B4-0468, 0487, 0497, 0513 and 0542/97

Resolution on the abolition of the death penalty

The European Parliament,

- having regard to its previous resolutions on the abolition of the death penalty,

- having regard to Resolution 1047 of 1996 and Recommendation 1302 of 1996 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the abolition of the death penalty in Europe,

- having regard to the resolutions on the abolition of the death penalty adopted by the ACP-EU Joint Assembly on 26 September 1996 and 20 March 1997,

- having regard to the latest UN report on the death penalty (E/CN.15/1996/19),

- having regard to the resolution adopted by the 53rd session of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva on the death penalty (E/CN.4/1997/L.20),

A. having regard to the rapid increase in the use of the death penalty throughout the world,

B. welcoming the recent complete abolition of the death penalty in 1995 and 1996 in Italy, Spain, Belgium, Moldova and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,

C. welcoming the fact that Russia has signed the Sixth Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights which makes abolition of the death penalty a legal obligation, but regretting that the Russian Duma has rejected a bill on a moratorium on executions,

D. welcoming the fact that, over the last two years, international organizations such as the Council of Europe, the Latin American Parliament and the ACP-EU Joint Assembly have adopted resolutions in favour of a universal moratorium on executions,

E. seriously concerned by recent reports that in some member states of the Council of Europe executions are still taking place, notably in Ukraine, where 167 executions took place in 1996,

F. whereas 28 members of the Council of Europe have abolished the death penalty for all crimes,

G. whereas, of the countries which are members of the Council of Europe, Cyprus, Malta and the UK have not abolished the death penalty for exceptional crimes and Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Turkey are de facto abolitionist, but still retain the death penalty on their statute books,

H. whereas seven members of the Council of Europe have signed, but not yet ratified, the Sixth Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights and nine members have not yet signed it,

I. regretting that numerous members of the Council of Europe have not yet signed the second optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,

J. deploring the widespread use of the death penalty in the People's Republic of China,

K. deploring the growing use of the death penalty in most federal states in the USA,

L. whereas Italy has tabled a proposal to the IGC to ban the death penalty in the new EU Treaty,

1. Reaffirms its strong opposition to use of the death penalty anywhere in the world and calls on all countries to adopt a moratorium on executions and to abolish the death penalty;

2. Calls on the Intergovernmental Conference to introduce a ban on the death penalty in the new Treaty on European Union;

3. Calls on those European states that retain the death penalty, without having recourse to it, to abolish it definitively for all crimes as rapidly as possible;

4. Requests Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova and the Russian Federation to ratify the Sixth Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights and requests Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom to sign it;

5. Urges the Russian Federation and Ukraine to honour their commitments to the Council of Europe and immediately to adopt a moratorium and abolish the death penalty;

6. Proposes that candidate countries for accession to the Council of Europe should undertake to sign and ratify the second optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as a condition of membership;

7. Calls on those signatories to the ACP-EU Convention that have not already done so to abolish the death penalty as rapidly as possible;

8. Considers that the abolition of the death penalty must be taken into account in all negotiations concerning partnership and cooperation agreements;

9. Calls on the Commission to pay special attention to the death penalty in its annual reports on human rights clauses in agreements between the EU and third countries;

10. Calls on the Council, the Member States and the Commission, acting within its remit, to table at the UN General Assembly a resolution on the introduction of a universal moratorium on executions;

11. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the parliaments of the Member States of the EU, the parliaments and governments of the member countries of the Council of Europe, the ACP countries, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the People's Republic of China and the Unites States, the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe and the President of its Parliamentary Assembly, and the Secretary-General of the UN and the President of its General Assembly.