The Council of Europe on Tuesday designated October 10 as the
European Anti-Death Penalty Day at the Europe Against The Death
Penalty Conference held in the Portuguese capital Lisbon.
"In the name of the Council of Europe, I solemnly proclaim a day
against the death penalty be held on October 10 each year," said
Vuc Jeremic, president of Ministers Council of the Europe and who
is also Serbia's Foreign Affairs Minister.
"We confirm Europe as an area free of the death penalty," he
added.
Jeremic said he hoped many people in the world would join this
cause, and that he believed death penalty does little to discourage
crime and only perpetuates the cycle of violence.
The council first made the decision on September 27, as part of
a broader debate on the right to life, which covered abortion and
euthanasia, raised by Poland.
At the opening session of the conference, Portugal's Justice
Minister Alberto Costa congratulated his nation, saying "during the
Portuguese presidency the Council has achieved consensus on the
death penalty."
The Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis said that
2007 marks a decade without the death penalty in the European
Union.
"We have to explain why it is important to abolish it and that
there is no contradiction between fighting crime, including
terrorism, and defending human rights," said Davis.
Portugal is the current holder of the six-month rotating
European Union presidency. Slovenia will take over the role on Jan.
1, 2008.
(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2007)
