The United States keeps great company these days. Beside propping up military dictatorships all over the world, it joins the Peoples Republic of China and Singapore as a small group of authoritarian countries that impose the death penalty on criminal defendants. There is an initiative pending at the UN to put a global moratorium on the use of the death penalty. The moratorium proposal was introduced by Italy. Prime Minister Romano Prodi was convinced to support the effort after the botched and humiliating execution of Saddam Hussein. Eighty five other countries have joined in the effort including all 27 EU countries. Ninety one percent of executions are carried out by just six countries: China, US, Pakistan, Sudan, Iraq and Iran. The US killed 53 prisoners last year, and opposes the resolution. It claims the moratorium is an infringement of it's sovereignty. If the resolution survives attempts to kill it with amendments, the UN human rights committee will vote on the measure this week. The resolution calls for nations using the death penalty to place a moratorium on its use with the goal of abolishing it, and for countries which have abolished the ultimate penalty, not to reintroduce it.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
The Killing Club
The United States keeps great company these days. Beside propping up military dictatorships all over the world, it joins the Peoples Republic of China and Singapore as a small group of authoritarian countries that impose the death penalty on criminal defendants. There is an initiative pending at the UN to put a global moratorium on the use of the death penalty. The moratorium proposal was introduced by Italy. Prime Minister Romano Prodi was convinced to support the effort after the botched and humiliating execution of Saddam Hussein. Eighty five other countries have joined in the effort including all 27 EU countries. Ninety one percent of executions are carried out by just six countries: China, US, Pakistan, Sudan, Iraq and Iran. The US killed 53 prisoners last year, and opposes the resolution. It claims the moratorium is an infringement of it's sovereignty. If the resolution survives attempts to kill it with amendments, the UN human rights committee will vote on the measure this week. The resolution calls for nations using the death penalty to place a moratorium on its use with the goal of abolishing it, and for countries which have abolished the ultimate penalty, not to reintroduce it.