Le istituzioni locali e il mondo associativo per la costruzione di una rete in materia di cooperazione, cultura di pace, integrazione multietnica, promozione dei diritti umani e della solidarietà fra i popoli.
Poland against the EU anti-death penalty Day
The EU had planned to mark a European Day against the Death Penalty each year on 10 October, but Poland has put the veto because it has judged this initiative “useless”.
The Poland’s Prime minister Wladyslaw Stasiak has suggested celebrating a "right to life" day against abortion and euthanasia whereas the Polish justice minister is said to have read out loud the number of abortions in Denmark, Sweden and Finland during the meeting with the other Police justice ministers EU. In fact, the conservative political party in power in Poland had based its latest campaign on the re-introduction of the death penalty and so it can’t now celebrate a Day against it (despite that, it wouldn’t have introduced death penalty because Poland had signed the European convention of human rights which forbids it). So the Prime minister argues it is not necessary to establish a special day against capital punishment because it is outlawed throughout the 27-nation union.
The proposal had the aim to fight against the death penalty not in Europe, but in the other world´s countries as US China and Africa. Unfortunately if it is not possible to find a consensus among all the 27 member states, the Day will be abolished. However, Portuguese justice minister and EU President, Alberto Costa, has told that it does not mean that Europe is not committed to the abolition of the death penalty in the world and this position shall not change. Besides, he has indicated that a high-level international conference held in Lisbon on 9 October could be an alternative way of marking Europe´s anti-death penalty stance, in order to issue a strong message that will dignify the continent of Europe and also a country, as Portugal, that more than 100 years ago abolished and never again used the death penalty.
Moreover on the 28th of September, as the Italian Prime minister Prodi has announced, Italy and Portugal will organize a meeting in NY with the 95 countries who have signed the appeal of moratorium to ONU. In fact it’s near in time the presentation of moratorium against death penalty in the next General Assembly ONU.
Emma Bonino, Political community minister, who fights against death penalty since 13 years, hopes that the Assembly will be soon. “There are many persons and countries in favour to abolish capital punishment, but we miss the courage”.
In fact the situation is alarming: in 2006, not in Europe, but in the rest of the world, there have been 2.628 executions, and 64 of them in 5 countries with democratic governments.
