Resumen de Die Ächtung der Todesstrafe in Europa
The abolition of capital punishment is an issue since the age of enlightenment. In Europe, it was a long process with encouraging steps as well as setbacks. In international law, abolition has a history of not more than 30 years. This development started with an Austrian initiative in the Council of Europe in 1978, which led to the adoption of the Sixth Additional Protocol to the European Human Rights Convention in 1983, the first binding international treaty against the death penalty. The Thirteenth Protocol later prohibited this sanction without any exception even for times of war. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 the rejection of the death penalty has become a central element of All-European identity and human rights policy. At the level of the United Nations an Optional Protocol to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights against the death penalty was adopted in 1989, establishing a global standard. Up to now, 141 Member states (more than two thirds) have abolished capital punishment in law or in practice. Despite still high numbers of executions in some countries, the process of restriction and abolition of the death penalty is ongoing worldwide.
