Communist
22nd February 2010, 07:44
.
4th World Congress Seeks to Abolish Death Penalty (http://www.truthout.org/4th-world-congress-seeks-abolish-death-penalty57013)
by: Mary Susan Littlepage
19 February 2010
More than 1,000 people are expected to attend the 4th
World Congress Against the Death Penalty February 24-26
in Geneva. The Congress is organized by the French NGO
Ensemple in partnership with the Swiss Confederation and
the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.
During the 3rd World Congress Against the Death Penalty,
held in Paris in 2007, Micheline Calmy-Rey, federal
councillor and head of the Federal Department of Foreign
Affairs of Switzerland, invited the event's organizer to
hold this year's Congress in Geneva. Abolition of
capital punishment is a foreign policy priority in
Switzerland, and Switzerland is co-funding half of the
Congress's budget.
Arnaud Gaillard, coordinator of the 4th World Congress,
said the conference wants to welcome different countries
and aims to build strategies to help them abolish the
death penalty.
The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty was
created in Rome in 2002. It's composed of 104 bar
associations, cities, local groups, unions and the like.
It is actively supported by the European Union, and it
aims to strengthen the international dimension of the
fight against the death penalty.
Gaillard said the death penalty often is a European
debate, but that he would like to see the topic
discussed and debated among other countries as well.
In addition, Gaillard said he would like to see NGOs
(non-governmental organizations associated with the
United Nations) and IGOs (international government
organizations) collaborate rather than work
independently. "We want to gather all the strength
together of these organizations to work together and to
abolish the death penalty," he said.
It is a challenge to get countries to ratify the second
protocol, he said. The second protocol is an
international treaty that links to international
government, is signed by many countries and calls for a
moratorium on the death penalty. Every two years it is
voted on, and it will be voted on in December this year.
" We want more and more countries to vote for the
moratorium," he said. "One of the main strategies is to
help the other countries to create the debate in their
own countries, own societies to help them create debate
for the abolition [of the death penalty]."
Talking about the death penalty debate in the United
States, he said, "We know we are on this road [toward
abolishment of the death penalty], but we want to
explain to the United States that the death penalty
isn't something that belongs to justice," Gaillard said.
"It belongs to violence, something like barbarism, and
we want to explain over the world that we can't be a
democracy and go further in the civilization process
because the death penalty is something that belongs to
the past."
Many key figures have already confirmed their presence
at the conference: Jos, Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, head of
Spanish government; Navanethem Pillay, UN high
commissioner for human rights; Bill Richardson, governor
of New Mexico; Renate Wohlwend, rapporteur of the
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on the Death
Penalty, and Ibrahim Najjar, Lebanese minister of
justice.
The conference will feature two plenary sessions, ten
roundtables and nine workshops. A cultural program aimed
at the general public will also be organized in parallel
at the International Conference Centre in Geneva and
within the city,, which is the world capital of human
rights and home to a number of international
organizations.
The World Congress Against the Death Penalty is a
triennial opportunity to bring together abolitionist
groups and strengthen the international dimension of the
fight against the death penalty. More specifically, the
Fourth Congress will pursue the following goals:
* To strengthen ties between civil society,
international and intergovernmental institutions
and organizations as well as national and local
entities in support of the abolitionist
movement.
* To involve players of retentionist states,
which are territories that retain the death
penalty for ordinary crimes, from so-called
Southern regions in the defining and leading of
abolitionist strategies.
* To increase the political, diplomatic,
religious, social and cultural impact on
retentionist states.
* To enlarge the World Coalition Against the
Death Penalty and to encourage the building of
national and regional coalitions.
Roundtables will cover many topics, including:
* Racial, ethnic and social bias in the death
penalty implementation: Are political and social
commitments to equality effective tools for
abolition?
* Protecting vulnerable groups from the death
penalty, such as juveniles and those with mental
health issues.
* Violence, victims and the death penalty: how
to respond to violence and compensate victims
without the death penalty.
* Approaching law enforcement issues without the
death penalty.
* Tools and strategies for death penalty
abolition in the Middle East, North Africa and
Sub- Saharan Africa, from moratorium to
abolition in law.
* Access to a competent counsel in capital
cases: how lawyers can make the difference
between life and death.
* The Caribbean: the continued danger of
escalating executions.
In addition, the conference will feature "Words of
Victims," an evening during which former Death Row
inmates and families of victims of crime and execution
witnesses tell their stories. This series of stories
will be accompanied by interludes animated by the
Franco-British singer Emily Loizeau. Also, "The Omega
Suites," a photo exhibit of Lucinda Devlin referring to
the process of killing in the United States, will be
featured. Film and documentaries screenings on the death
penalty issue from several countries will be showcased
as well to offer a panel of death penalty cases at
different periods, from different cultural, religious
and political backgrounds.
According to the World Coalition Against the Death
Penalty, in 2008, ninety percent of recorded executions
took place in five countries:
* Saudi Arabia - at least 102 people, including
39 foreigners.
* China - 1,700 executions according to the
Amnesty International record and 6,000 according
to the Dhui Hua Foundation.
* The United States - 37 executions, including
18 in Texas.
* Iran - 346 people executed, including eight
who were under 18 when they allegedly committed
their crimes.
* Pakistan - at least 36 executions.
In 58 countries, the law still provides for capital
punishment. Although democracies such as the United
States and Japan still execute people, the majority of
the death sentences are carried out by authoritarian
governments. Geographically speaking, executions mostly
take place in Asian and Arabic countries and also in
some parts of the Caribbean.
_____________________________________________
4th World Congress Seeks to Abolish Death Penalty (http://www.truthout.org/4th-world-congress-seeks-abolish-death-penalty57013)
by: Mary Susan Littlepage
19 February 2010
More than 1,000 people are expected to attend the 4th
World Congress Against the Death Penalty February 24-26
in Geneva. The Congress is organized by the French NGO
Ensemple in partnership with the Swiss Confederation and
the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.
During the 3rd World Congress Against the Death Penalty,
held in Paris in 2007, Micheline Calmy-Rey, federal
councillor and head of the Federal Department of Foreign
Affairs of Switzerland, invited the event's organizer to
hold this year's Congress in Geneva. Abolition of
capital punishment is a foreign policy priority in
Switzerland, and Switzerland is co-funding half of the
Congress's budget.
Arnaud Gaillard, coordinator of the 4th World Congress,
said the conference wants to welcome different countries
and aims to build strategies to help them abolish the
death penalty.
The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty was
created in Rome in 2002. It's composed of 104 bar
associations, cities, local groups, unions and the like.
It is actively supported by the European Union, and it
aims to strengthen the international dimension of the
fight against the death penalty.
Gaillard said the death penalty often is a European
debate, but that he would like to see the topic
discussed and debated among other countries as well.
In addition, Gaillard said he would like to see NGOs
(non-governmental organizations associated with the
United Nations) and IGOs (international government
organizations) collaborate rather than work
independently. "We want to gather all the strength
together of these organizations to work together and to
abolish the death penalty," he said.
It is a challenge to get countries to ratify the second
protocol, he said. The second protocol is an
international treaty that links to international
government, is signed by many countries and calls for a
moratorium on the death penalty. Every two years it is
voted on, and it will be voted on in December this year.
" We want more and more countries to vote for the
moratorium," he said. "One of the main strategies is to
help the other countries to create the debate in their
own countries, own societies to help them create debate
for the abolition [of the death penalty]."
Talking about the death penalty debate in the United
States, he said, "We know we are on this road [toward
abolishment of the death penalty], but we want to
explain to the United States that the death penalty
isn't something that belongs to justice," Gaillard said.
"It belongs to violence, something like barbarism, and
we want to explain over the world that we can't be a
democracy and go further in the civilization process
because the death penalty is something that belongs to
the past."
Many key figures have already confirmed their presence
at the conference: Jos, Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, head of
Spanish government; Navanethem Pillay, UN high
commissioner for human rights; Bill Richardson, governor
of New Mexico; Renate Wohlwend, rapporteur of the
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on the Death
Penalty, and Ibrahim Najjar, Lebanese minister of
justice.
The conference will feature two plenary sessions, ten
roundtables and nine workshops. A cultural program aimed
at the general public will also be organized in parallel
at the International Conference Centre in Geneva and
within the city,, which is the world capital of human
rights and home to a number of international
organizations.
The World Congress Against the Death Penalty is a
triennial opportunity to bring together abolitionist
groups and strengthen the international dimension of the
fight against the death penalty. More specifically, the
Fourth Congress will pursue the following goals:
* To strengthen ties between civil society,
international and intergovernmental institutions
and organizations as well as national and local
entities in support of the abolitionist
movement.
* To involve players of retentionist states,
which are territories that retain the death
penalty for ordinary crimes, from so-called
Southern regions in the defining and leading of
abolitionist strategies.
* To increase the political, diplomatic,
religious, social and cultural impact on
retentionist states.
* To enlarge the World Coalition Against the
Death Penalty and to encourage the building of
national and regional coalitions.
Roundtables will cover many topics, including:
* Racial, ethnic and social bias in the death
penalty implementation: Are political and social
commitments to equality effective tools for
abolition?
* Protecting vulnerable groups from the death
penalty, such as juveniles and those with mental
health issues.
* Violence, victims and the death penalty: how
to respond to violence and compensate victims
without the death penalty.
* Approaching law enforcement issues without the
death penalty.
* Tools and strategies for death penalty
abolition in the Middle East, North Africa and
Sub- Saharan Africa, from moratorium to
abolition in law.
* Access to a competent counsel in capital
cases: how lawyers can make the difference
between life and death.
* The Caribbean: the continued danger of
escalating executions.
In addition, the conference will feature "Words of
Victims," an evening during which former Death Row
inmates and families of victims of crime and execution
witnesses tell their stories. This series of stories
will be accompanied by interludes animated by the
Franco-British singer Emily Loizeau. Also, "The Omega
Suites," a photo exhibit of Lucinda Devlin referring to
the process of killing in the United States, will be
featured. Film and documentaries screenings on the death
penalty issue from several countries will be showcased
as well to offer a panel of death penalty cases at
different periods, from different cultural, religious
and political backgrounds.
According to the World Coalition Against the Death
Penalty, in 2008, ninety percent of recorded executions
took place in five countries:
* Saudi Arabia - at least 102 people, including
39 foreigners.
* China - 1,700 executions according to the
Amnesty International record and 6,000 according
to the Dhui Hua Foundation.
* The United States - 37 executions, including
18 in Texas.
* Iran - 346 people executed, including eight
who were under 18 when they allegedly committed
their crimes.
* Pakistan - at least 36 executions.
In 58 countries, the law still provides for capital
punishment. Although democracies such as the United
States and Japan still execute people, the majority of
the death sentences are carried out by authoritarian
governments. Geographically speaking, executions mostly
take place in Asian and Arabic countries and also in
some parts of the Caribbean.
_____________________________________________