United Nations votes for global moratorium on death penalty

“CCL congratulates the General Assembly on this important vote. The vote shows clearly that by far the majority of countries in the world oppose the death penalty”, said CCL committee member Mr Michael Walton.

“Australia sponsored and supported the vote. Let’s hope this marks the return for Australia to its principled opposition to the death penalty”, said Mr Walton.

“Australia has an international obligation to ensure that it does not expose anyone to the real risk of execution. Over the last decade we have seen a weakening of Australia’s stance against the death penalty. So Australia’s vote in the UN for a moratorium sees Australia again committing itself to abolition”, Mr Walton said.

“CCL looks forward to working with the new Attorney-General, Mr McClelland, and the Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Debus, to consolidate this new era of respect for human rights”, Mr Walton said.

“We will be encouraging the new Rudd government to:

• adopt the Second Optional Protocol into Australian law
• reform the way police cooperate and share information across international borders
• review Australian law to ensure it conforms to our human rights obligations, and
• promote moratoriums and abolition in our region of the world”, said Mr Walton.

• www.nswccl.org.au/issues/death_penalty
• UN media release on the moratorium vote (18 December 2007)