United Nations passes resolution for moratorium with record number of yes votes
The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday adopted by a historic majority of nearly two-thirds a resolution unequivocally calling on all countries to establish a moratorium on executions with the aim of abolishing the death penalty.
Voting in favor of the 9th resolution were 125 UN member states (2 more than the previous resolution), 37 voted against (one fewer), 22 abstained (2 fewer), and 9 member states were absent (one more). By comparison, the first resolution in 2007 had 104 votes in favor, 54 against, and 29 abstentions.
Three African states voted in favor of the resolution for the first time this year: Ghana, Liberia and Uganda. The record support for the resolution clearly shows that the majority of member states believe that the death penalty must be abolished. Already four out of five countries have abolished it or no longer apply it.
The next (10th) moratorium resolution will be adopted in 2024. In the U.S., there has been an extensive campaign by opponents of the death penalty aimed at changing the U.S. vote against the resolution – not (yet) with the desired success, but with information from appropriate circles that the campaign has certainly been noticed at high-level political levels.