Il presidente francese Jacques Chirac ha rivolto oggi a Ginevra un appello per l'aboliozione universale della pena di morte ''Piu' di 100 paesi hanno abolito la pena di morte, ed ogni anno se ne sommano altri tre o quattro, man mano che si radica la convinzione che in nessun caso la morte puo' costituire un atto di giustizia'', ha detto Chirac. ''Ogni esecuzione puo' uccidere un innocente'', ha aggiunto lanciando un vibrante appello per una moratoria generale della pena capitale.

U.N. Body Takes Up Human Rights

 By CLARE NULLIS, Associated Press Writer GENEVA  - In thinly veiled swipes at the United States, French President Jacques Chirac on Friday appealed for a world ban on the death penalty and criticized the ``disturbing challenge'' to an agreement on reducing global warming.``No justice is infallible, and every execution may be killing an innocent person,'' Chirac said in a speech to the U.N. Human Rights Commission. ``And what are we to make of executions of minors and the mentally deficient?'' he added.Also addressing the 53-nation U.N. rights body Friday were Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica (news - web sites), Congo President Joseph Kabila, Swiss President Moritz Leuenberger and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites).Annan appealed for more action against racial intolerance and extremism, especially ``hateful words and dehumanizing imagery'' on the Internet.``Politicians - democrats as well as dictators - use race-based appeals to seek and maintain power,'' he said.Kostunica told the commission that Belgrade was drafting a law governing cooperation with the International War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague (news - web sites), Netherlands.But he gave no hint of bowing to outside pressure to extradite indicted war criminals - including former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites) - to the tribunal. At the moment, extradition of Yugoslav citizens is banned by the constitution.The U.S. Congress set a March 31 deadline for Belgrade to begin cooperating with the tribunal or face suspension of $100 million in much-needed economic aid.Yugoslavia has been frequently criticized by the U.N. commission for fomenting strife in the other Balkan republics, but is expected to be rehabilitated this year as a result of the advent of democracy following the downfall of Milosevic.The commission is the top U.N. human rights watchdog, but is heavily politicized. For instance, China has used its muscle with other developing countries to block any attempts to criticize its poor record for the past 10 years.The United States is sponsoring a critical resolution in this year's annual six-week session. The European Union (news - web sites) says it will vote for the resolution but not put its name down as sponsor.