Opening statement at 2nd International Oslo Symposium on Capital Punishment

Dear Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, 

First of all let me thank Senior Researcher Lill Scherdin and the University of Oslo for all their efforts in arranging this 2nd International Oslo Symposium on Capital Punishment and for inviting me to address you here today. 

I would also like to extend a warm welcome to all the participants who have travelled far to join us here in Oslo during the coldest and darkest period of the year. 

Norway gives high priority to the fight against the death penalty, and we oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. 

Death penalty is cruel and inhuman and we believe its abolition is essential to protect human dignity. And we are not alone.

Currently, an estimated 150 UN Member States have abolished the death penalty or introduced a moratorium, either in law or practice.

It is a strength that States which have taken a position in favour of abolition of the death penalty represent different legal systems, traditions, cultures and religious backgrounds.

Six countries with muslim majority population have abolished the death penalty: Azerbaijan, Côte d'Ivoire (40% muslims), Djibouti, Senegal, Turkey and Turkmenistan.

On the African continent 17 out of 54 countries retain the death penalty. However, only four countries in Africa carried out executions in 2011.

I believe that it is no longer a question of if we will reach full abolition, but of when.

And on that note, it is also a question of which countries will be the last to take the step; who will be the last to join the global trend?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

With 21 per cent of the world’s executions and only one abolitionist State (Djibouti), the MENA region has the second-highest execution rate in the world.

While executions remain common in muslim majority countries like Iran and Iraq, other countries like Morocco, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Algeria, have seen a reduction in the number of executions and the adoption of penal reforms.

The political reform processes that are currently going on in the region are an historic opportunity.

There has never been a better or more crucial time to discuss and debate criminal justice reforms, calling for more respect for human rights and the abolition of the death penalty through constitutional and legislative reform processes.

Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria all have a moratorium on executions.

But a moratorium on executions is not enough as long as people continue to be sentenced to death and kept on death row for an indeterminate period under conditions that are not conducive to international human rights standards or norms.

A moratorium is not enough when you look at The Gambia, where nine people were executed by firing squad on 26 August, despite not carrying out executions for 27 years.

In March we also saw the disappointing resumption of executions in Japan after twenty months during which none took place.

There is little transparency about the use of the death penalty in Japan including the scheduling of executions.

Prisoners are usually notified only a few hours before their execution. Family members and the lawyer are informed after the execution.

To learn more about Japan’s system of criminal justice and to discuss the death penalty and the global trend towards its abolition, we sponsored a symposium on What Makes Criminal Justice Sustainable, held in Tokyo in May this year. You will continue this debate here today.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Despite some setbacks, the trend is clear. We are moving in the right direction.

In the USA, public support for capital punishment has dwindled to its lowest levels for nearly four decades.

Recent years have seen abolition of the death penalty in Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico and New York, and a moratorium on executions in Oregon.

The narrow margin by which Californian voters chose to retain the state’s death penalty on 6 November shows that the tide is turning against executions in the USA.

While the result of California’s vote is disappointing, the fact that the electorate was evenly split is a significant step forward.

Votes for Proposition 34, which would have repealed the state’s death penalty, were 47% for and 53% against, with only 500,000 votes deciding the final outcome.

The surge in support for abolition contrasts starkly with the 1970s, when over 70% of California’s electorate backed capital punishment.

Public appetite for execution is diminishing at a dramatic rate.

But Governments need to take the lead in any national debate on an issue like this.

Because this we know: The death penalty has never been abolished as a result of public pressure.

The reverse is true: it is usually done in the face of public opposition.

When governments do give a lead, the public in the vast majority of countries has quickly accepted the abolition of the death penalty. Almost no states have reinstated the death penalty.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The historic first Regional Congress in the MENA region about the Death Penalty that took place in Rabat in October was an important step ahead of the 5th World Congress against the Death Penalty to be held in Madrid in June next year.

Experts, politicians, diplomats and activists from around the world gathered in Rabat for this major conference on capital punishment.

I believe that one of the most important things we can do now is to mobilize political support for a successful World Congress in Madrid.

The Congress will focus on regional dynamics in North Africa as a crossroads between Arab, Mediterranean, and African worlds, and how political developments currently underway in the Arab world could lead to progress with regard to human rights and the death penalty.

We are very pleased to collaborate with our friends from the French NGO “Ensemble contre la peine de mort”, as well as Spain and Switzerland in this work.

All states are invited to participate, as well as civil society and intergovernmental organisations.

We hope to see retentionist countries present, ready to make commitments to the global fight against the death penalty at this major triennial event.

I also believe that it is important to continue to embrace the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly proclaiming a global moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

The resolution reflects the trend against capital punishment which has grown stronger across regions, legal traditions and customs since the landmark General Assembly resolution on the topic in 2007.

On 19 November the General Assembly’s Third Committee adopted the resolution by 110 votes in favour, with 39 against and 36 abstentions.

Never before have so many UN member states supported the fight against the death penalty.

The resolution drew new support from Central African Republic, Niger, Tunisia and South Sudan.

Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia moved from a negative vote to abstention.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are at a crucial point in the long battle against the death penalty worldwide.

There is no absolute demand for death penalty in any religion, culture or in criminal science.

There are countries that have chosen to abolish death penalty in all geographical regions, both rich and poor countries, of all cultures, all values, of all traditions and of all religions.

Each country is indeed free to choose, regardless of its economic status, cultural or religious belonging.

One important aim of research is to understand.

It is to understand not only that this freedom of choice exists, but to understand better how the choice itself is understood by different actors nationally and internationally, against the back drop of their history.

I am convinced that this symposium will further such understanding.

I hereby declare the 2nd International Oslo Symposium on Capital Punishment for opened!

Thank you.