TNAG-0559-FCO40-654-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-into-othe-1975 — Page 107

Q

Capital Punishment

Amnesty International and 25 other non-governmental organizations signed a resolution during the past year calling on all governments to cease employing capital punishment and on the United Nations General Assembly to promulgate a declaration that would urge its total worldwide abolition. The resolution has been submitted to the Fifth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, taking place in Toronto, Canada, in September 1975. The text of the resolution reads:

THE UNDERSIGNED INTERNATIONAL NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS CONCERNED WITH HUMAN RIGHTS

Affirming their unswerving commitment to the protection of the right to life of every human being,

Re-iterating their total opposition to any form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,

Considering that the death penalty is in violation of both the above principles,

1. Call on all governments that retain capital punishment to cease employing it;

2. Call on the General Assembly of the United Nations to promulgate a declaration that would urge its total worldwide abolition;

3. Call on all non-governmental organizations concerned with human rights to make every effort at the national and international level to secure the abolition of capital punish- ment.

Amnesty International

Arab Lawyers Union

Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the

World Council of Churches

Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers)