UN urges countries to put end to death penalty
The morality of capital punishment has been an on-going debate for years. Many human rights defenders and organizations have been working towards its the abolition for the last few decades.
On December 18th, in a majority vote of 106-46, the Assembly’s 192 members passed a resolution to put an end to the death penalty. It was the body’s first successful acceptance of the moratorium on the death penalty after two failed attempts in 1994 and 1999. Conversely, 34 members of the Assembly refused to participate in this vote.
The former UN commission passed a similar resolution in 2005, but it was unsuccessful, and its members were much fewer. Although this resolution is not legally binding, it symbolizes the widely held opinion of the international community towards the death penalty.
China, one of the permanent five Security Council members has rejected this resolution and remains adamant that its not a human rights violator as many human rights organizations make it out to be. China stated that it would restrict the use of the death penalty.