The European Union opposes the death penalty in all cases and in all circumstances. Our view is that the abolition of the death penalty contributes to the enhancement of human dignity and the progressive development of human rights. The European Union considers the death penalty a cruel and inhuman punishment and a violation of the right to life. We consider that it provides no added value in terms of deterrence, and any miscarriage of justice, which is inevitable in any legal system, would be irreversible.
The EU recalls that on 18 December 2007, Guatemala voted, in the Plenary of the UN General Assembly, in favour of the resolution on a Moratorium on the use of the death penalty. The resolution adopted with the support of 104 Member States, including Guatemala, explicitly calls upon all States that still maintain the death penalty to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.
This UN General Assembly resolution also explicitly calls upon Member States which have abolished the death penalty not to reintroduce it. This call clearly also refers to States with moratoria on the use of the death penalty, that they should similarly not reverse their stance by reintroducing the use of the death penalty.
The EU urges the Guatemalan authorities to immediately reconsider this matter and take all necessary measures to ensure that the de facto moratorium on the death penalty is maintained in Guatemala, in line with the United Nations General Assembly resolution on a Moratorium on the use of the death penalty, which was adopted with the support of Guatemala in December 2007.
The EU is also concerned about the repercussions which the entry into force of this law could have on the reform of the judicial system and on urgent measures against impunity.
The European Union appeals to the President of the Republic of Guatemala to exercise his power of veto in the case of the "law regulating the commutation of sentence for those condemned to death".
The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Armenia, and Georgia align themselves with this declaration.
* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.
