introduced by Italy and co-sponsored by other 87 countries - including Australia, EU States, more than a dozen Latin American States and eight African countries -, the resolution calls on those countries that have capital punishment to introduce a moratorium on executions and eventually abolish capital punishment. The text declares capital punishment "undermines human dignity", that "there is no conclusive evidence of the death penalty's deterrent value", and "any miscarriage or failure of justice in implementation is irreversible and irreparable".
Opponents of the resolution - including China, Iran, India, Singapore and Syria -, argued that capital punishment is a criminal law issue which should be left to countries to decide on and said the European Union was trying to impose its values on the rest of the world.
The US, where a challenge to lethal injection has reached the Supreme Court, said capital punishment was not barred by international law. "The United States recognises that the supporters of this resolution have principled positions on the issue of the death penalty. But nonetheless it is important to recognise that international law does not prohibit capital punishment", Robert Hagan, the US's representative in the committee, said after the vote.
On the contrary, Britain's ambassador to the UN, Sir John Sawers, said the vote showed international opinion was changing. "When we tried this eight years ago, it was mainly Europeans who voted in favour of such a moratorium", he said. "We now have a global coalition and I think it's an important sign that the death penalty is increasingly unpopular and is seen as unreliable".
Last year at least 1,591 people were put to death in 25 countries, with 91% of those executions taking place in just in six states: China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan and the US. China is known to have executed more than 1,000 prisoners in 2006, but the real figure may be closer to 8,000. Twelve US States put a total of 53 people to death last year, but the practice has fallen to its lowest level in a decade after the Supreme Court decided to hear arguments about the humanity of lethal injection.
Human rights groups welcomed the draft resolution. Amnesty International called the vote "a clear recognition of the growing international trend toward worldwide abolition of the death penalty". Two proposed death penalty moratoriums previously reached the floor of the General Assembly: in 1994 and 1999. The former was defeated by eight votes and the latter withdrawn at the last minute.