World Coalition participates in Marrakesh Human Rights Forum
Abolition
The programme of the second edition of this international gathering of human rights activists and institutions includes a significant part dedicated to the abolition of capital punishment.
World Coalition president Florence Bellivier told the opening ceremony of the Forum on Thursday 27 November that the death penalty was in deep contradiction with the very rights thousands of participants from the entire world have come to defend together in Marrakesh.
This punishment “directly affects the right to life, although it is enshrined in many modern constitutions including that of Morocco, as well as the right not to be subjected to inhumane or degrading treatment, the right to a fair trial and the right not to be discriminated against,” Bellivier said.
She added that “those states that retain the death penalty are united in defending a very narrow definition of sovereignty”. By affirming that “the death penalty is legal”, retentionist governments promote an “archaic conception of a sword-wielding, righteous State with the right to decide which of its citizens will live or die”, in contrast with the modern view of the State as protector of its citizens.
Bellivier invited the participants to the Marrakesh Forum to join the debate during the sessions on death penalty issues scheduled during the event.
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