Prime Minister Romano Prodi

ITALY TO PUSH UN FOR WORLDWIDE MORATORIUM ON DEATH PENALTY

September 25, 2007: Italy's premier called for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty with a view to its complete abolition, a move he said would guarantee better justice around the globe and an end to cultures of vengeance. "If genuine politics means showing foresight, we shall perform a great political act through the adoption of this resolution," Premier Romano Prodi said in his address to world leaders at the UN General Assembly.
"It will demonstrate that humankind isn't capable of making progress only in science but also in the field of ethics."
A moratorium was expected to face opposition from the US and other countries that allow capital punishment, including Iran and China. Italy began a diplomatic push against capital punishment in the wake of the Dec. 30 execution in Iraq of Saddam Hussein. Past lobbying by Italy for UN action to strike down the death penalty has been unsuccessful.
Prodi told the General Assembly a "growing trend" worldwide against capital punishment boded well for his efforts, and support for the moratorium was growing "day by day" in Europe and in every region of the world. Success, Prodi said, would produce a just future "and a society that has at last freed itself from the spiral of revenge."
Still, the premier warned of an uphill battle in an open letter published in several European newspapers earlier in the day. "We know that we cannot harbour illusions. The battle against capital punishment is a difficult one, because many countries still practice it," Prodi wrote in the letter. Italian Foreign Ministry spokesman Pasquale Ferrara said that 95 countries had expressed support for Italy's push for a moratorium. The resolution would need two-thirds of the votes in the 192-member UN General Assembly to pass. (Associated Press, 27/09/2007)