7th World Congress Speaks Against Death Penalty

Brussels is hosting the 7th world congress against the death penalty this week, with politicians and activists arguing their case in the main city of the 28-nation European Union, the largest zone to end the capital punishment

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th February, 2019) Brussels is hosting the 7th world congress against the death penalty this week, with politicians and activists arguing their case in the main city of the 28-nation European Union, the largest zone to end the capital punishment.

The gathering at the European Parliament hemicycle was therefore naturally welcome in the Belgian capital. It was launched officially on Wednesday and will continue into Friday.

Over 1,500 delegates, diplomats, nonprofit representatives and others will deliver testimonials and proposals and take part in discussions at workshops and debates, which will include speakers of countries that still apply the death penalty.

The abolition of death penalty in Europe is not that old. In France, it is only in 1981 then Justice Minister Robert Badinter put an end to deaths by guillotine under President Francois Mitterrand. Norway abolished it in 1948, while the Czech Republic had its last execution in 1989. On the European continent, only Belarus still applies the capital punishment.

In the world, four countries represent some 84 percent of the total of executions worldwide. China leads the tally, followed by the United States, Iran, India, and Saudi Arabia.

Africa has seen the most rapid process over the last few years. The justice ministers of Congo, Guinea, Gambia and Burkina Faso presented their legal decisions and application procedures. Burkina Faso was the latest country to abolish the death sentence in the fall of 2018.

The inaugural address was delivered by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini who explained why no country that still applies the death penalty would ever be part of the bloc. She made a passionate case for taking it off the books.

"Every life matters. The state should never dispose of the life of anybody. We believe in Justice, not revenge. The death penalty is incompatible with who we are. No country could become a member of the EU if it applies the capital punishment. It is not necessary, it is not a deterrent, and there is no coming back once the life is taken, if a mistake has been done. But it is impossible to avoid mistakes," she said.

Robert Badinter, in a video from Paris, praised progress in championing the abolition cause worldwide, with 140 countries having ended it. He warned of persisting attempts to reimpose the capital punishment.

"In our strained world, often cruel, the abolitionist cause has made huge progress... We have become a majority in international bodies. With lucidity, we must face the fact that many great powers are still supporters of death penalty and keep it in their legislative arsenal. Some hesitate like Japan... So our task is yet unfinished," he said.

He warned of continued opposition to abolishing the death penalty. In France, he recalled, 69 percent of the French population was in favor of the ultimate punishment when it was scrapped.

"The combat is not finished yet; we must make our voice heard for each execution. The death penalty is the absolute negation of the first human right, the right to live," he concluded.

French barrister Richard Sedillot, one of the conference's organizers, an expert on international penal law and director of the abolitionist nonprofit called Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM), explained to Sputnik that the death penalty had no impact on crime levels.

"The death penalty has no deterrent effect, and countries that have abolished it never see an increase in crime. The more a country practices the death penalty, the higher its level of crime. We are supporters of justice, not revenge," he said.

A country is considered abolitionist when it no longer applies the death penalty for more than 10 years. Many countries opt to impose a moratorium on the death penalty instead of voting a law because of internal resistance, he noted.

"We are obviously asking for universal abolition. We say that the death penalty is illegal under international law. There is a series of texts, international instruments that any country should ratify. Abolition is now part of the international criminal custom... The meaning of history is abolition," he argued.

But not everybody agrees, and during the first day of the world congress abolitionists were careful to propose to delegates of countries that are still applying the death penalty - the so-called retentionists - to come and discuss this moral and legal issue.

Nicolas Tournay, communications director of Belgium's center-right People's Party, argued that those opposing the capital punishment did not care about what the voters thought. He pointed to opinion polls in France where 52 percent apparently want it back for the worst felonies. Turkey is considering reintroducing the ultimate punishment after a long string of bloody terrorist attacks.

"Can a politician simply brush away the majority rule because he or she 'knows better'? Do the people have strictly no voice?.. No American president, even Bill Clinton or Barak Obama dared touch on the issue of the death penalty; too touchy in a country that believes in the people's justice. I am ill at ease with these 'moral' decisions that don't respect the rule of majority," he said.

But Raphael Chenuil-Hazan, the executive director at the ECPM, made a point about public opinion, which he said followed the decisions made.

"The capital punishment is cruel, degrading and inhumane, it discriminates disproportionately minorities. It gives the wrong moral impression that vengeance is legitimate. Public opinion follows the decisions made, whatever the country ... Some say that life is not worth anything. I say nothing is worth more than life itself," he said.

He cited the state of Michigan where the capital punishment was scrapped back in 1846.