Dar es Salaam:
On the eve of the eighth anniversary of the World Day Against the
Death Penalty, and the fourth anniversary of the European Day Against
the Death Penalty, British Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne said:
“It is the longstanding policy of the UK Government to oppose the
death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. There is
no evidence of its deterrent value and any miscarriage of justice is
irreversible and irreparable.
“Since I launched the Government’s Strategy for Abolition of the Death
Penalty in October 2010, we have continued to take action against our
three goals, taken all appropriate opportunities to raise the issue
with our priority countries and I have raised it with a number of my
counterparts including in Asia and the Caribbean.
“There have been several positive developments over the last year
which I welcome. At the end of last year, there was record support
achieved at the United Nations General Assembly with an increase in
the number of countries voting in favour of the Resolution on the
Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty. And this year we have
seen China reduce the number of crimes eligible for the death penalty
from 68 to 55, and Trinidad and Tobago rule the mandatory death
penalty for felony murder unconstitutional. The UK is keen to see this
increasing international trend towards abolition of the death penalty
continue.
“The UK Government is absolutely committed to its efforts to achieve
its objective of global abolition of the death penalty. We call on all
retentionist states to formally establish a moratorium on the use of
the death penalty, with a view to abolition. In the interim, we urge
all retentionist countries to ensure that EU minimum standards on the
use of death penalty are met.”
Notes to editors:
1. The World Day Against the Death Penalty is on Monday 10 October.
2. The UK Government’s Strategy for the Abolition of the Death
Penalty, which was publically launched in October 2010 set out three
goals: an increase in abolitionist countries or countries which have
established moratoriums on executions, a reduction in the numbers of
executions and restrictions on the use of the death penalty, and
ensuring countries which retain the death penalty meet EU minimum
standards on its use:
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/global-issues/human-rights/justice-security/death-penalty/abolition-strategy
Kind regards,
Newsdesk
Press Office l Foreign and Commonwealth Office
All the latest news is available on our website at: www.fco.gov.uk/news
end