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Throughout the world, more than
500 CITIES FOR LIFE
enlighten a symbolic monument
AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY,
to affirm their participation to the initiative
NO
JUSTICE WITHOUT LIFE
 The
World Day �Cities for Life � Cities against the Death Penalty�
reminds the first abolition of the capital punishment from the
legal ordainment of an European country: the one in the Grand
Duchy of Tuscany, in 1786.
This initiative - this year at its fifth
edition - is promoted by the Community of Sant�Egidio and
supported by the main international organizations for human
rights, gathered in the World Coalition Against the Death
Penalty (among them Amnesty International, Ensemble Contre la
Peine de Mort, International Penal Reform, FIACAT).
Rome, Naples, Brussels, Madrid, Ottawa,
Berlin, Barcelona, Florence, Reggio Emilia, Venice, Mexico City,
Buenos Aires, Puerto Rico Austin, Dallas, Antwerp, Vienna,
Paris, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Bogot�, Santiago (Chile), Abidjan,
Lome, Conakry, Maputo, Windhoek, Dakar, Praia, 500 small and big
cities already became �Cities for Life � Cities against the
Death Penalty�. Their symbolic monuments will be enlightened -
from the Coliseum in Rome to the Plaza de Santa Ana in Madrid,
from the Central Obelisk in Buenos Aires to the Moneda Palace in
Santiago, from the Atomium in Brussels to the square of the
Cathedral in Barcelona - making a worldwide moral alliance to
ask to stop every execution.
 The
death penalty is stepping back all over the world and this trend
emerges as a constant in the last quarter of the century.
Nevertheless, anachronistic claims to its reintroduction in
Europe, or the unacceptable justifications in favor of its usage
in Iraqi, together with the long way yet to be covered to reach
its universal abolition, need a tenacious and incisive action to
affirm the civilization of right and defense of human dignity.
Withdrawals of the abolitionists are evident, within the public
opinion and some leaderships, also in several retentionist
states of USA, in which a debate about the constitutionality of
lethal injection was opened, such as in key states of Asia
(Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, where is starting a
parliamentary action).
In Japan, a large number of
members of the Parliament proposed a moratorium of executions.
Recently, also in China, the country that holds the record of
executions (around 5.000 every year), some important signals
were registered, such as the decision of the Supreme Court to
take all the death sentences upon itself, decision that
hopefully, in a near future, will succeed in limiting the number
of executions. Moreover, we must remember the abolition in an
important country, such as Philippines, where President Arroyo,
with the support of Parliament and catholic church, definitively
announced the end of executions.
Mexico, during 2006, ha
sanctioned the death of death penalty, marking an important
point of no return for the entire Central and Latin America.
Africa, even if tried more
than other continents by conflicts and poverty, is noted for its
positive trend both in a constant decreasing of the number of
executions and in the increasing of the countries that apply a
moratorium "de facto". Before 2002 ten African countries
abolished death penalty "de iure" (South Africa, Angola,
Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Guinea Bissau, Mauritius,
Mozambique, Namibia and Sao Tome and Principe). Other ten
countries are considered abolitionist "de facto" (Benin,
Burkina Faso, Congo Brazzaville, Gambia, Madagascar, Mali,
Niger, Central African Republic, Togo). In more than half of the
African countries nobody is condemned to death anymore. Also
Liberia and Senegal, since few years, entered the number of the
abolitionist countries, while in the rest of the African
continent there are several countries making a lot of
progresses: Rwanda, Morocco, Zambia, Malawi.
In this direction, new
strategies and common visions have been started, from the
International Meeting �Africa for Life�, that gathered in Rome
in November 2006 twelve ministers of justice of the continent
and European jurists and politicians. African and African cities
will keep being protagonists of the next World Day of the Cities
for Life � Cities against the Death Penalty scheduled for
November 30th 2006.
On that Day, 500 cities for
life will ideally join together demonstrating one next to the
other in order to say NO to death penalty and affirm with their
voice the expression of an authentic culture and civilization of
life. No Justice Without Life!
On the web site
www.santegidio.org
is possible to find all the instructions for those who would
like to give their adhesion with their city and is available a
list constantly updated of Cities for Life. Besides, all new
information, photos and news that will be communicated by them,
will appear on the web site in order to give prominence their
commitment on November 30th. |