Thanks to the commitment shown by Italy, the EU and other promoters of the international campaign against the death penalty, the United Nations General Assembly has adopted the eighth biennial resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty, with a record 123 votes in favour.
Italy was intensely active in light of the resolution being adopted, contributing to increasing the number of Countries who support the moratorium compared to the previous vote in 2018, considerably reducing abstentions.
Italy’ entire diplomatic network was mobilised to sensitise as many Countries as possible to this very important question. On the periphery of the 75th Session of the General Assembly (24 September 2020), Minister Di Maio chaired a high level international event to sensitise the International Community to the effects of the death penalty on women, who are victims of the same, whether they be condemned themselves or relatives of others condemned to death.
One essential contribution to this success was the constant, fruitful collaboration on the part of the Foreign Ministry, with its partners in the EU and especially with civil society organisations that are part of the Foreign Ministry / Civil Society Task Force on the death penalty, chaired this year by Vice Minister Sereni: Amnesty International Italia, Community of Sant’Egidio, and Nessuno Tocchi Caino.
The extraordinary voting result goes hand in hand with significant progress in the resolution’s text, compared to that in 2018. This includes recognition of civil society’s role in the fight against the death penalty; reference to discriminatory application of the death penalty against women; and calling on Countries to ensure that relatives and legal representatives of those condemned to death receive adequate information as to their condition.
The death penalty is both unacceptable and cruel. It does not act as a deterrent against the crime, while making every judicial error fatally irreversible.
