Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has issued a call to abolish the death sentence, as a new US report shows that its use is decreasing there and that several states are considering ending its use. The 20th anniversary of the international death penalty treaty was marked by Pillay’s appeal in Geneva. The treaty calls for the universal abolition of capital punishment. Pillay’s office says that 140 countries no longer carry out the death penalty, and 72 countries have ratified the treaty’s Optional Protocol, which bars the death penalty.

The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), a monitoring group in Washington, DC in the US, shows in its annual report that 106 death sentences were issued in the US in 2009, down from a post-1976 high of 328 in 1994.

The US Supreme Court reinstated its use in 1976. DPIC notes that 2009 marks the seventh year in a row where its use declined.

Legislation is changing in the US, with three states abolishing it in 2009 and 11 more considering it. “New Mexico became the 15th state to abolish the death penalty, and nine men who were sentenced to death were exonerated in 2009, the second highest number of exonerations since the death penalty was reinstated. The total number of exonerations since 1973 has now reached 139,” DPIC reports.

Links to other sites: CNN, DPIC, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

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