4th July, 2014
The death penalty has no place in the 21st century says UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, urging those nations which still practice capital punishment to take "concrete steps" towards abolishing or no longer practising it.
Speaking at a UN event in New York this week, Mr Ki-moon said he remained "very concerned" about shortcomings with respect to international human rights standards in countries that still apply the death penalty.
"I am particularly troubled by the application of the death penalty for offences that do not meet the threshold under international human rights law of “most serious crimes”, including drug-related offences, consensual sexual acts and apostasy," he said.
"I am also concerned with legislation in 14 states that permits the death penalty on children, as well as the new phenomenon of sentencing large groups of individuals to death in mass trials."
It is estimated that 160 countries – four out of five UN member states – have either abolished the death penalty or do not practise it.
Figures from Amnesty International show that the number of execution last year was almost 15 per cent higher than those in 2012. At least 778 people were known to have been executed with almost 80 per cent of all know executions occurring in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The figures exclude China where thousands are believed to have been killed in unreported executions.
– DAVID ADAMS
