May 7, 2003: Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini last night pledged the Italian government’s commitment to Hands Off Cain’s campaign for worldwide moratorium on executions.
Italy will re-present a moratorium resolution in the upcoming UN General Assembly.
In a meeting with former Illinois governor George Ryan and representatives of Hands Off Cain and the September 11 Association, at the Prime Minister’s office in Palazzo Chigi, Fini said:
“Following consultations with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and in response to the invitation of the two associations, I announce the Italian government’s intention to present once more a resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions.”
Italy will be term-president of the European Union in the second half of this year and will present the resolution on behalf of the fifteen member countries, that have taken up the moratorium campaign at the UN Commission on Human Rights and have achieved the approval of a moratorium resolution by this body every year since 1997.
Fini recalled that the campaign was first taken up by the Italian government itself. Italy had presented the moratorium resolution in the UNGA for the first time in 1994. The UNGA failed to approve it for a few votes.
The Italian Deputy PM insisted that the proposal will be for a moratorium, not the complete abolition of the death penalty.
“The moratorium proposal is the right way to approach the issue,” Fini said. “It allows us to avoid civil, ethical, political and religious clashes.”
Hands Off Cain General Secretary Sergio D’Elia pointed out that most countries that imposed a moratorium on the death penalty, such as the Eastern European countries, then moved on to abolish the death penalty.
“In the light of this, and his experience,” Fini said with reference to Governor Ryan, “the time is ripe for the re-proposal of the moratorium resolution to the UN. The error at this point would be to hold back from proposing once again a resolution in favour of a worldwide moratorium on executions.”
“This declaration proves the commitment of the Italian government to human and civil rights,” government MP Andrea Ronchi said.
The Italian government’s commitment to re-propose the moratorium resolution to the UN General Assembly was greeted jubilantly by the Italian Senate’s Commission for Human Rights.
This morning the Commission granted a hearing to Governor Ryan, the first US governor to impose a moratorium on executions in January 2000, who illustrated the motives leading him to this historic decision. Ryan appealed for the Italian Senate’s support for a global moratorium. Commission chairperson Enrico Pianetta expressed the Senate’s full-backing and welcomed the Italian government’s commitment.
Governor Ryan also met the President of the Italian Senate Marcello Pera.