In November, a pre­lim­i­nary res­o­lu­tion was pre­sent­ed to the United Nations General Assembly for a mora­to­ri­um on the use of the death penal­ty around the world. Panama, the European Union, Paraguay, Philippines, East Timor, Rwanda, Mozambique and Russia were among the res­o­lu­tion’s spon­sors. Other co-spon­sors includ­ed nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The res­o­lu­tion received 107 votes in favor, 38 against and 36 absten­tions. In 2007, a sim­i­lar res­o­lu­tion was adopt­ed by the General Assembly, receiv­ing 104 ​“yes” votes, 54 ​“no” and 29 absten­tions. The increase in the num­ber of sup­port­ive votes and the decline in neg­a­tive votes (from 54 to 38) are indica­tive of an inter­na­tion­al trend away from the death penal­ty. The United States joined China, India and oth­er nations in vot­ing against the res­o­lu­tion. In recent years, China has con­sis­tent­ly had the great­est num­ber of exe­cu­tions in the world, with the U.S. being among the top five coun­tries in that cat­e­go­ry. In 2009, the U.S. car­ried out 52 exe­cu­tions. UPDATE: The final vote on the res­o­lu­tion occurred on Dec. 21, 2010: 109 coun­tries vot­ed for the res­o­lu­tion (+3 votes from pri­or res­o­lu­tion), 41 vot­ed against (-5 votes), 35 abstained and 7 were absent. (World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Newsletter, January 2011).

(“US Votes Against Moratorium on Death Penalty,” RTT News, November 12, 2010). See International.

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