UN, EU condemn PNG death penalty
~~by: Eoin Blackwell
~~by: Eoin Blackwell
THE United Nations and European Union have spoken out against Papua New
Guinea's decision to re-introduce the death penalty for violent crimes.
The agencies released separate statements on Tuesday urging the government of Prime Minister Peter O'Neill to reconsider its position on capital punishment.
Parliament last week resurrected the long-dormant death penalty and approved five methods of execution: hanging, firing squad, electrocution, lethal injection and asphyxiation.
"These legal steps towards the resumption of the implementation of the death penalty mark a major setback for PNG's human rights standing in the international community," the UN's PNG team said in a statement on Tuesday.
"The UN system in PNG stands with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, in urging the government of PNG to continue to maintain the moratorium on the use of the death penalty with a view to abolishing it altogether."
PNG had been part of the worldwide trend of moving away from the death penalty, the statement said.
As part of the legislative package passed last week, parliament repealed the nation's controversial Sorcery Act, under which accusations of sorcery were used as a defence for murder.
The European Union's High Representative, Catherine Ashton, said she regretted the government's decision to implement the death penalty; however, she welcomed the repeal of the Sorcery Act.
"The EU is conscious that the government of Papua New Guinea is endeavouring to fight rising criminality and, in this context, welcomes the fact that the parliament has repealed sorcery as a defence to murder," she said in a statement.
"However, numerous studies have demonstrated that capital punishment does not act as a deterrent to crime. Moreover, miscarriages of justice, which occur in any judicial system, are irreversible in death penalty cases."
Amnesty International and the PNG arm of the Catholic Church have also condemned the death penalty.
The agencies released separate statements on Tuesday urging the government of Prime Minister Peter O'Neill to reconsider its position on capital punishment.
Parliament last week resurrected the long-dormant death penalty and approved five methods of execution: hanging, firing squad, electrocution, lethal injection and asphyxiation.
"These legal steps towards the resumption of the implementation of the death penalty mark a major setback for PNG's human rights standing in the international community," the UN's PNG team said in a statement on Tuesday.
"The UN system in PNG stands with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, in urging the government of PNG to continue to maintain the moratorium on the use of the death penalty with a view to abolishing it altogether."
PNG had been part of the worldwide trend of moving away from the death penalty, the statement said.
As part of the legislative package passed last week, parliament repealed the nation's controversial Sorcery Act, under which accusations of sorcery were used as a defence for murder.
The European Union's High Representative, Catherine Ashton, said she regretted the government's decision to implement the death penalty; however, she welcomed the repeal of the Sorcery Act.
"The EU is conscious that the government of Papua New Guinea is endeavouring to fight rising criminality and, in this context, welcomes the fact that the parliament has repealed sorcery as a defence to murder," she said in a statement.
"However, numerous studies have demonstrated that capital punishment does not act as a deterrent to crime. Moreover, miscarriages of justice, which occur in any judicial system, are irreversible in death penalty cases."
Amnesty International and the PNG arm of the Catholic Church have also condemned the death penalty.
