EU Policy On The Death Penalty

Excerpts from a Statement Delivered to the European Parliament by EU External Relations Commissioner the Rt. Hon. Christopher Patten

16 February 2000

 

I would like to thank the Presidency for the work they’ve done to prepare Geneva on subjects like racism, civil and political rights and the right to development.

But much remains to be done despite the understandable request by the European Parliament and many NGOs that the EU should set its position well in advance of the Geneva session. Easier said than done. We are still discussing some of the toughest issues.

For example, discussion is still taking place about many issues raised in the EP’s resolution and it’s too early to predict the outcome.

It’s not surprising that the debate is long and difficult. That doesn’t suggest any lack of commitment to the improvement of human rights, but does indicate the usual concern to get our approach right so that we really make a difference. However, let me reflect that concern by referring to three controversial issues – the death penalty, Cuba and China. And I am going to be so unwise as to allow some personal reflections to creep occasionally into my remarks.

Death Penalty

We are currently reviewing the options and possibilities for introducing a death penalty resolution into the Commission for Human Rights. This has always been a subject about which I have personally felt extremely strongly. Spurred on by Amnesty and others, one of the first decisions I took as Governor of Hong Kong was to abolish the death penalty.

We know what has happened recently at the UN General Assembly. We had to freeze our resolution on the death penalty or risk the passing of a resolution that would have incorporated wholly unacceptable arguments that asserted that human rights are not universally applicable and valid.

The New York stage is different from Geneva, Last year’s debate in New York on sovereignty and humanitarian intervention was such a sensitive topic that it influenced all other issues. It certainly influenced the debate on the moratorium on the death penalty. The debate in Geneva, however, is more focused on human rights issues. We may therefore stand a better chance of making progress there.