EU Policy On The Death Penalty
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PC.DEL/715/04
29 July 2004
ENGLISH only
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Permanent Representation of
the Netherlands to the OSCE
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A-1010 Vienna, Austria
Tel: +43 1 58939 241
Fax: +43 1 58939 266
www.eu2004.nl |
The
Netherlands Presidency of the European Union
Permanent Council No. 520
29 July 2004
EU Statement on Death Penalty in the US
ON 27 may, the united states delegation, in response to the EU intervention
regarding a specific case concerning of an execution of a mentally ill person,
appeared to express the view that there was no international norm against the
execution of the mentally ill. The United States delegation further noted that
the adoption of resolution 2004/94 on the question of the death penalty at the
recent session of the UN Commission on Human Rights was in effect proof of that.
The EU restates its firm conviction that the execution of persons suffering from
mental disorder is contrary to widely accepted human rights norms and standards.
The EU regrets that the United States voted against the resolution. The EU
notes that on this and on other similar occasions, the US has not referred to
the clause concerning the execution of the mentally ill. Since 1999, the annual
resolution in Geneva on the death penalty has contained such a clause, urging
States that still maintain capital punishment "not to impose the death penalty
on a person suffering from any form of mental disorder or to execute any such
person." This resolution is gaining more support year after year within the
UN Commission on Human Rights.
Such executions are in contradiction to longstanding norms, inter alia, the
safeguards established by the UN Economic and Social Council Resolutions 1984/50
and 1989/64, protecting, amongst other persons, the insane from execution. The
1984 safeguards were endorsed by the General Assembly in Resolution 39/118 in
1984.
As the US delegation at the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw
in October last year noted, the US Supreme Court in fact prohibited the execution
of the mentally insane in the Wainwright case of 1986, and in 2002 the Supreme
Court banned the execution of mentally retarded persons in the Atkins case. The
EU has warmly welcomed this development. We note also positive developments in
several US states with respect to abolishing juvenile death penalty, and we hope
that these will soon extend to the rest of the United States.
As stated on previous occasions in the Permanent Council, the EU aims towards
the universal abolition of the death penalty. We consider that the abolition of
the death penalty contributes to the enhancement of human dignity and the progressive
development of human rights. In cases where the death penalty is carried out,
any miscarriage of justice, which is occasionally inevitable in any legal system,
would be irreversible.
Capital punishment is no longer applied in any EU
Member State and Candidate Country. We believe that our reasons for doing
away with this punishment are valid in any part of the world. The EU welcomes,
therefore, moves towards abolition of the death penalty in the OSCE area. In conformity
with the Copenhagen Document, the European Union will continue to engage constructively
and exchange information on the abolition of the death penalty.
The Candidate Countries Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Croatia[1]
align themselves with this statement.
[1]
Croatia continues to
be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.
Embassy of the Netherlands
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