o the UN Secretary-General,
We, the undersigned, believe that the human race must evolve, and the abolition of the death penalty is not only an individual need that strengthens the inviolability of the person, but also a vital, universal need. It is the ultimate goal of the 20th century; the meeting point of different civilizations.
"Hands off Cain" paraphrases the words of the Bible, and for us this ancient commandment means that the State cannot dispose of the lives of its citizens. While many people are in favor of retaining or reinstating the death penalty, their profound sense of justice is misplaced by crime that endangers us all.
The abolition of the death penalty is a belief shared by the International Community. On April 20, 2005, for the ninth year running, the UN Commission on Human Rights established that "the abolition of the death penalty contributes to the enhancement of human dignity and to the progressive development of human rights", asking retentionist States "to establish a moratorium on executions, with a view to completely abolishing the death penalty".
The Courts set up by the Security Council to pronounce judgement on genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass extermination, and other serious crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and the Statute of the Permanent International Court for crimes against humanity, all categorically exclude capital punishment, whereas a number of States actually inflict the death penalty for far less serious crimes.
We, the undersigned, ask the United Nation General Assembly to lead the International Community away from this intolerable anachronism, by establishing a universal moratorium on executions with a view to total abolition.
After the abolition of slavery and the banning of torture, the right not to be killed following a legal sentence could be another common denominator, a new inalienable aspect of being human that makes us one family.
Isabel Allende, Chile - writer
Taïeb Baccouche, Tunisia - Director, Arab Institute for Human Rights
M. Cherif Bassiouni, United States - President, Association Internationale de Droit Pénal
Hugo Bedau, United States - Austin Fletcher Professor of Philosophy
Alioune Badara Beye, Senegal - President, French-speaking Writers´ International Federation
Tahar Ben Jelloun, Morocco - Writer
Mario Benedetti, Uruguay - Writer
Bernardo Bertolucci, Italy - Film director
Igor Bezrukov, Russian Federation - Member of the Commission for Clemency
George Bizos, South Africa - Lawyer
Norberto Bobbio, Italy - Philosopher
Hebe de Bonafini, Argentina - President, Madres de Plaza de Mayo
Julian Bond, United States - President, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Emma Bonino, Italy - Former European Commissioner
Elena Bonner Sacharova, Russian Federation
Alex Boraine, South Africa - Vice-President, Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Father Aleksandr Borisov, Russian Federation - Member of the Commission for Clemency
Jerome Bruner, United States - Pedagogist
Chico Buarque, Brazil - musician
Vladimir Bukowski, Russian Federation - writer
Noam Chomsky, United States
Paulo Coelho, Brazil - Writer
Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Germany - Member of the European Parliament
Giovanni Conso, Italy - Chairman, Plenipotentiary Conference for the establishment of an International Criminal Court
Mario Cuomo, United States - Former Governor of the State of New York
Dennis Daly, Jamaica - Lawyer
Pilar Del Rio, Spain
Yolande Diallo, Switzerland - Centre for Human Rights
Norman Dorsen, United States - Professor of Law and Chairman, lobal Law School Program, New York University School of Law
Ronald Dworkin, United States - Sommer Professor of Law and Philosophy at the New York University, Quain Professor of Jurisprudence at the University College London
Umberto Eco, Italy - Writer
Mike Farrell, United States - Actor, writer, co-Chair - Human Rights Watch
Eduardo Galeano, Uruguay - Writer
Richard Gere, United States - Actor
Danny Glover, United States - Actor
Felipe Gonzalez, Spain, Former Prime Minister
David Grossman, Israel - Writer
Serhiy Holovaty, Ukraine - Former Minister of justicebianca JAGGER, United statesasma JAHANGIR, Pakistan - Lawyer, leader of Human Rights Commission
Wei Jingsheng, China - Dissident
Kirill Koval´Dzhi, Russian Federation - Writer, member of the Commission for Clemency
Dominique Lapierre, France - Writerhilarie SOBERS, Jamaica - Lawyer
Graça Machel, Mozambique - President, Fundacao para o Desenvolvimento da comunitaderenford O. MADDIX, Jamaica - Chaplain, Correctional Services of Jamaica
Lawrence Marshall, United States - Professor at Northwestern University School of Law
Desai Meghnad, United Kingdom - Director, London School of Economics
Robert Meeropol, United States - Rosenberg Fund for Children
Marie Claire Mendes-France, France
Anthony Pantin, Trinidad & Tobago - Archbishop of Port of Spain
Sister Helen Prejean, United States - Author of Dead Man Walking
Anatolij Pristavkin, Russian Federation - Chairman, Commission for Clemency
Michael L. Radelet, United States - Professor of Sociology
Mons. Gianfranco Ravasi, Italy - Prefect of Biblioteca Ambrosiana
Lev Razgon, Russian Federation - Writer, member of the Commission for Clemency
Tim Robbins, United States - Director
Sergei Romazin, Russian Federation - Member of the Commission for Clemency
Edward Said, U.S./Palestine - Professor, NY Columbia University
Susan Sarandon, United States - Actress
Fernando Savater, Spain - Writer
Luis Sepulveda, Chile - Writer
Sam Reese Sheppard, United States
Cardinal Jaime Sin, Philippines - Archbishop of Manila
Antonio tabucchi, Italy - Writer
Josè Maria Tojeira, El Salvador - Rector, UCA
Gore Vidal, United States - Writer
Sergei Vitsin, Russian Federation - Member of the Commission for Clemency
Steve Wiser, United States - Spiritual advisor to Mumia Abu Jamal
Harry Wu, China - Director, Laogai Research Foundation
Aware since 1994, and acknowledging the leadership of the Italian Governments and the Italian Pro-Moratorium Movement in favor of the proclamation for a Universal Moratorium on the Death Penalty at the United Nations, believe that, after years of postponements and requests for the unnecessary nor needed consensus of the European Union as such, the time to act at UN Headquarters has finally arrived.
We therefore appeal to Italy's President of the Council of Ministers Romano Prodi in observance with the decisions of the Italian Parliament and following the invitations and support of the European Parliament along with a group of favorable countries covering all continents, to table in the coming hours, a resolution based on the Political Declaration presented last December and signed by 93 countries on a Universal Moratorium on the Death Penalty in order to put it to a vote before the end of the current session (61st) of the UN General Assembly.
Peter Agre, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2003, United States
Paul Berg, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1980, United States
Gunter Blobel, Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1999, United States
Arvid Carlsson, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2000, Sweden
Steve Chu, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1997, United States
Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Nobel Prize in Peace, 1976, Ireland
James Cronin, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1980, United States
Paul Crutzen, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1995, Netherlands
Robert Curl, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1996, United States
Jean Baptiste Dausset, Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1980, France
Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Prize in Peace, 2003, Iran
Manfred Eigen, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1967, Germany
Richard Ernst, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1991, Switzerland
John B. Fenn, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2002, United States
Edmond H. Fisher, Nobel Prize in Medicine 1992, United States
Val Fitch, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1980, United States
Dario Fo, Nobel Prize in Literature, 1997, Italia
Walter Gilbert, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1980, United States
Sheldon Lee Glashow, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1979, United States
Mikhail Seergeevich Gorbachev, Nobel Prize in Peace, 1990, Russia
Paul Greengard, Nobel Prize in Physiology, 2000, United States
Roger Guillemin, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1977, France
Tenzin Gyatso (DALAI LAMA), Nobel Prize in Peace, 1989, Tibet
Leland H. (Lee) Hartwell, Nobel Prize in Medicine, 2001, United States
Herbert A. Hauptman, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1985, United States
Dudley Herschbach, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1986, United States
Avram Hershko, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2004, Israel
Roald Hoffmann, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1981, Italia
John Hume, Nobel Prize in Peace, 1998, United Kingdom
Sir Aaron Klug, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1982, United States
Walter Kohn, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1998, Poland
Arthur Kornberg, Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1959, United States
Sir Harold W. Kroto, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1996, United Kingdom
Anthony J. Leggett, Nobel Prize in Physics, 2003, United Kingdom
Jean-Marie Lehn, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1987, United States
Rita Levi Montalcini, Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1986, United States
William Lipscomb, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1976, United States
Wangari Maathai, Nobel Prize in Peace, 2004, Kenya
Erwin Neher, Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1991, Germany
Paul Nurse, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2001, United Kingdom
Douglas D. Osheroff, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1996, United States
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Prize in Peace, 1980, Argentina
John Polanyi, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1986, Canada
Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Prize in Peace, 1996 - Presidente della Repubblica Democratica di Timor Est,
Richard J. Roberts, Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1993, United States
Reinhard Selten, Nobel Prize in Economics, 1994, Germany
Jens C. Skou, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1997, Denmark
Jack Steinberger, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1988, Switzerland
Desmond Tutu, Nobel Prize in Peace, 1984 Anglican Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa
Lech Walesa, Nobel Prize in Peace 1983, Poland
John Walker, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1997, United Kingdom
Elie Wiesel, Nobel Prize in Peace 1986, United States
Betty Williams, Nobel Prize in Peace 1976, United States
Jody Williams, Nobel Prize in Peace, 1997, United States
Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, Nobel Prize in Peace, 1996, Chile
