EU Lines to Take on the Policy of the Council of Europe in Relation to Death Penalty
1283rd Meeting of the Committee of Ministers (5 April 2017)
Lines to take on the Policy of the Council of Europe in relation to the death penalty: challenges and policy options
We welcome the Secretary General's document on the "Policy of the Council of Europe in relation to the death penalty: challenges and policy options". It is indeed a hall mark achievement that the area of the Council of Europe is free of the death penalty. The EU as member of the Council of Europe shares this pride as well as the regret that there is one country in Europe that still applies the death penalty.
We confirm EU's strong and principled position against the death penalty and its fierce commitment to work for global abolition, using all its tools at our disposal. Abolition of the death penalty is an explicit and absolute condition to become member of the EU.
Abolition of the death penalty is also a prerequisite for membership in the Council of Europe.
Protocol No.13 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which provides for the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances, remains a landmark, having been ratified by the great majority of the member states of the Council of Europe, including all EU Member States. We would like to take this opportunity to recommend, once again, to those countries that have not yet done so to ratify it, and we urge all members of the Council of Europe to uphold and ensure compliance with the legal and political obligations arising from their membership.
The situation in Belarus is particularly serious, because it remains the only European country that continues to use the death penalty. We call on Belarus’ authorities to commute the remaining death sentences and establish a moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition of this practice.
The EU has clearly expressed the priority it gives to cooperation with the Council of Europe on the dossier of death penalty (and fight against torture) and welcomes the suggestion to develop this further. Our joint statement on the World/European day against the death penalty confirms our shared priority to this important issue, and should indeed not be seen as a repetitive exercise. The EU stands ready to discuss this more in detail.
The abolition of death penalty needs all the voices it can get, and as partners sharing the same objective we should always look at how we can best coordinate, complement and reinforce our message. We therefore very much welcome further discussion on how to strengthen the role of the Council of Europe in pushing for a global abolition of the death penalty.
We support therefore the adoption of the draft decision before us and continue to hold a biannual debate on this most important theme, here in the Committee of Ministers.