Comment & Debate
2007 Vatican declaration on the death penalty made at the Paris World Congress against the Death Penalty. – Public opinion has become sensitised and has expressed its concern for a more effective recognition of the inalienable dignity of human beings, and of the universality and integrity of human rights, beginning with the right to life.[1]
Hugo Adam Bedau. “The Case Against the Death Penalty”. 1992 – Opposition to the death penalty does not arise from misplaced sympathy for convicted murderers. On the contrary, murder demonstrates a lack of respect for human life. For this very reason, murder is abhorrent, and any policy of state-authorized killings is immoral.
Amnesty International – the Death Penalty “violates the right to life”.[2]
Kim Dae-jung, former President of South Korea, Nobel Peace Price winner, The China Post, 2/26/2006. – Capital punishment goes against the foundation of democracy. To end a person’s life even in the name of law clearly runs counter to the basic principle of human rights.[3]