EU Policy On The Death Penalty

EU DEMARCHE ON THE DEATH PENALTY

Presented, with a Memorandum, to United States Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, Frank Loy, on February 25, 2000 by the EU Presidency, represented by Ambassador Joao da Rocha Paris, Embassy of Portugal, accompanied by FranHoise Barry Delongchamps, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of France  and Ambassador Guenter Burghardt, Head of Delegation, European Commission

The European Union (EU) is opposed to the death penalty in all cases and accordingly aims at its universal abolition. In line with the international community view, the EU considers that the abolition of the death penalty contributes to the enhancement human dignity and the progressive development of human rights.

- The EU expresses its concern about the increasing number of persons sentenced to death and executed in the United States of America (USA) - nearly 600 executions have been carried out since reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, nearly 500 of which took place in the 1990s -, and, in particular about the fact that among these persons are individuals who were aged under 18 at the time of the commission of the crime, suffered from mental disorder, or were in fact innocent and unable to prove their innocence due to evident lack of adequate legal assistance. 

- The reservation made by the USA to Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), concerning the prohibition of imposing the death penalty on minors, is in the Human Rights Committee's view incompatible with the object and the purpose of the ICCPR. Several EU Member States have formally objected to the reservation. The EU urges the USA to withdraw it as a matter of urgency.

- The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibits sentencing minors both to death and also to imprisonment for life without the possibility of release. These are juvenile justice standards of paramount relevance and the EU urges the USA to ratify the Convention.

- At the dawn of a new millennium the EU hopes that the USA will join the abolitionist movement, becoming an example of great weight for retentionist countries. As a first step the EU calls upon the USA to establish a moratorium on the use of the death penalty with a view to completely eliminating capital punishment.

- The EU calls upon the USA to respect the strict conditions under which the death penalty may be used, which are set forth in several international instruments including the ICCPR, the UN Convention on the Rights on the Child, the UN.ECOSOC Safeguard Guaranteeing Protection of those Facing the Death Penalty and the American Convention on Human Rights. Furthermore, the EU reiterates the respect due to the guarantee of the Vienna Convention that a detained national of any State party will be notified without delay of his right to contact his consulate.

- Consistent with the EU approach in question of the death penalty in the USA, a Memorandum presenting an overview on the principles, experiences, policies and alternative solutions guiding the abolitionist movement in Western Europe will be delivered to the relevant federal and state US authorities. The EU hopes that this initiative will be taken into careful consideration.