FRANCE RATIFIES EUROPEAN RIGHTS CONVENTION PROTOCOL TO ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES

October 10, 2007: France formally agreed to abolish the death penalty in all circumstances when it ratified a provision of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Since its 2003 inception, Protocol 13, designed to allow signatories to "take the final step in order to abolish the death penalty in all circumstances," has been adopted by 40 of the 47 members of the Council of Europe (COE). France's ratification coincided with the European Day against the Death Penalty, celebrated on October 10. COE Secretary General Terry Davis explained: The abolition of the death penalty in Europe is the pinnacle of our progress in the defence of human dignity and human rights.
In February, the French parliament voted to amend the French Constitution to include an explicit ban on the death penalty. The amendment made official a ban which had existed de facto in France since 1981. (Sources: Jurist, 10/10/2007)