Parliamentary questions
WRITTEN QUESTION E-2758/02
by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission
(1 October 2002)

Subject: Execution of Mr Yoshiteru Hamada and Mr Tatsuya Haruta

On Prime Minister Koizumi's return from his trip to North Korea yesterday the Japanese authorities in all likelihood executed two people - Mr Yoshiteru Hamada and Tatsuya Haruta. In response to an earlier question on the death penalty in Japan (E-2421/02(1)), Mr Patten, on behalf of the Commission, stated in particular that "a Union troika démarche, addressed to the Japanese Minister of Justice, was ... carried out on 18 February 2002 with a full explanation of the Union's position on the death penalty" and also that "the subject is kept under review by the Heads of Mission with a view to further initiatives ...".

What has been the Commission's reaction to this double execution? Will it undertake joint initiatives with the Council of Europe, of which Japan is an observer state, as regards abolishing the death penalty? Moreover, in general, what initiatives has the Commission undertaken, or will it undertake, in order to inform the Japanese authorities that the abolition of the death penalty in the democratic states of Asia, and in particular Japan, India, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan, is of particular importance, precisely because they are democratic countries, which have special relations with the European Union?

E-2758/02EN
Answer given by Mr Patten
on behalf of the Commission
(22 October 2002)

The Commission participated in an Union Troika démarche to Minister of Justice Moriyama on 4 October 2002 expressing deep regret at the executions and the recent imposition of further death sentences and setting out the basis for the Union's opposition to the application of the death penalty.

In its opposition to the death penalty the Union does not distinguish between countries which are democracies and those which are not: the goal is universal abolition. The Guidelines to the EU Policy towards third countries on the death penalty(1) adopted in 1998 set out the basis for the Union's policy and indicate the actions - including general and specific démarches - which the Union will undertake with respect to third countries. In addition to voicing its general opposition to the death penalty in fora such as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) and the UN General Assembly Third Committee (including the tabling of the annual resolution in the UNCHR) the Union has also set out its views on the death penalty in specific countries - for example, in its Human Rights in the World speech at the UNCHR this year, the Union stated that it regretted the increase in the application of the death penalty in Thailand.

The Commission is currently evaluating the proposals received under the recent Call for Proposals on abolition of the death penalty under the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR). This will provide EUR 7 million for projects to promote abolition in countries which retain the death penalty.