EU encourages the abolition of the death penalty worldwide

Port Moresby, October 12, 2015 – Every year on 10 October, the European Union joins in the observance on the occasion of the European and World Day against the Death Penalty.

The European Union holds a strong and principled position against the death penalty. The abolition of the  death penalty worldwide represents one of the main objectives of the EU’s human rights policy and a  personal priority for High Representative/Vice President, Federica Mogherini. 

On a Joint Declaration* by the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security and  the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on the European and World Day against the Death Penalty, 10 October 2015, Federica Mogherini said: "Today we reaffirm our strong opposition to capital punishment. The death penalty is inhuman and degrading, and allows judicial errors to become irreversible and fatal".

The European Union welcomes countries that apply a 'de facto' abolished practice, as Papua New Guinea, and encourages all States to accede to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on  Civil and Political Rights, which is a fundamental UN International instrument for the abolition of the  death penalty.

Background 

There is a worldwide trend towards abolition: between 1993 and 2015, the number of countries that abolished the death  penalty by law for all crimes, grew considerably. As of December 2014, 140 countries - more than 2/3 of the countries of the  world - were abolitionist in law or practice. 

In 2014 and during the first semester of 2015, the EU issued almost 30 statements on numerous general and individual death  penalty cases and carried out more than 30 demarches. 

The EU is the leading institutional actor and lead donor to the efforts by civil society organizations around the world in the  abolition of the death penalty. Its action in this area represents a key priority of its external rights policy.

The EU is also the first regional body to have adopted rules prohibiting the trade in goods used for capital punishment (and  torture and ill-treatment), as well as the supply of technical assistance related to such goods. 

In multilateral fora, the EU led an intensive lobbying campaign for the UN General Assembly resolution on a “Moratorium on  the use of the death penalty”. In December 2014, the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution with an unprecedented  number of 117 votes in favour.