EU issues statement on International Day against the Death Penalty

The European Union has issued the following statement on International Day against the Death Penalty which falls today (10 October).

“An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind” (Mahatma Gandhi).

Today is the International Day against the Death Penalty. The death penalty is a cruel and ineffective punishment. The European Union, Norway and Switzerland oppose the death penalty in all circumstances. 

The EU welcomes the announcement by the Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapaksha that Sri Lanka would vote in favour of the UN General Assembly resolution on a moratorium on the death penalty. 

The death penalty represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and violates the right to life universally affirmed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and reaffirmed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Its worldwide abolition is a priority. Evidence from around the world shows:

There is no evidence that the death penalty deters crime.

The death penalty is irreversible. Mistaken identity and wrongful convictions do happen. Many death sentences are issued after confessions obtained by torture. Innocent people die.

You are more likely to be sentenced to death if you are poor or belong to an ethnic or religious minority.

Last year, at least 22 countries around the world carried out executions and at least 2,466 people were sentenced to death – an increase of 28%.

Many of those convicted spend years on death row, waiting to see if a reprieve will be granted. Sri Lanka currently has more than 400 prisoners under sentence of death.

101 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Make your voice heard for Sri Lanka to be part of the solution – not part of the problem.

Tweet #NoDeathPenalty

Signed

David Daly, Head of Delegation of the European Union to Sri Lanka and the Maldives

Jean-Marin Schuh, Ambassador of France to Sri Lanka and the Maldives

Dr. Jürgen Morhard, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Sri Lanka and the Maldives

Paolo Andrea Bartorelli, Ambassador of Italy to Sri Lanka and the Maldives

Joanne Doornewaard, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Sri Lanka and the Maldives

Dr. Victor Chiujdea, Ambassador of Romania to Sri Lanka and the Maldives

James Dauris, British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives

Thorbjørn Gaustadsæther, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to Sri Lanka and the Maldives

Heinz Walker-Nederkoorn, Ambassador of Switzerland to Sri Lanka and the Maldives