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On 10 October, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius and his counterparts from 41 countries signed a joint call to abolish the death penalty.

“The death penalty is not only an intolerable affront to human dignity, its use goes hand in hand with numerous violations of the human rights of the sentenced and their families. Moreover, capital punishment has no positive impact on crime prevention or security and does not in any way repair the harm done to the victims and their families,” the Ministers expressed in their statement.

Ministers stressed that the path to abolition was a long, complex, and labour-intensive process, which also demonstrated the need for the participation of the whole of society in these efforts. The Ministers noted that the abolishment of death penalty in almost whole Europe required a dialogue and exchange of ideas between countries and civil society.

“The path is long and hard. Capital punishment was not repealed overnight. Its abolition became a reality only as a result of increasing awareness and constant collective effort. It was through perseverance and in gradual stages that the number of executions fell, the list of crimes punishable by death was narrowed, justice became more transparent, de facto moratoriums on executions were established and that – finally – the death penalty disappeared. It is this process that countries that still carry out executions in the name of justice must go through,” the Ministers said.

Representatives of 42 countries highlighted that the Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights had acted as catalysts for this trend away from the death penalty. The entry into force of Protocol 13 to the said convention (Protocol concerning the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances) 10 years ago is a prime example.

“Today, we represent 42 of the 44 states that have ratified Protocol 13 and urge all of the member states of the Council of Europe who have not yet done so to join us. We strongly urge the last State in Europe still applying the capital punishment to join a global moratorium on the death penalty as a first step towards its abolition,” the Ministers noted.

The joint call was issued on the occasion of the World Day Against the Death Penalty. Today, only about 50 countries still allow capital punishment, whereas twenty years ago it was almost twice as many. As the resolutions of the United Nations show, a growing majority of States support the establishment of a universal moratorium on death penalty.

Click here to read the full joint statement.