...
and this to human dignity
By
Martina Law
Many in Europe still vividly
remember the highly publicized
Marc Dutroux trial in the city of
Arlon, Belgium, back in 2004. In
the end, pedophile Dutroux,
convicted of abducting, abusing
and killing young girls, was
sentenced to life in prison.
Around the same time, another
serial killer emerged in the
French nation. His name was
Michel Fourniret
and he confessed to having killed
nine people, mainly young girls
and women.
No
doubt, these two cases shook up
countless Europeans, and sparked
new discussions about the death
penalty. Interestingly enough,
during these times European public
opinion polls showed a significant
support for the death penalty. And
to be honest, if some deranged
person ever hurt my children, I
would probably want to see this
person burn in hell!
But
the debate about death penalty is
not to be based on emotional
impulse or judgment that dates
back to an era that suggests a
principle of, “An eye for an eye,
tooth for tooth.” Hasn’t mankind
since risen from the dark ages to
become highly advanced
civilizations? Supposedly so, but
the question on whether to use the
death penalty as a means of state
punishment remains.
For European governments the death
penalty reveals itself as a denial
of human dignity, which, in turn,
is a fundamental basis of
democracy and the common heritage
of the European Union. In 2002,
the European Council signed an
amendment
to the European
Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights, abolishing the death
penalty once and for all,
regardless of any
circumstances. 36 European nations
pledged to remove the death
penalty from all their statutes,
including the sentence for crimes
“committed in times of war or
imminent threat of war.” This had
been the only remaining exception
permitted for the death penalty in
Article Two of the Convention,
which was signed back in 1950.
Since
the US reinstated the death
penalty in 1976, the European
Union has watched the growing
number of executions in the ‘land
of the free’ and ‘home of the
brave’ with increasing concern. In
fact, most executions were carried
out during the 1990s.
EU
member states wonder how a nation
such as the US, which was founded
upon the principles of freedom,
democracy, the rule of law and
respect for human rights, can even
remotely justify capital
punishment.
Long
ago, the EU argues, European
countries made a choice for
humanity by abolishing capital
punishment, and thus fostering
respect for human dignity. All
that’s left now is the EU’s hope
that the US will equally embrace
this idea.
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2006 All content property of European Weekly unless where otherwise
accredited
