MORATORIUM. EU MINISTERS PLEDGE TO WORK FOR WORLDWIDE BAN OF EXECUTIONS

January 16, 2007: the European Union vowed to step up efforts aimed at a global ban of the death penalty in the wake of the recent executions of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and two of his co-defendants.
‘We all believe that the death penalty is something that should be rejected,’ German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters after informal talks with his EU counterparts and the bloc’s interior ministers in the east German city of Dresden. Germany currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
‘The EU will continue to campaign for a worldwide abolition,’ Schaeuble stressed.
Italy is pushing for a global moratorium on a complete end to capital punishment, saying that the 27-member EU should try to increase international support for the diplomatic bid.
German justice ministers Brigitte Zypries said that the bloc was planning to submit a resolution to the United Nations to put the moratorium on the agenda of the UN General Assembly. (Sources: DPA, 16/01/2007)