WRITTEN QUESTION E-3606/01

by Salvador Garriga Polledo (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(8 January 2002)

Subject: European Union publicity campaign against the death penalty

The recent publication of an autobiographical account by a Spanish citizen who had been sentenced to death in the United States and succeeded in escaping death thanks to a judicial review of his case demonstrates the fact that capital punishment is currently one of the worst blots on humanity in certain countries of the world.

It is vital that the European Union as such should express at world level its condemnation of the death penalty, giving those countries which still practise this maximum penalty to understand that they have placed themselves beyond the realm of humanism, which demands the total abolition of this form of punishment throughout the world.

Does the European Union believe that it should carry out, at its own expense, a worldwide publicity campaign against the death penalty so that the whole world would know that the societies which make up our Member States are firmly opposed to this irreversible form of punishment?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(6 March 2002)

The European Union in 1998 decided, as an integral part of its human rights policy, to strengthen its international activities in opposition to the death penalty. The Union works towards the universal abolition of the death penalty as a strongly held policy now agreed by all Member States. This policy is also guided by the EU Charter of fundamental rights(1) whose Article 2 proclaims that no one shall be condemned to the death penalty. In the process of attaining this primary objective, where the death penalty still exists, the Union calls for its use to be progressively restricted, and insists that it be carried out according to certain minimum standards. The Union also presses, where relevant, for moratoria to be introduced. The Union has produced internal guidelines for demarches and representations it makes on capital punishment, where relevant, in multilateral fora and towards third countries.

Since the Honourable Member mentions the United States, it should be noted that EU policy is pursued actively in relation to this country. Demarches in individual cases are frequently carried out by the Union, represented by its Presidency, notably in relation to juveniles and the mentally retarded.

Another significant manifestation of Union policy was the demarche by the Union in February 2000, inviting the United States to establish a general moratorium in view of complete elimination. On this occasion a memorandum on EU-policy on the death penalty was presented to the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights.

In addition, the Union has intervened in specific cases as an amicus curiae, on behalf of victims that have appealed their death sentence to the United States Supreme Court.

Further information about Union action in the United States can be found in the Union's annual Report on Human Rights for 2001(2).

The fight against the death penalty is also among the priority themes that have been identified in the European Commission's Communication to the Council and Parliament of 8 May 2001 regarding the Union's role in promoting human rights and democratisation in third countries(3). This commitment will be translated into action by the identification of human rights projects under the Chapter B7-7, the European Initiative for Human Rights and Democracy. The Commission recently approved a Programming document for this budget line that notably foresees projects to raise public awareness of the numerous shortcomings of the death penalty. This document has been sent to the Parliament and is available on the Commission's website.

(1) OJ C 364, 18.12.2000.

(2) http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/human_rights/doc/report_01_en.pdf.

(3) COM(2001) 252 final.