Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-18-Speech-4-179"

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"en.20031218.8.4-179"2
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"Mr President, I agree with Mr Meijer on many points. However, I am afraid it is rather simplistic to describe the death penalty as a relic of the Middle Ages. I am afraid that the death penalty is quite specifically a feature of the modern age as well. The guillotine and the electric chair are symbols of the modern age. So that this phenomenon vanishes from the modern age, we must lobby actively for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide, regardless of the individual or the state concerned. We have great sympathy and understanding for the Philippines, a country which is more at threat from organised crime, separatism and terrorism than most other countries in the world. On the other hand, however, we must make it quite clear that terrorism and violence can only be overcome through justice and the rule of law, and that the thousands of detainees and persons condemned to death in the Philippines have just as much of a right to life as anyone else. We oppose the death penalty in every case – whether the person concerned is Saddam Hussein or the perpetrator of other serious crimes. The same naturally applies to the detainees in the Philippines. We must make one thing very clear. No state has the right – other than in self-defence – to challenge any individual’s right to life. For that reason, the EU opposes the death penalty as a matter of principle and has made this a criterion for accession. However, we must also make it a benchmark against which we measure our partners. We therefore send out a very clear appeal to the Philippines: a) to uphold the moratorium, b) to review the thousand or so trials, many of which are of dubious legality with miscarriages of justice and political caprice, and c) to abolish the death penalty in general, for it can play no part in enforcing the rule of law."@en1

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