Jordan Times
Friday, October 8, 2004
Delegation attends 2nd World Congress against the Death Penalty
By Mahmoud Al Abed
MONTREAL — This quiet city has been transformed over the past few days into the
world capital of human rights, with activists, governments and nongovernmental
organisations all united in a common aim: The universal abolition of the death
penalty.
The 2nd World Congress against the Death Penalty
began on Wednesday attracting more than 1,000 activists from all corners of the
world, including key speeches from high profile personalities and human rights
campaigners Irene Khan (Amnesty International), Bianca Jagger, and Mary
Robinson, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Jordan is represented at the conference by Ahmad Obeidat, the chairman of the
board of trustees of the National Centre for Human Rights and Eva Halaweh,
director of the Law Group for Human Rights, Mizan.
At a joint press conference on Wednesday, Obeidat told more than 80 reporters
covering the event that his participation at the conference has “enhanced my
conviction of the need to take important steps to minimise the number of
executions in Jordan as a first step” to total abolition.
Obeidat was due on Thursday to co-chair a roundtable on the death penalty in the
Arab and Muslim worlds.
According to Amnesty International, in 2003 seven people were executed in Jordan
and at least 15 sentenced to death.
What marked the proceedings of the first day of the conference is the heavy
presence of EU countries at the governmental, NGO and media levels.
The EU is committed to carry the anti-death penalty campaign across the Atlantic
in an effort to persuade authorities in countries like the United States, which
still executes minors and mentally challenged convicts, to put an end to capital
punishment.
According to EU sources, the Union's campaign towards universal abolition “is
rooted in the belief in the inherent dignity of all human beings and the
inviolability of the human person, regardless of the crime committed.”
The EU consistently raises the issue of the death penalty with third countries
and abolition is a requirement for countries seeking EU membership.
“The city of Montreal was selected because it is located in a country that has
abolished the death penalty. Furthermore, it is close to countries that continue
to use it, such as the United States, Cuba and certain other Caribbean islands,”
organisers said in a press release.
According to Amnesty International, 38 child offenders were executed worldwide
since 1990, half of them in the US.
Also, the US and Japan are the only democratic countries to execute more than
one death row inmate every year.
On Wednesday, the gathering listened to speeches by a variety of people
concerned with the issue, including ambassadors, people who were on death row
and the families of murder victims, in addition to messages sent by Pope John
Paul II, French President Jacque Chirac and Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights.
The event will conclude on Saturday with a mass rally followed on Sunday by the
events marking World Day against the Death Penalty to be held in over 100
countries.
A total of 78 countries around the world continue to apply the death penalty
while 80 have completely abolished it. Others may allow capital punishment, but
not routinely apply it.
The congress is organised by the ECPM “Together Against Death Penalty” movement
and the Penal Reform International (PRI).
The 1st World Congress Against the Death Penalty took place in Strasbourg
(France) in June 2001. Participants demanded then “a halt to all executions on
the road toward universal abolition.” The World Coalition Against the Death
Penalty, an umbrella abolitionist group, was born in Strasbourg.
Capital punishment
• More than 1,100 people were executed in 2003 around the world.
• 84% of the deaths were carried out in four countries: The US, Iran, China and
Vietnam
• 66 countries still apply the death penalty
Source:CBC Montreal