UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - Italian diplomats at the U.N. are working hard to win over more support for their proposed resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions - but are still short of the necessary pledges to be certain that an eventual General Assembly vote would be decisive enough to give a historic boost to the abolitionist cause.
Some 88 countries have so far signed a declaration of association with Italy's death penalty moratorium proposal, according to an official from Amnesty International. "But the Italians need at least 100 signatures," one source here told IPS. This was the minimum number for Italy to be confident that the moratorium would win a majority vote in the 192-member General Assembly.
"There certainly is momentum for a U.N. moratorium," Louise Arbor, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, confirmed to IPS. "I sense that there is a growing will for a moratorium," she said, adding confidently, "and also for, in the end, abolishing the death penalty."
