EUROPEAN INSTRUMENT FOR DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS Compendium 2007-2010 Equal in rights worldwide European Commission EUROPEAN INSTRUMENT FOR DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS Death Penalty – Torture 6 Democracy – Rule of law 34 Economic, social and cultural rights 92 Fighting impunity 120 Fundamental rights protection 146 Gender and women's rights 176 Human rights education – Capacity building 222 Racism and discrimination 254 Rights of the child 310 EIDHR – Compendium 2007-2010 3 Countries where more than 25 projects were based Countries where between 15 to 24 projects were based Countries where between 5 to 14 projects were based Countries where between 1 to 4 projects were based Countries with no projects, or with projects not disclosed EU election observation missions Death Penalty – Torture Abolition of the death penalty Compendium lists 21 projects for a total value of nearly The EU considers the death penalty to be a cruel, inhuman € 10 million. In the decade from 2000 to 2010, 50 projects and irreversible punishment, which fails to deter criminal were funded at an overall cost of € 23 million. behaviour and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity. Yet, thousands of executions are carried Fight against torture out every year. More than 50 countries still retain capital Torture is among the most abhorrent violations of human punishment for a variety of crimes. rights and human dignity. The EU opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, In line with its guidelines on torture (adopted in 2001 and and works for its universal abolition. It lobbies for the updated in 2008), the EU is committed to the absolute immediate establishment of a moratorium on the use prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading of the death penalty as a step towards abolition. Where treatment. In this context, it has taken initiatives in the death penalty still exists, the EU calls for its use to international fora, intervened diplomatically with non-EU be progressively restricted and carried out according to countries and increasingly taken up individual cases. minimum standards. The fight against the death penalty The EU provides substantial funding for projects by civil is an integral part of the EU’s human rights policy. It has society actors around the world working to eradicate played a key role in the emerging positive trend in torture and ill-treatment. The prevention of torture and the favour of abolition, and has funded specific projects rehabilitation of torture survivors is a major priority of the implemented by non-governmental organisations. European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights. The EU’s political commitment is reinforced by In the last five years, an annual average of € 12 million has been the European Instrument for Democracy and allocated to funding anti-torture projects, making the EIDHR Human Rights. The EIDHR support for civil a leading source of funding for torture prevention and the society organisations seeks, inter alia, to raise rehabilitation of victims worldwide. Between 2007 and 2010, awareness in ‘retentionist’ countries through the EIDHR supported more than 80 projects. Of these, public education, outreach to influence 55 were selected from a global call for proposals and more public opinion, and studies to see than 30 from the EIDHR’s country-based support schemes. whether death penalty systems in force comply with minimum standards. Projects have resulted in : Other priorities are to secure • raising awareness of the Optional Protocol to the access for death row inmates Convention against Torture (OPCAT) to appropriate levels of • investigations into the supply of torture technology legal support, and to • the development of torture prevention and monitoring train lawyers. This networks 2007–2010 • the creation of national prevention mechanisms to monitor places of detention • support for the rehabilitation of torture victims and the fight against impunity. 6 EIDHR – Compendium 2007-2010 © Reuters EIDHR – Compendium 2007-2010 7 Focus on Voices of Victims against Death Penalty Mary Verzulli’s 29 year old sister was one of eight women Death penalty is a profound violation of human rights. murdered by a serial killer in New York. She says she had Defying the notion that executions are the way to achieve never thought much about the death penalty until the justice or closure, MSVHR is involved in a worldwide District Attorney asked how she felt about it. “I couldn’t movement to abolish the death penalty. imagine what, if anything, could lessen my pain or Testimony ranges from families affected by the despair” she says, “But I knew it wasn’t that.” With her 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York to that of Hector and sister’s killer serving life sentences, Mary’s testimony Susie Black, who told the sentencing judge they did not is taken from a gallery of victims’ stories displayed by want the death sentence for the man who raped and Murder Victims Families for Human Rights. killed their daughter in 2000, to Robert Meeropol, whose Supported by the EU, the gallery puts real faces on parents Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for victim opposition to the death penalty by presenting espionage in 1953 when he was six years old, accused of photos and statements of murder victims and survivors, passing information about the atomic bomb – a decision challenging the common assumption that anyone who that was and still is controversial. has lost a family member to murder is in favour of capital Founder and Executive Director Renny Cushing’s own punishment. father was killed by two shotgun blasts fired by a stranger. Already opposed to the death penalty before his father’s murder, Cushing states : “For me to change my beliefs because my father was murdered would only give more power to his killers, for then they would take not only his life but also his main legacy to me : the values he instilled.” 8 EIDHR – Compendium 2007-2010 Death Penalty Countries : Nigeria Countries : China, Japan, United States Areas of activity : Abolition of death penalty Areas of activity : Abolition of death penalty Project title : Advocacy for death penalty moratorium and Project title : Voices of victims against the death penalty abolition in Nigeria EC internal : 167748 EC internal : 169373 Summary : Limiting the application of the death penalty Summary : Compliment efforts at improving administration of through a categorical reduction of death sentences and then criminal justice ; increase awareness and better appreciation achieving moratorium and abolition through the amplification of issues involved in the administration of criminal justice in of victims’ voices against the death penalty Nigeria (especially as it relates to the death penalty). Starting date : 01/09/2009 Starting date : 23/12/2009 Duration : 30 months Duration : 18 months Beneficiary : Murder victims’ families for human rights Beneficiary : The Human Rights Law Service Incorporated Trustees, Creek Road 34, 2nd floor, Maritime Complex - Apapa EU contribution : € 495,000.00 Lagos, PO Box 3169, Nigeria % financed by the EU : 71.22 % EU contribution : € 76,862.60 % financed by the EU : 80.00 % Countries : Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Togo Countries : China Areas of activity : Abolition of death penalty Areas of activity : Abolition of death penalty Project title : From a moratorium to the abolition of death penalty Project title : Promoting judicial discretion in the restriction and reduction of death penalty use EC internal : 167753 EC internal : 167381 Summary : To help CSOs to become actors in the specific area of the abolition of the death penalty in some countries in Summary : Train local judges in judicial discretion and Africa, Asia and the USA. development of strict sentencing and evidence guidelines for trial procedures. Starting date : 25/11/2009 Starting date : 26/06/2009 Duration : 24 months Duration : 30 months Beneficiary : S Egidio, Piazza San Egidio 3/A, 00153, Roma, Italy, www.santegidio.org Beneficiary : Great Britain China Centre, Belgrave Square 15, London SW1X 8PS, United Kingdom, www.gbcc.org.uk EU contribution : € 725,000.00 EU contribution : € 633,470.00 % financed by the EU : 73.50 % % financed by the EU : 80.00 % EIDHR – Compendium 2007-2010 9 Death Penalty Countries : United States Countries : Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Libya, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Yemen Areas of activity : Abolition of death penalty Areas of activity : Abolition of death penalty Project title : Changing the course of the death penalty debate a proposal for public opinion research, message development, Project title : Restricting the death penalty for drug offences and communications on capital punishment in the U.S. through human rights impact assessment (HRIA) of multi-lateral drug enforcement assistance to death penalty states EC internal : 167889 EC internal : 167901 Summary : To move individual states and the United States as a whole towards less use of capital punishment by shaping Summary : Restrict the application of the death penalty for the messages and strategies of death penalty organizations drug offences through harnessing the political and financial through effective research. influence of multi-lateral donors in states receiving donor support for drug enforcement activities. Starting date : 22/07/2009 Starting date : 01/09/2009 Duration : 24 months Duration : 36 months Beneficiary : Death Penalty Information Center, Milwaukee Avenue 9333 - 60714 Niles