UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS WELCOMES LANDMARK GENERAL ASSEMBLY CALL AGAINST DEATH PENALTY

Geneva, 19 December 2007: - - The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, today welcomed the General Assembly's call yesterday on all States to establish a moratorium on the application of the death penalty. "The General Assembly has taken a truly landmark step. Over 100 States, from all parts of the world, have joined together to call for an end to the death penalty. Never before has there been such wide agreement that the time has come to put an end to this practice, which is an unworthy punishment in the 21st century," she said.

The High Commissioner called on those States that voted against the resolution to reconsider their stance. "After lengthy and considered negotiation and debate, a clear majority of the States of the world have now spoken and expressed a new standard of conduct in this area. I call on those States that did not feel themselves able to join this vote to reassess their stance and to join the view that has been so clearly and broadly expressed by the General Assembly," she said.