[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
International News Title: New U.N. secretary begins by addressing capital punishment UNITED NATIONS -- On his first official day on the job, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stepped back from the United Nations' long-standing opposition to the death penalty, saying capital punishment is an issue for each country to decide. Ban's statement contrasted sharply with his predecessors' public rejection of the death penalty, and with the condemnation by the United Nations' special envoy to Iraq of Saddam Hussein's execution last weekend. Responding to a question about the execution, Ban said the former Iraqi leader "was responsible for committing heinous crimes and unspeakable atrocities against the Iraqi people. We should never forget the victims of his crimes." But, he added, "The issue of capital punishment is for each and every member state to decide." "At the same time," he said, "I would hope that the international member states would pay due regard to all aspects of international humanitarian laws" It was Ban's first official statement as secretary-general. His aides spent the rest of the day trying to further explain his comments. Michele Montas, his new spokeswoman, insisted that there was no change in U.N. policy, and that what Ban had said "was his own nuance" on the death penalty. South Korea has capital punishment, as do the United States, China and Russia, three permanent members of the Security Council. "The U.N. policy still remains that the organization is not for capital punishment," she said. Human-rights groups said that the death penalty was not a clear-cut issue under international law but that an optional protocol to the legally binding International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights said that the abolition of the death penalty would contribute to human dignity and rights. "We feel strongly that he missed an opportunity to make an unequivocal statement about the death penalty, which we believe is a human-rights abuse, and we look forward to stronger positions in the future," said Peggy Hicks, global advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. At his informal news conference in front of the Security Council chamber, Ban also said that the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region was "very high on my agenda" and that his first trip would be to an African Union summit at the end of the month in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he planned to talk to Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir. North Korea's nuclear ambition is another top priority, Ban said. He told reporters he would do whatever he could to help along six-party talks. As the former foreign minister of South Korea, he was directly involved in the talks and has pledged to be personally engaged in the issue. He said that he was starting his duties at a daunting time but that the world's crises needed to be addressed as a common effort. "Not a single person, including the secretary-general of the United Nations, not a single country, however strong," can deal with the challenges alone, he said. Ban has begun to name his new Cabinet, a process that tries to balance merit with geographical representation. His first appointment was his chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, a former undersecretary general and ambassador from India to the United Nations. His new spokeswoman, Montas, is a broadcaster from Haiti who joined the United Nations after her journalist husband was murdered in 2002.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread |
|
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|