UNITED NATIONS, Nov 17: A committee of the United Nations General Assembly voted on Friday to back a resolution calling for a global moratorium on executions to abolishing the death penalty.
The assembly’s third committee, which deals with human rights issues, voted 99 to 52, with 33 abstentions, in favour of the resolution, which states “that there is no conclusive evidence of the death penalty’s deterrent value and that any miscarriage or failure of justice in the death penalty’s implementation is irreversible and irreparable”.
The resolution will now go before the full 192-member assembly for a vote next month. All assembly resolutions are non-binding.
The resolution welcomes “the decisions taken by an increasing number of states to apply a moratorium on executions, followed in many cases by the abolition of the death penalty”, and expresses deep concern that the death penalty continues to be applied in some countries.
It calls on nations that impose the death penalty to ensure meeting internationally agreed minimum standards on the safeguards for those facing execution, and to provide the United Nations secretary-general with information about their use of capital punishment and observation of the safeguards.
