Ministers' Deputies 1067th meeting

Conclusions of the Chair of the Ministers’ Deputies

“I am glad that we have reaffirmed our engagement towards abolition of the death penalty, not only in practice but also in law, in Europe and worldwide, in times of war as in times of peace. This has also been an opportunity to recall that although abolition is an irreversible process, a lot needs to be done, in all our member states, to strongly and continuously reaffirm the unacceptability and uselessness of the death penalty. In this respect, the activities organised for this Third European Day against the Death Penalty are welcome.

We should pursue our efforts against the death penalty also during the year leading up to the next celebration of this Day. Already our next meeting will be an occasion to discuss about, I hope, concrete developments regarding the abolition de jure in our member states.

We should also focus our attention on the action that can be done by the Council of Europe at a wider level, including by pursuing dialogue with our observer states and with Belarus.

In 2010, a new UN Resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty will be discussed. We should aim at increasing support for this Resolution and for all relevant international instruments. This way we will consolidate the efforts for rejecting the death penalty worldwide.”]

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