest the execution of Saddam Hussein, broadened his action to a hunger strike against the death penalty after the Iraqi leader’s execution.

However, the Council on General Affairs postponed yet again the presentation of a moratorium proposal and continued to seek support for the declaration, which had already been signed by 92 governments. Meanwhile the initiative to present a moratorium proposal continued to win support, which eventually induced the Council to back it.

The conditions for approval of the proposal have existed for quite some time. According to Hands Off Cain projections, the General Assembly will approve the moratorium by a vote of 104-108 for, 61-68 against, and 16-20 abstaining.

Thanks to the non-violent campaign of Hands Off Cain and the Radical Party, the preparation of a text of the moratorium resolution now has the green light and the search by the Italian government and the Presidency of the EU for co-sponsors has begun. The latter step is crucial to avoid leaving an initiative of such importance only in the hands of the EU.

The next weeks will be crucial to winning approval of the moratorium by the current General Assembly. Therefore, after suspending the hunger strike for 36 hours to celebrate the success of the Italian government in the Council of General Affairs, Marco Pannella, and Sergio D’Elia and their companions decided to resume it to keep the pressure on. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

Excerpt:

By Elisabetta Zamparutti and - -
ROME, Jan 1 2007 (IPS)

With passage of the United Nations Moratorium on Executions likely in the current General Assembly, we are on the verge of obtaining a major victory for humanity which the Non-violent and Transnational Radical Party and Hands Off Cain have been seeking for fourteen years, writes Elisabetta Zamparutti, curator of the annual report of Hands Off Cain, \’\’The Death Penalty in the World\”, and a leader of the Radical Party. In this article, the author writes that after the execution of Hussein and through the moratorium campaign, Hands Off Cain and the Radical Party have succeeded in making everyone understand, even in the Arab world and beginning with the Cain of our time, the urgency of preventing a widening cycle of violence and war, in Iraq and elsewhere, which would have disastrous consequences. It was non-violent actions that were responsible for convincing the public of the urgency a measure like the UN moratorium and so accelerated the historic process of abolitionism. The startling drama and horror of the death penalty in the world today is to be found largely in the 98 percent of the world\’s 5000 years executions that are carried in totalitarian and repressive countries. It is because of the nameless and forgotten victims of the death penalty in these countries that a universal moratorium is so very important.

Last June ”Hands off Cain” launched the ”Hands Off Saddam” initiative to prevent the execution of the ex-Iraqi dictator. Radical Party founder Marco Pannella revived this effort and aligned it with the general goal of a UN global death penalty moratorium by beginning a hunger strike on December 27. Hands Off Saddam grew out of the Free Iraq campaign introduced in 2003 by Pannella to promote the exile of Saddam Hussein as an alternative to war in Iraq. It was then followed by the First Major World Satyagraha for Peace held by the Transnational Radical Party to create a non-violent alternative to crisis in the Middle East. Satyagraha is the form of non-violent resistance practised by Gandhi.

After the execution of Hussein and through the moratorium campaign, Hands Off Cain and the Radical Party have succeeded in making everyone understand, even in the Arab world and beginning with the Cain of our time, the urgency of preventing a widening cycle of violence and war, in Iraq and elsewhere, which would have incalculably disastrous consequences. Usually a goal that has been sought for twenty years effort is not suddenly reached in a few days. It was non-violent actions that were responsible for convincing the public of the urgency of a measure like the UN moratorium and so accelerated the historic process of abolitionism.

Since 1994, when a resolution for a moratorium was first presented in the General Assembly by Italy and failed by just eight votes, 45 countries have passed from being death penalty supporters to being abolitionists. Since then, the UN Human Rights Commission has made a number of pronouncements in favour of the moratorium, but passage in the General Assembly was consistently blocked by the European Union, which used various arguments regarding the presumed absence of enough votes for passage or the idea that abolition was better than a moratorium.

But voting predictions from Hands Off Cain and verified by the Italian government had been known for some time: the moratorium would pass with between 99 and 106 voting for, 18-25 abstaining, and 61-68 voting against.

London has led the opposition to the moratorium. The reasons are clear: its privileged relationship with the United States and especially its position as head of the Commonwealth, the organisation of its former colonies, many of which still practice capital punishment. It should be said, however, that this is the attitude of those ”more royalist than the king”: for example, of the 50 states that make up the US, 12 are completely abolitionist, while of the 38 with a death penalty statute, 14 have put a hold on executions, whether because of court decisions or because of legislative or political measures (as is the case with New Jersey and Illinois). In addition, public support for the death penalty has reached a historic low in the US since the revelations that over 100 people that had been sentenced to death were subsequently found to be innocent.

The startling drama and horror of the death penalty in the world today, however, is to be found largely in the 98 percent of the world’s 5000 years executions that are carried in totalitarian and repressive countries. It is because of the nameless and forgotten victims of the death penalty in these countries that a universal moratorium is so very important.

On 22 January there was a meeting of the foreign ministers of the European Union to decide how to proceed at the reopening of the General Assembly, after the directors-general of political affairs in Dresden and human rights experts in Brussels had come to an agreement on supporting a moratorium, spurred also by the fact that a declaration against the death penalty presented in December by the Finnish Presidency of the EU was supported by 85 countries, with others later coming on board.

There remains resistance in the EU, however, from certain countries that are not convinced that the resolution can pass. Thus it is important that the initiative not be billed as a European Union project. Abolitionism is no longer just the prerogative or monopoly of the old continent. Indeed there are clear signs from every part of the world of a willingness to abandon the death penalty.

Hands off Cain and the Radical Party are completely committed to all of this. The effort is further aided by the support offered in recent days by 918 people in 41 nations who have joined the hunger strike of Marco Pannella for one or more days, and by 49,772 people in 133 countries or territories who have signed a petition asking the UN Secretary General to impose a moratorium.

Only by strengthening the non-violent initiative front can we win this battle for humanity and civilisation, and for this reason we ask for support via our website, www.radicalparty.org. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

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By Elisabetta Zamparutti and - -
ROME, Jul 1 2006 (IPS)

The annual report on capital punishment issued on July 21 by the abolitionist organisation Hands Off Cain shows that the movement towards the abolition of the death penalty, underway for at least ten years, is continuing, writes Elisabetta Zamparutti, a lawyer and the coordinator of the annual report on the death penalty worldwide by Hands Off Cain. It is essential that we act immediately to make sure that a moratorium on the death penalty is presented and approved by the UN General Assembly in September. In this way we can fulfil the initiative begun 13 years ago by Hands Off Cain and by the Transnational Radical Party, which enjoys the support of an extraordinary convergence of the majority and the opposition in the Italian Parliament. With the help of the UN moratorium –and in anticipation of a complete worldwide abolition — the thousands of those condemned to death could be saved: not only those already known to all, in American prisons, but also the unnamed and the forgotten who await their sentences in the prisons of China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Cuba, and all other authoritarian regimes who go to their deaths in silence with total indifference on the part of the world.

The annual report on capital punishment issued on July 21 by the abolitionist organisation Hands Off Cain shows that the movement towards the abolition of the death penalty, underway for at least ten years, is continuing.

According to the report, the number of countries or territories that have decided to abolish the death penalty, whether in practice or through legislation, is now 142. Of these, 89 have abolished the sanction entirely; 10 have barred the death penalty for ordinary crimes; Russia is required to eliminate the death penalty as a condition of its membership in the Council of Europe and at present has imposed a moratorium on executions; five other countries have imposed moratoria; and 37 have not imposed the sentence in the past ten years and can be considered de facto abolitionist.

And one other country will be added to the number of complete abolitionists: Montenegro, which opted to sever its federation with Serbia through an independence referendum held on May 21, 2006, which won 55 percent approval.

The number of countries with active death penalties has dropped to 54 from 60 in 2004, 61 in 2003, and 64 in 2002. This gradual abandonment of capital punishment is shown not only in the decrease in the number of countries that keep the penalty on the books but also those who have carried out executions.

As a consequence, the number of executions worldwide has also fallen, to 5494 in 2005 from 5530 in 2004. Once again, Asia was the continent responsible for the vast majority of the executions worldwide. The total for China alone was at least 5413, down from 5450 in 2004.

In the Americas only the United States carried out any executions in 2005: 60, slightly up from 59 in 2004. There were 65 in 2003.

In Africa the death penalty has fallen into disuse. In 2005 it was carried out only in four countries: Uganda (8), Libya (6), Sudan (4), and Somalia (1). The total number of executions for the continent was 19 in 2004, 60 in 2003, and 63 in 2002.

Europe would be completely free of the stain of the death penalty but for Bielorus, which carried out two executions in 2005.

Since the beginning of 2005, six countries have dropped from the roster of death penalty states: Tajikistan, Liberia, and the Philippines abolished the sanction. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Santa Lucia, and Lesotho have not imposed the death penalty in 10 years and can thus be considered de facto abolitionists.

On the other hand, from the beginning of 2005 to 13 June 2006, five countries have reinstated the death penalty after years of suspension: the Palestinian Authority, Libya, Iraq, Equatorial Guinea, and Botswana. And in contrast to the general tendency in the United States, the state of Connecticut carried out its first execution in 45 years, ending an extended de facto moratorium.

Of the 54 death penalty states, 42 are dictatorships or authoritarian regimes. In 2005 they were responsible for 98.7 percent of all executions carried out worldwide. Many of these countries do not provide statistics on their implementation of capital punishment, which means the actual number of executions could be far higher.

Of the 11 countries with the death penalty that could be called liberal democracies with regard not only to their political system but also their human rights record, respect for civil and political rights, economic freedoms, and adherence to the rule of law, only five imposed the death penalty in 2005, carrying out a total of 74 executions, or 1.3 percent of the global total: the US (60), Mongolia (at least 8), Taiwan (3), Indonesia (2), and Japan (1).

On May 23, 2006, the Italian prime minister Romano Prodi stated: ”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.”

It is essential that we act immediately to make sure that a moratorium on the death penalty is presented and approved by the UN General Assembly in September. In this way we can fulfil the initiative begun 13 years ago by Hands Off Cain and by the Transnational Radical Party, which enjoys the support of an extraordinary convergence of the majority and the opposition in the Italian Parliament.

With the help of the UN moratorium –and in anticipation of a complete worldwide abolition — the thousands of those condemned to death could be saved: not only those already known to all, in American prisons, but also the unnamed and the forgotten who await their sentences in the prisons of China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Cuba, and all other authoritarian regimes who go to their deaths in silence with total indifference on the part of the world. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

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