The 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is now considering a resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. Resolutions calling for the establishment of a worldwide moratorium on executions were adopted – with strong support from all regions of the world – by the General Assembly in both 2007 and 2008. These resolutions reiterate the UN’s commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights, as well as to abolition of the death penalty.A third resolution will be considered at the Third Committee of the UNGA in November 2010 and then in the plenary session in December 2010. The 2007 and 2008 resolutions strengthened international human rights standards and opened vital space – at the UN and around the world – for meaningful consideration of the illegitimacy of capital punishment. These resolutions helped galvanise greater action by civil society and regional organisations towards the goal of total abolition of capital punishment. A third resolution on moratorium on the use of the death penalty is a critical opportunity to maintain global momentum and move the community of states closer to the achievement of a death penalty-free world.
