A right to life debate erupted in the UN recently (15th Nov 07) as a committee debated a moratorium on the death penalty.According to the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-Fam), this was perhaps the first time ever, that a debate about protecting the unborn child from abortion erupted in the Third Committee of the General Assembly.
Led by mostly Muslim states, the effort was at least partly an attempt to strike at the efforts of the European Union-led resolution condemning the death penalty.
Several sponsors of the death-penalty resolution argued that the right to life amendments were not in keeping with the main focus of the text and that they were merely introduced to sow confusion and division.
The representative of Egypt stated that since the resolution was aimed at respecting life, it was appropriate to widen the scope to include protection of innocent human life.
Egypt, Bahrain, Iran, Libya, Kuwait, Mauritania, and Sudan sponsored the right to life amendments. Their first amendment calling for a new operative paragraph to be included in the draft text read, “Urges Member States to take all necessary measures to protect the lives of unborn children.” The amendment was rejected in a recorded vote of 28 for, 83 against with 47 abstentions.
Egypt’s second amendment called for the inclusion of another paragraph; “Reaffirms that every human being has the inherent right to life and stresses that abortion should only be admissible in necessary cases and only when the life of the mother or child is at serious risk.” The second amendment was defeated in a recorded vote of 26 for, 84 against with 46 abstentions.
The Philippines, San Marino, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Gabon, Honduras, Haiti, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, and Panama stated that they agreed with the substance of the amendments, but as co-sponsors to the death penalty resolution they still did not agree that the amendments were germane to the draft text.
Most countries agreed that the right to life issue as presented in the amendments deserved more time for deliberation and consideration and several delegations called for a separate right to life resolution to be brought up at next year’s General Assembly.
While voting against the resolution as a whole, the United States voted in favour of Egypt’s first amendment. In their explanation of vote, the US delegates agreed that unborn children deserve protection and urged fellow member states to be as scrupulous in regard to protecting unborn life.
The non-binding resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty was passed in a recorded vote with 99 countries for, 52 against and 33 abstentions.
In Rome Cardinal Renato Martino thinks that the UN vote in favour of an international moratorium on capital punishment is "a relevant step."
The resolution expresses concern for the continued application of the death penalty and urges countries that apply this punishment to "establish a moratorium on executions, looking to abolish them."
The president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace said, "I am truly content." He affirmed to Vatican Radio: "I was the Holy See's representative at the United Nations for 16 years, and during that time, I saw the attempts made in the 90s in favour of this moratorium.
"I worked a lot, and was disappointed when these proposals were withdrawn because they lacked the necessary votes."
"This time, the number was sufficient, and I am very content," Cardinal Martino added. "It is a relevant step, but it is only a moratorium and the decision of the UN and the General Assembly is only an exhortation, since it is not a convention to which states must adhere. These decisions from the General Assembly are non-binding.
"Still, this is already something important and I can affirm with satisfaction that many Catholic organisations have worked for this and have the right to be satisfied."
A total of 133 member states have abolished the death penalty in legislation or in practice, and only 25 states performed executions in 2006.
Amnesty International reports that during 2006, at least 1,591 people were executed in 25 countries.
In the United States, 53 prisoners were executed in 12 states in 2006.
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