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The new Secretary-General of the United Nations received an early reminder of the pitfalls of international diplomacy when he failed to restate the UN’s opposition to the death penalty during remarks about the execution of Saddam Hussein.
Ban Ki Moon, the former South Korean Foreign Minister, received a warm welcome from staff at the UN headquarters on Manhattan’s East River when he turned up for his first day at work yesterday. But his spokeswoman was forced to issue a clarification after Mr Ban said that capital punishment should be a decision for individual member states.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon
The UN has an official stance opposing capital punishment and Ban’s predecessor Kofi Annan reiterated it frequently. The organisation’s top envoy in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, restated it again after the former Iraqi dictator was hanged on Saturday.
(Nasdaq/RTTNews) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon started his first day on the top job by departing from the traditional United Nations opposition to the capital punishment, saying that nations can take their own decision on the issue. The UN has an official stance opposing capital punishment and Ban’s predecessor Kofi Annan reiterated it frequently.
Ban Ki-Moon without mentioning the UN ban on the death penalty in all its international tribunals, and the right to life enshrined in the UN Charter said “the issue of capital punishment is for each and every member state to decide” and in conformity with international law.
Michele Montas, his new spokeswoman insisted “the UN policy still remains that the organization is not for capital punishment,” adding “however, the way the law is applied in different countries, he left it open to those different countries.”
“Saddam Hussein was responsible for committing heinous crimes and unspeakable atrocities against Iraqi people and we should never forget victims of his crime,” Ban said in response to a reporter’s question about Saddam’s execution Saturday for crimes against humanity. “The issue of capital punishment is for each and every member state to decide.”
The death penalty is legal in Ban’s homeland, South Korea as it is in many other countries including the United States, Russia, China and much of the Middle East.
“It’s a sovereign nation. It’s their decision and it’s their responsibility to decide how things go from there. If you’re asking me if we would have done things differently, yes we would have. But that’s not our decision, that’s the government of Iraq’s decision,” military spokesman Major General William Caldwell added, amid controversy over Saddam’s final moments.
Most Western European countries abandoned the death penalty in the 1960s while Eastern European states did so in the 1990s. Russia, a member of the Council of Europe, has yet to formally abolish the death penalty – although it has had a moratorium on capital punishment since 1990.
The US and Japanese governments – both of which exercise capital punishment – welcomed the former Iraqi leader’s sentence when it was passed.
The US stands alongside China, Saudi Arabia and Iran as carrying out the greatest numbers of executions per year. According to Amnesty International 94% of the 2005 executions took place in those countries – with about 80% of those taking place in China.
Stoning controversy
Most Muslim countries retain capital punishment, with Iran and Saudi Arabia carrying out the most executions. Methods of execution in Islamic countries vary and can include beheading, firing squad, hanging and stoning.
In some countries public executions are carried out to heighten the element of deterrence.
Iraq's government has released video of criminals being hanged
Afghan Stone Age German troops stoned in Badakhshan province
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."