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Final declaration of the first World Congress Against the Death Penalty |
We, citizens and abolitionist campaigners gathered in Strasbourg from 21 to 23 June 2001 for the First World Congress against the Death Penalty, organised by Ensemble contre la peine de mort / Together against the death penalty, declare :
The death penalty means the triumph of vengeance over justice and violates the first right of any human being, the right to life. Capital punishment has never prevented crime. It is an act of torture and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. A society that imposes the death penalty symbolically encourages violence. Every single society that respects the dignity of its people has to strive to abolish capital punishment.
We are pleased to note that many Speakers of Parliament have decided to launch on 22 June a “Solemn appeal for a world-wide moratorium on executions of those sentenced to death as a step towards universal abolition” at the European Parliament.
We demand the universal abolition of the death penalty. In this respect, we call on citizens, states and international organizations to act so that :
We support the investigation of the Council of Europe on the compatibility of the observer status of the United States and Japan with their adherence to the death penalty.
We call on the Council of Europe and the European Union to insist that Turkey, Russia and Armenia permanently abolish the death penalty for ALL crimes and commute all death sentences.
We call on the European Union to continue its efforts to achieve the abolition of the death penalty in the ordinary course of its international relations.
In addition to these general recommendations, we will issue specific recommendations, on a country-by-country basis, to support abolitionist campaigners.
We commit ourselves to creating a world-wide co-ordination of associations and abolitionist campaigners, whose first goal will be to launch a world-wide day for the universal abolition of the death penalty.
We call on the judicial and medical professions to confirm the utter incompatibility of their values with the death penalty and to intensify, country-by-country, their activities against the death penalty.
We associate ourselves with the petitions collected by Amnesty International, the Community of Sant’ Egidio, Ensemble contre la peine de mort, the Federation of Human Rights League, Hands off Cain and any other organisations and call on all abolitionist campaigners to sign the following international petition:
« We, citizens of the world, call for an immediate halt of all executions of those sentenced to death and the universal abolition of the death penalty »
Lastly, we call upon every state to take all possible steps towards the adoption by the United Nations of a world-wide moratorium on executions, pending universal abolition.
Strasbourg, 22 June 2001
Signatories of the Strasbourg Declaration
The death penalty means the triumph of vengeance over justice and violates the first right of any human being, the right to life. Capital punishment has never prevented crime. It is an act of torture and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. A society that imposes the death penalty symbolically encourages violence. Every single society that respects the dignity of its people has to strive to abolish capital punishment.
We are pleased to note that many Speakers of Parliament have decided to launch on 22 June a “Solemn appeal for a world-wide moratorium on executions of those sentenced to death as a step towards universal abolition” at the European Parliament.
We demand the universal abolition of the death penalty. In this respect, we call on citizens, states and international organizations to act so that :
- states ratify all abolitionist treaties and conventions on an international and regional level;
- countries which have stopped executing people sentenced to death, remove the death penalty from their statute books;
- states which sentence to death persons who were juveniles at the time of the crime end this blatant violation of international law;
- mentally disabled people cannot be sentenced to death;
- no states having abolished or suspended executions extradite anyone to third countries still applying the death penalty, irrespective of guarantees that it would not be imposed;
- states regularly and openly publish information on death sentences, detention conditions and executions.
We support the investigation of the Council of Europe on the compatibility of the observer status of the United States and Japan with their adherence to the death penalty.
We call on the Council of Europe and the European Union to insist that Turkey, Russia and Armenia permanently abolish the death penalty for ALL crimes and commute all death sentences.
We call on the European Union to continue its efforts to achieve the abolition of the death penalty in the ordinary course of its international relations.
In addition to these general recommendations, we will issue specific recommendations, on a country-by-country basis, to support abolitionist campaigners.
We commit ourselves to creating a world-wide co-ordination of associations and abolitionist campaigners, whose first goal will be to launch a world-wide day for the universal abolition of the death penalty.
We call on the judicial and medical professions to confirm the utter incompatibility of their values with the death penalty and to intensify, country-by-country, their activities against the death penalty.
We associate ourselves with the petitions collected by Amnesty International, the Community of Sant’ Egidio, Ensemble contre la peine de mort, the Federation of Human Rights League, Hands off Cain and any other organisations and call on all abolitionist campaigners to sign the following international petition:
« We, citizens of the world, call for an immediate halt of all executions of those sentenced to death and the universal abolition of the death penalty »
Lastly, we call upon every state to take all possible steps towards the adoption by the United Nations of a world-wide moratorium on executions, pending universal abolition.
Strasbourg, 22 June 2001
Signatories of the Strasbourg Declaration
| MICHEL TAUBE Chairman of Together Against the Death Penalty Organisation | DENYS ROBILIARD Chairman of the French section of Amnesty International | SIDIKI KABA Chairman of the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues |
| AHMED OTHMANI Chairman of Penal Reform International | STEVEN HAWKINS Chairman of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty United States | DR KOICHI KIKUTA Professor of Law, University of Japan |
| MARIO MARAZZITI Spokesperson of the Sant Egidio Community Italy | SERGIO D’ELIA Executive Director of Hands off Caïn Italy | FRANCIS TEITGEN Chairman of the Paris Bar Association France |
| MICHEL TUBIANA Chairman of the French Human Rights League France | SYLVIE BAKHARI DE PONTUAL Vice-Chairman of the French section and the International Federation of the Association Against Torture and capital punishment | RENEE LE MIGNOT Member of the M.R.A.P. organisation France |
| MIREILLE MENDES - FRANCE Member of the International Democratic Lawyers Association France | DENNIS DAVIS Judge, High Court of Cape Town South Africa | BELINDA VAN HEERDEN Judge, High Court of Cape Town South Africa |
| JEREMY SARKIN Professor of Law, University of the Western Cape South Africa | HAFEZ ABU SE’ADA Secretary General of the Egyptian Human Right Organization Egypt | WILLIAM KERFOOT Attorney, Legal Ressources Centre in Cape Town South Africa |
| ALIOUNE TINE Executive Director of the R.A.D.D.H. organisation Senegal | ALICE MOGWE Director, of DITSHWANELO - the Centre for Human Rights Botswana | JUAN PABLO DE LEON Professor of University, president of "Ciudadanos contra la pena de muerte" Puerto Rico |
| NICOLAS TIANGAYE President of the Central African Republic Human Right League Central African Republic | JODY KOLLAPEN Lawyer, Member of the South African Human Right Commission South Africa | SAM JORDAN Spokeperson, International concerned family for friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal United States |
| LIVINGSTONE SEWANYANA Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights Uganda | RON PASCHKE Barrister, Cape Bar South Africa |
