Mongolia, Central Asian nations discuss death penalty abolishment at UN
Present at the meeting were Permanent Representatives of five Central Asian countries to the United Nations, a member of the ICDP and former President of Mongolia Ts.Elbegdorj, and a member of the ICDP and former President of the Swiss Confederation Ruth Dreifuss. They discussed about a possibility of the Central Asia to be the first-ever region to put an end to the death penalty.
In his opening speech, Mongolia’s Permanent Representative to the UN L.Purevsuren introduced in detail about grounds of abolishing death penalty and emphasized that the number of countries that are abolishing the punishment are growing in the world. Moreover, he informed that Mongolia, Belgium, Benin, Costa Rica, Mexico, Moldova, France and Switzerland had their initiated resolution, which appeals all of the UN member states to abolish death penalty, approved during the 42nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, held in September this year.
During the meeting, representatives from Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan which also abolished the death penalty like Mongolia, shared their experiences while delegates from Kazakhstan and Tajikistan talked about difficulties they encountered in abolishing the penalty.