UNITED NATIONS: NEW RESOLUTION PRO MORATORIUM VOTED BY A RECORD NUMBER OF 110 COUNTRIES

November 19, 2012: The UN General Assembly’s Third Committee in New York adopted a new resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, the fourth since 2007.
A record number of countries voted in favor of the Resolution, and there was a decrease in vote against it. The result was 110 votes in favor (+2 compared to 2010 Resolution), 39 against (-2), 36 abstentions (=) and 8 absent (+1).
UN Member States are now 193, one State more than in 2010, South Sudan, which voted in favor of the Resolution despite still maintains the death penalty. The Central African Republic, Niger and Tunisia, which had abstained in 2010, for the first time voted in favor.
The United States, Japan, China, Iran, India, North Korea, Syria and Zimbabwe were among the 39 countries that voted against the Resolution in the assembly’s rights committee. Israel joined European Union nations, Australia, Brazil and South Africa among major countries backing the motion.
Norway, which played a leading role campaigning for the resolution, said on its Twitter account that the increased support was a "great result".
The draft resolution expresses its “deep concern about the continued application of the death penalty and calls on states to establish a moratorium on executions, with a view to abolishing the practice”. It calls on nations to progressively restrict the death penalty’s use and not impose capital punishment for offences committed by persons under age 18 or pregnant women. States would also be called on to reduce the number of offences for which the death penalty might be imposed.
The General Assembly is expected to endorse the Resolution in its plenary session in December.
A four-day mission of Hands Off Cain and the Radical Party is going on in Chad to support the abolitionist process internally and to gain the support of the African country to the UN Resolution for a universal moratorium on executions. The mission, which takes place thanks to a grant from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is composed by the President of Hands Off Cain, Marco Pannella, the Member of the Italian Parliament, Elisabetta Zamparutti, the Secretary General of the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty, Demba Traoré, and the General Counsel of the Radical Party, Matteo Angioli. (Sources: NtC, 19/11/2012)