Fifty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the trend towards worldwide abolition of the death penalty is unmistakable. When the Declaration was adopted in 1948, eight countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes; today, as of November 1998, the number stands at 63. More than half the countries in the world have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, and the numbers continue to grow.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty as a violation of fundamental human rights - the right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. Both of these rights are recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, other international and regional human rights instruments and national constitutions and laws.
Defense of life and defense of the state may be held to justify, in some cases, the taking of life by state officials; for example, when law-enforcement officials must act......
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Approximate Word Count: 1985
Approximate Pages: 8 (260 words per double-spaced page) |