A Pause From Death
Thursday, December 20th, 2007
By Chris Fitzsimon
The United Nations General Assembly voted on Tuesday for a global moratorium on the death penalty. The resolution was nonbinding; its symbolic weight made barely a ripple in the news ocean of the United States, where governments’ right to kill a killer is enshrined in law and custom.
But for those who have been trying to move the world away from lethal revenge as government policy, this was a milestone. The resolution failed repeatedly in the 1990s, but this time the vote was 104 to 54, with 29 nations abstaining. Progress has come in Europe and Africa. Nations like Senegal, Burundi, Gabon — even Rwanda, shamed by genocide — have decided to reject the death penalty, as official barbarism. (more…)
Last 5 posts in Daily News
- Perdue: Economy will block free tuition in '09 - January 8th, 2009
- More for Moore? - January 8th, 2009
- Donors slip past laws on ethics - January 8th, 2009
- Corruption-caliber government - January 8th, 2009
- '09 N.C. inaugural ball has more glitz - January 8th, 2009
Email This Post
Print This Post
