Today is World Abolition Day. Please send in reports from activities in your region.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69727D20101008
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69727D20101008
Amnesty issues call for U.S. to drop death penalty
LONDON | Fri Oct 8, 2010 8:10am EDT
(Reuters) - Rights group Amnesty International called on the United States on Friday to set an example to other nations by abolishing the death penalty.
Amnesty said the United States was the only country in the Americas to carry out executions in 2009.
"A clear majority of countries have rejected the death penalty. How can the USA claim leadership on human rights yet still commit judicial killings?" said Widney Brown, Senior Director of International Law and Policy at Amnesty International.
"The death penalty is cruel, degrading, ineffective and entirely incompatible with any concept of human dignity. Its use in the USA is marked by arbitrariness, discrimination and error," she added.
Campaigners have designated Sunday as "World Day against the Death Penalty." Although Amnesty's call this week focused on the United States, the group said China executed more people every year than all other countries in the world combined.
Murders involving white victims in the United States were more likely to result in death sentences than those involving black victims, Amnesty said. Three states -- Texas, Virginia and Oklahoma -- account for more than half of U.S. executions.
"Race, geography, electoral politics, local finances, jury composition, and the quality of legal representation are all problematic factors in capital cases in the USA. Being tried for a capital crime is like taking part in a lethal lottery, and it should have no place in any justice system," said Brown.
http://www.isria.com/pages/10_October_2010_8.php
UK - MFA - World Day and European Day Against the Death Penalty
Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne has issued a statement to mark the World Day and European Day Against the Death Penalty.
On the seventh anniversary of the World Day Against the Death Penalty and the third anniversary of the European Day Against the Death Penalty, Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne said:
"I reaffirm the UK’s opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances. The death penalty fundamentally undermines human dignity. There is no conclusive evidence to suggest that it holds any value as a deterrent.
"The UK will continue its efforts across the world to achieve global abolition. Where this cannot be achieved in the short term, our aim is to reduce the numbers of executions carried out and the types of crime to which it applies.
"I welcome several positive developments this year: in July the Court of Appeal in Kenya ruled the mandatory death penalty for murder unconstitutional; in January, Mongolia introduced a moratorium on executions, and just last month the Supreme Court in Uganda commuted the sentences of 167 prisoners on death row to life imprisonment. It is also an encouraging start that China has expressed its intention to reduce the numbers of crimes eligible for the death penalty from 68 to 55.
"We continue to join the EU and others in the call to all remaining retentionist states to establish a moratorium on executions, and hope to see increased support this autumn for the cross-regional initiative in the UN General Assembly calling for a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty."
(Reuters) - Rights group Amnesty International called on the United States on Friday to set an example to other nations by abolishing the death penalty.
Amnesty said the United States was the only country in the Americas to carry out executions in 2009.
"A clear majority of countries have rejected the death penalty. How can the USA claim leadership on human rights yet still commit judicial killings?" said Widney Brown, Senior Director of International Law and Policy at Amnesty International.
"The death penalty is cruel, degrading, ineffective and entirely incompatible with any concept of human dignity. Its use in the USA is marked by arbitrariness, discrimination and error," she added.
Campaigners have designated Sunday as "World Day against the Death Penalty." Although Amnesty's call this week focused on the United States, the group said China executed more people every year than all other countries in the world combined.
Murders involving white victims in the United States were more likely to result in death sentences than those involving black victims, Amnesty said. Three states -- Texas, Virginia and Oklahoma -- account for more than half of U.S. executions.
"Race, geography, electoral politics, local finances, jury composition, and the quality of legal representation are all problematic factors in capital cases in the USA. Being tried for a capital crime is like taking part in a lethal lottery, and it should have no place in any justice system," said Brown.
http://www.isria.com/pages/10_October_2010_8.php
UK - MFA - World Day and European Day Against the Death Penalty
Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne has issued a statement to mark the World Day and European Day Against the Death Penalty.
On the seventh anniversary of the World Day Against the Death Penalty and the third anniversary of the European Day Against the Death Penalty, Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne said:
"I reaffirm the UK’s opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances. The death penalty fundamentally undermines human dignity. There is no conclusive evidence to suggest that it holds any value as a deterrent.
"The UK will continue its efforts across the world to achieve global abolition. Where this cannot be achieved in the short term, our aim is to reduce the numbers of executions carried out and the types of crime to which it applies.
"I welcome several positive developments this year: in July the Court of Appeal in Kenya ruled the mandatory death penalty for murder unconstitutional; in January, Mongolia introduced a moratorium on executions, and just last month the Supreme Court in Uganda commuted the sentences of 167 prisoners on death row to life imprisonment. It is also an encouraging start that China has expressed its intention to reduce the numbers of crimes eligible for the death penalty from 68 to 55.
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