EU-erklæring om avskaffelse av dødsstraff i Benin

EUROPEAN UNION
Brussels, 12 July 2012

Declaration by the High Representative, Catherine Ashton, on behalf of the European Union on Benin's accession to the Second Optional  rotocol to the International Convention on Civil and political rights aiming  at the abolition of the death penalty

The European Union welcomes the official accession of Benin, on 5 July 2012, to the 1989 Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the abolition of the death penalty.

The European Union congratulates Benin on reinforcing the global trend towards the abolition of the capital punishment, by becoming the 75th state party to this important treaty. Benin's accession also stresses the remarkable abolitionist trend in the African region, where 16 countries have done away with the death penalty in law or practice.

The European Union reaffirms its objective of working towards universal abolition of the death penalty. It hopes that the accession to the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR by Benin will encourage other countries to follow this example.

The Acceding Country Croatia*, the Candidate Countries Turkey, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, Montenegro*, Iceland+ and Serbia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the EFTA countries Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, and Georgia align themselves with this declaration.

* Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

+ Iceland continues to be a member of the EFTA and of the European Economic Area.