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News :: Civil & Human Rights |
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China, Iran And The USA Accounted For 81 Per Cent Of All Known Executions In 2002 |
Current rating: 6 |
by Amnesty International via ML
(No verified email address) |
11 Apr 2003
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Former Illinois Governor George Ryan is cited for his commutations of 167 death sentences, but much of the United States is still too closely associated by virtue of retaining the death penalty along with other barbaric regimes who are known human rights violators. |
11 April 2003
(Geneva) During 2002 over 1,526 people were executed in 31 countries, Amnesty International said today.
Releasing its statistics for the number of worldwide executions carried out during 2002, Amnesty International called on the UN Commission on Human Rights to take strong action against the death penalty at its annual session, currently sitting in Geneva, and to establish a universal moratorium on executions.
"The Commission on Human Rights will hopefully soon pass another strong resolution reiterating its call for an immediate worldwide moratorium on executions and urging states to respect international standards, including the ban on executing child offenders."
"The UN should take the lead and take firm and positive measures to protect those facing the death penalty."
Amnesty International stressed that the figures released today only include cases known to the organization. "It is impossible to give a complete total because many countries deliberately keep the true numbers of those executed secret, belying the supposed deterrent value of the death penalty," the human rights organization said.
Amnesty International also recorded over 3,248 people who were sentenced to death in 67 countries during 2002.
"Many cases were in blatant violation of international standards on the application of the death penalty," Amnesty International said.
"Prisoners were sentenced to death following unfair trials. There were executions of child offenders -- people convicted of crimes committed when they were under the age of 18." Three such executions were recorded in 2002 - all in the USA.
Amnesty International recorded 1,060 executions in China and 113 executions in Iran, but the true number was believed to be much higher in both countries. Seventy-one people were executed in the USA, up from 66 in 2001.
"The figures for China, Iran and the USA accounted for 81 per cent of all known executions in 2002," Amnesty International said.
"Yet there has also been progress towards abolition. By the end of the year, 111 countries had abolished the death penalty in law or practice."
During 2002, Cyprus and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (now Serbia and Montenegro) abolished the death penalty for all offences. Turkey abolished the death penalty in practice.
Amnesty International welcomed the decision by the President of Tanzania in April 2002 to commute the death sentences of 100 people convicted of murder, and the commutation of 17 death sentences in Saudi Arabia in December.
More recently, Governor George Ryan of the US state of Illinois decided, when leaving office in January 2003, to commute the sentences of all 167 prisoners on the state's death row. Suspension of executions were announced in Guatemala, the Philippines and the US state of Maryland. In Kyrgysztan, the President announced in January 2003 that the country's moratorium in executions would be extended for another year.
Additionally, during 2002 Djibouti, Lithuania and South Africa ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) -- a treaty providing for the total abolition of the death penalty -- bringing the number of state parties to the Second Optional Protocol to 49.
In Europe, a new treaty providing for the total abolition of the death penalty with no exceptions was adopted and opened for signature. By the end of the year five countries had ratified Protocol No. 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights, and 34 other countries had signed it.
Another positive development in 2002 was the formation of the World Coalition against the Death Penalty, comprising trade unions, bar associations, local and regional governments and human rights organizations. This new coalition is working for the universal abolition of capital punishment. Amnesty International has been joined by the other members of the Coalition in appealing for action by the UN Commission on Human Rights.
"The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and a violation of the right to life," Amnesty International said.
"It is time to get rid of this barbaric punishment forever."
Source: Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street, WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom
Contact your nearest Amnesty International office for more information
© Copyright 2003
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See also:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/group.html
http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/
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Birds Of A Feather: Rewarding Repression, Executions, Support For Aggresive War |
by Edward Alden
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
12 Apr 2003
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US drops censure of China on human rights
April 11 2003
The US said on Friday it would not offer a United Nations resolution condemning China for human rights abuses, the first time since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre that Washington has not tried to censure the Beijing government.
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The decision, made by the White House, is the latest sign of the improving ties between the US and China as a result of the war on terrorism and China's muted opposition to the war in Iraq.
The annual UN debate over its human rights record had been a continual source of embarrassment to China, even though the US was never able to muster enough support in the 53-nation UN Human Rights Commission to pass a censure resolution.
The commission, currently chaired by Libya, includes many countries with poor human rights records, and has repeatedly rejected US resolutions on China. The US last year was denied a seat on the commission and was unable to offer any resolution.
Philip Reeker, a US State Department spokesman, said the decision this year was a result of some improvements in China's human rights record, and a desire by the US to allow the new leadership in Beijing to build on that progress.
But the move comes just two weeks after the State Department's annual human rights report condemned China, saying that its "human rights record throughout the year remained poor, and the government continued to commit numerous and serious abuses".
While noting some positive developments in the release of dissidents and other areas, the report said progress was derailed last year by the arrests of democracy activists, trials of labour leaders and the imposition of death sentences against two Tibetan dissidents.
Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington director of Human Rights Watch Asia, said the US decision "will undermine those in China who are trying to bring about reform and change".
Human rights groups have criticised the administration of President George W. Bush for largely ignoring human rights violations in its efforts to build international support for the war on terrorism.
US military sales and foreign aid have increased significantly to countries such as Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan that the State Department has cited for repeated abuses.
China has taken advantage of the war on terrorism to launch a crackdown against Muslim Uighur separatists in north-western China.
Nicholas Lardy, a China expert at the Institute for International Economics, said the US decision was likely in part a reward for China not playing a leading role in opposing the US war in Iraq.
The US also needs Chinese co-operation to resolve the nuclear weapons crisis in North Korea.
© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2003
http://news.ft.com |
