UNITED NATIONS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY’S VOTE PRO-MORATORIUM A FURTHER STEP TOWARDS ABOLITION

November 21, 2014: The Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly approved the fifth resolution for the Universal moratorium on executions with a record number of 114 votes in favour and the lowest of the votes against, 36, while 34 abstained and 9 were absent at the time of the vote.
The votes in favour were 3 more than in 2012, and the votes against were 5 less.
Noteworthy is especially the vote of Niger, which for the first time voted in favour. This vote is the result of a mission in the country of Hands Off Cain and the Radical Party led by Marco Pannella, which was held between 19 and 21 November.
Along the Niger have, for the first time, voted in favour also Eritrea, Fiji and Suriname.
As a further positive sign, Bahrain, Myanmar and Uganda moved from opposition to abstention.
After the vote at the Third Committee, the resolution will go before the General Assembly plenary for final adoption in mid-December. Hand off Cain estimates that new favourable votes could be obtained.
"This vote, the fifth in seven years at the UN General Assembly, marks a further step towards the abolition of the death penalty.
The abolition is an irreversible process in the world, determined by the dialogic and creative choice of Hands Off Cain and the Radical Party to offer - from the beginning and it alone - the moratorium on executions as a key step to abolition," said Secretary of Hands Off Cain Sergio D'Elia. (Sources: Hands Off Cain, 22/11/2014)