On November 19, 110 coun­tries vot­ed for a res­o­lu­tion at the United Nations General Assembly call­ing for a world­wide mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions as a step towards the abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty. The vote marked record sup­port for the res­o­lu­tion com­pared to pre­vi­ous years. Among the coun­tries sup­port­ing the res­o­lu­tion were the European Union nations, Australia, Brazil, South Africa and Israel. The United States, Japan, China, Iran, India, North Korea, Syria and Zimbabwe were among 39 coun­tries oppos­ing the non-bind­ing res­o­lu­tion in the Assembly’s Third Committee, which address­es human rights issues. Thirty-six coun­tries abstained. Recently, France launched a cam­paign with oth­er abo­li­tion­ist states to get the full General Assembly to pass a res­o­lu­tion call­ing for a death penal­ty mora­to­ri­um. Though such a res­o­lu­tion would also be non-bind­ing, diplo­mats say it would increase moral pres­sure. Around the world, about 141 are abo­li­tion­ist in law or in prac­tice, while 57 coun­tries retain the death penalty.

(“Record num­ber back UN vote against death penal­ty,” AFP in the China Post, November 20, 2012). See International.

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