Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: DEATH PENALTY:  Moratorium Vote Leaves Deep Divisions

Mi pare che nessuno l'abbia ancora ricordato ma questo voto della terza 
commissione dell'ONU è un passaggio molto importante per almeno due aspetti.
Primo per il contenuto di principio che porta con se riguardo al rispetto dei 
diritti fondamentali della persona umana e alla sua stessa concezione giuridica; 
secondo per la dimostrazione di come sia possibile portare avanti e costruire 
pazientemente soluzioni politiche nuove e migliori sfidando la cappa di 
conformismo rassegnato e subalterno che sta bloccando il mondo occidentale sotto 
la leadership culturale, economica, politica e militare statunitense.
Come cittadino del mondo e come italiano voglio esprimere tutta la mia 
ammirazione e gratitudine al ministro degli esteri Massimo D'Alema e al primo 
ministro Romano Prodi per aver creduto nella battaglia e per aver saputo trovare 
la soluzione polico-diplomatica per portarla al successo.
E sento anche di dover ringraziare i radicali italiani, che sono stati il motore 
primo di questa battaglia.
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DEATH PENALTY:  Moratorium Vote Leaves Deep Divisions
By Anuradha Kher
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 16 (IPS) - It was a victorious day for the anti-death 
penalty movement on Thursday, as the Third Committee of the U.N. General 
Assembly passed a symbolic resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on 
capital punishment.
Ninety-nine countries voted in favour of the resolution, 52 voted against and 
there were 33 abstentions. Eight countries were altogether absent from the 
meeting -- the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Kiribati, Peru, 
Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia and Tunisia.
The United States, Singapore and China joined many developing countries, notably 
from the Islamic world, in voting against the resolution, while abstainers 
included Bhutan, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo and Cuba.
Months of meetings, campaigns and conferences intended to push the moratorium at 
the U.N. General Assembly culminated in this week's vote, where conflicting 
views on the legality and effectiveness of capital punishment made for a tense 
atmosphere.
"The issue arouses a lot of strong feelings and that's what we saw among 
delegates at the meeting," Yvonne Terlingen, the Amnesty International's 
representative at the United Nations, told IPS.
The draft resolution, which was co-sponsored by the European Union bloc and 60 
other countries, still needs to be submitted to the 192-member General Assembly 
for a vote. If approved, it would be non-binding, but would carry moral weight. 
Diplomats said that the GA was widely expected to endorse the decision, possibly 
next month.
"We are happy with the substantive majority of countries who voted for the 
resolution. It was more than what we had expected," Terlingen said. "We believe 
this will encourage many more countries to abolish capital punishment or at 
least review their laws regarding it."
Eventually, that is what the anti-death penalty movement hopes for. One of the 
sponsors of the resolution and a major anti-death penalty advocate, the European 
Union, echoed this sentiment.
"This is a good day for human rights and the European goal of achieving the 
abolition of the death penalty all over the world. Based on this broad 
coalition, we will continue our efforts to reach this objective in the interest 
of humanity," said the EU commissioner for external relations, Benita 
Ferrero-Waldner.
In an emotional statement after the resolution was passed, Italy's Ambassador to 
the U.N., Marcello Spatafora said, "I strongly hope that, in approving this 
resolution, we will be starting a process in which we will be all working 
together, we will be all walking together along the same path, with equal 
dignity, with full mutual respect."
But the vote tally that Terlingen and others on the anti-death penalty side view 
as a substantive majority and broad coalition, Singapore and others interpret as 
signaling no clear consensus on the matter.
"The vote on the resolution made clear that there is no international consensus 
on the death penalty. Almost half the membership of the U.N. did not vote in 
favour of the resolution. Many delegations were obviously uncomfortable with it. 
This is a criminal justice, not a human rights issue," Vanu Gopala Menon, 
Singapore's ambassador to the United Nations, told IPS.
He said that the main sponsors have only succeeded in exacerbating the divisions 
and polarising the membership by trying to impose their views on the rest of the 
world.
"Singapore will not change its criminal justice system in response to this vote. 
It is our sovereign right to decide based on our own criminal justice system," 
he added.
Over the two days of debate, countries opposed to the resolution, including 
Barbados and Syria, argued that it smacked of moral righteousness on the part of 
proponents and that it touched on issues of national sovereignty.
But Terlingen said that "the resolution was being backed not only by the EU but 
also by a large number of countries in Africa, South America and many others 
from the South."
In an effort to make their point of view heard, countries such as Singapore, the 
U.S., Egypt and Barbados proposed 14 written and four oral amendments to the 
resolution -- including the right to life of unborn children -- were introduced. 
In the months leading to the vote, anti-death penalty activists feared that 
these amendments would jeopardise the resolution, but to their surprise, all of 
them were defeated in debates preceding the vote.
For once, the United States and Iran were on the same side of an issue. "The 
U.S. recognises that the supporters of this resolution hold principled positions 
on the issue of the death penalty. Nonetheless, it is important to recognise 
that international law does not prohibit capital punishment," Robert S. Hagen, 
deputy representative to the U.N. Economic and Social Council, said in his 
statement at the meeting.
He also said that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 
specifically recognises the right of countries to impose the death penalty for 
the most serious crimes carried out with appropriate safeguards and observance 
of due process.
In the United States, there is currently a de facto moratorium on capital 
punishment as the country's highest court reviews the legality of lethal 
injections as a method of execution.
According to Amnesty Intentional, more than 90 percent of executions last year 
took place in China, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan and the U.S. But it said that 
the number of recorded executions has decreased from 2,148 in 2005 to 1,591 the 
following year.
A growing number of countries are abolishing the death penalty -- 133 countries 
have done so in practice or in law.
Two proposed death penalty moratoriums previously reached the floor of the 
general assembly: in 1994 and 1999. The former was defeated by eight votes and 
the latter withdrawn at the last minute.
(END/2007)

 ammirazione e gratitudine al ministro degli esteri Massimo D'Alema e
basta, Richelieu è il motore primo della PE mondiale. Sotto di lui ci
attendono anni di pace e felicità, e l'umanità approderà a Shangri-la,
paradiso terrestre dove ai fortunati che ci arriveranno verrà concesso
di salmodiare tutto il giorno inni in onore di Richelieu.

giovanni ha scritto:

Ma, guarda, D'Alema l'ho criticato ferocemente in passato per il suo 
progetto di "normalizzazione" del quadro politico italiano destinato ad 
integrare irreversibilmente il paese nel sistema capitalistico globale.
Questo non significa che quando fa una cosa giusta e positiva non gli si 
debba riconoscere.

 integrare irreversibilmente il paese nel sistema capitalistico globale.
Sarà rimasto impressionatissimo.
Tb
-- 
E' una grande mitzvah essere sempre felici (R. Nachman di Breslavia)