UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday called for a moratorium on the death penalty with a view to abolishing executions, approving a resolution opposed by the U.S., China and Iran.
The vote in the 192-member world body was 104-54 with 29 abstentions. The resolution is not legally binding but carries moral weight and reflects the majority view of world opinion. Two previous attempts to have the General Assembly adopt a moratorium on the death penalty — in 1994 and 1999 — failed.
Amnesty International, which campaigned for a resolution, said that since then, the number of countries that have abolished the death penalty in law or practice has risen.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called the resolution “a bold step by the international community.”
“I am particularly encouraged by the support expressed for this initiative from many diverse regions of the world. This is further evidence of a trend towards ultimately abolishing the death penalty,” he said.
The Vatican, a leading opponent of capital punishment, also welcomed the vote, which capped a heated debate in the General Assembly’s human- rights committee.
The resolution was co-sponsored by European Union states and 60 other countries and spearheaded by Italy, whose foreign minister, Massimo D’Alema, hailed its adoption as “an important step” to end capital punishment.
The U.S. took the unusual step of siding with countries such as Iran, China and Syria in opposing the resolution.
