09/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - After having approached the Foreign Ministry of Myanmar following the nine death sentences issued by the Myanmar authorities, the outgoing (Italian) Presidency published, on Thursday, a declaration recalling that the Union considers the death penalty to be a "contravention of the right to life and of human dignity and it is therefore committed to working towards its universal abolition. The EU urges all States that have not yet abolished the death penalty to ensure full respect for international safeguards, in particular the minimum procedural guarantees for a fair trial contained in article 14 of the international covenant on civil and political rights and the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty set out in the annex to ECOSOC Resolution 1984/50".