Italian Premier Romano Prodi called for a world­wide mora­to­ri­um on the death penal­ty in an address to world lead­ers at the United Nations General Assembly. Prodi advo­cat­ed pas­sage of a U.N. mora­to­ri­um res­o­lu­tion, say­ing, ​“If gen­uine pol­i­tics means show­ing fore­sight, we shall per­form a great polit­i­cal act through the adop­tion of this res­o­lu­tion. It will demon­strate that humankind isn’t capa­ble of mak­ing progress only in sci­ence but also in the field of ethics.”

Prodi told the General Assembly that there is a ​“grow­ing trend” against cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and that sup­port for the mora­to­ri­um was grow­ing each day in Europe and every region of the world. Noting that ​“the bat­tle against cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is a dif­fi­cult one because many coun­tries still prac­tice it,” Prodi urged U.N. mem­ber nations to aban­don the death penal­ty to cre­ate ​“a soci­ety that has at last freed itself from the spi­ral of revenge.” According to reports, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who met with Prodi to dis­cuss the issue, sup­ports pas­sage of the resolution.

The res­o­lu­tion needs two-thirds of the votes in the 192-mem­ber U.N. General Assembly to pass. U.N. mem­bers that are also part of the European Union, which oppos­es cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and requires mem­ber nations to aban­don the prac­tice, are expect­ed to sup­port the res­o­lu­tion. The U.S. China, Iran and Saudi Arabia are among the nations expect­ed to oppose its pas­sage.
(New York Times, September 26, 2007). See International Death Penalty.

Citation Guide