During the December 16th vote, a large majority of the General Assembly Member States voted for the eighth time in favour of a resolution against executions, so that another step has been taken towards the global abolition of the death penalty.
123 countries voted in favour. When it was first adopted in 2007, it only gained 104 votes. Last time, in 2018, 121 countries voted for it.
This year the resolution was tabled by Mexico and Switzerland on behalf of an interregional Task Force of UN member states and was sponsored by 77 states.
Among 123 states voting in favour, South Korea, Djibouti, Jordan and Lebanon did so for the first time. The Philippines, Guinea, Nauru and the Republic of Congo changed their vote from against to for. Yemen and Zimbabwe,which had voted against in 2018, abstained.
A minority of states (38) voted against and 24 abstained. Some countries that in 2018 had voted for or had abstained, this time voted against: among them, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Libya, Pakistan, Tonga and Uganda. Niger changed from voting in favour to abstaining.
Translation by Roberta Mereu, from the voluntary Pressenza translation team. We are looking for volunteers!
