EU Policy On The Death Penalty

Washington, November 1, 2001

Walter S. Ray, Chairman
The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles
Floyd Veterans Memorial Building
Balcony Level, East Tower
2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, S.E.
Atlanta, Georgia 30334-4909

Dear Chairman Ray:

On behalf of the European Union, Belgium, as current president, together with Spain, the subsequent president, and the European Commission, would like to convey to you an urgent humanitarian appeal to spare the life of Mr. José Martinez High, who has been condemned to capital punishment and is scheduled to be executed on November 6^th, 2001. According to documents filed during his trial, Mr. High may have been a juvenile at the moment of the crime. He has furthermore been diagnosed as having a serious mental illness and borderline mental retardation.

The European Union, as stated in the EU Memorandum on the Death Penalty, which was shared with you (http://www.eurunion.org/legislat/DeathPenalty/eumemorandum.htm), is opposed to the death penalty in all cases and accordingly aims at its universal abolition, seeking a global moratorium on the death penalty as a first step.

The European Union considers that, in those countries which have not yet abolished the death penalty, the death penalty should not be imposed on persons below 18 years of age at the time of the crime. This approach to juvenile justice is consistent with the spirit and the letter of several international human rights instruments, which expressly prohibit the execution of juveniles, specifically the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights. Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) - to which the United States is a party - expressly forbids the execution of people whose crime was committed when they were under 18 years of age. The EU considers that this would be contrary to generally accepted human rights norms.

Furthermore, the European Union takes a particular position regarding the imposition of the death penalty on persons suffering from a mental disorder, considering that executions under these circumstances degrade the dignity and worth of the human being. We would like to express our grave concern with the imposition of the death penalty on José Martinez High. The European Union is of the opinion that this execution would be in contradiction to the minimum standards set forth in several international human rights instruments. Among them are the United Nations Economic and Social Council 1984/50 resolution on the safeguards for the protection of persons facing the death penalty and resolution 2000/65 adopted at the last session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which specifically urges all states that still maintain the death penalty "not to impose the death penalty on a person suffering from any form of mental disorder or to execute any such person."

We therefore urge the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to take these factors into account and to exercise all powers vested in your office to commute the sentences of Mr. José Martinez High in accordance with international law. 

I thank you in advance for your consideration of this extremely urgent matter.

Sincerely,

Letter to Georgia Governor Barnes.

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Embassy of Belgium,
3330 Garfield Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20008
Tel. (202) 333-6900 - Fax. (202) 333-3079
Homepage : www.diplobel.org/usa/