19/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - The UN General Assembly adopted on Tuesday 18 December a non-binding resolution calling for an international moratorium on capital punishment, despite the hostility of some states such as China, the United States and Japan. Approved by 104 votes to 54, the text calls on all states to set up a moratorium on executions with a view to total abolition of the death penalty. Two similar draft resolutions had been rejected in the 1990s. This new resolution had been put forward by Italy and supported by the EU. “This is a very welcome example of EU leadership on human rights”, said British MEP Sarah Ludford in a press release. She considers that the “next step must be to move beyond a moratorium to a complete ban, and consign this barbaric practice to the past”. (B.C.)