Zeid hails end of death penalty in Mongolia

GENEVA (9 December 2015) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Wednesday hailed the end of the death penalty in Mongolia as a welcome step in the fight for the human rights of all.

Last week, Mongolia became the 105th country to abolish the death penalty in law. Another 60 states have moratoria, or have not carried out executions in the last 10 years.

“This development is very encouraging and a clear example of positive progress in the fight for human rights for all – including people convicted of terrible crimes. We must not allow even the most atrocious acts to strip us of our fundamental humanity. Mongolia’s passage of this law, which is the result of strong and sustained leadership on this issue, has reaffirmed this essential truth,” the High Commissioner said.

ENDS

Visit OHCHR's death penalty page: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/DeathPenalty/Pages/DPIndex.aspx 

To see OHCHR's publication entitled "Moving Away from the Death Penalty: Lessons in South-East Asia", please visit: http://bangkok.ohchr.org/files/Moving%20away%20from%20the%20Death%20Penalty-English%20for%20Website.pdf 

For more information and media requests, please contact Ravina Shamdasani (+ 41 22 917 9169 / rshamdasani@ohchr.org) or Cecile Pouilly (+41 22 917 9310 / cpouilly@ohchr.org)

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