Name: Rahul Gabbita

Committee: GA-6 Legal

Agenda: Abolition of Death Penalty
Country: Kingdom of Belgium

Death. One word defines the end of everything a person has lived for. Death Penalty or Capital
Punishment is the act of executing someone as punishment for a particularly serious crime after
a legal trial.
Should the state award death to an alleged criminal? Should it be vengeful and cruel just like the
criminal it intends to punish? The answer is simple and straightforward. No. It is not something
a progressive, reformist state of the 21st Century would do.

The Kingdom of Belgium strongly believes that death penalty is a merciless and inhuman act. In
letter and spirit, we abide by Article 3 of United Nations Universal Declaration of Human
Rights that states Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. We do not
take this stand in a casual or condescending manner but with utmost honesty and conviction.
We mention the following thoughts to substantiate our philosophy.

The fact that the last execution in Belgium took place in 1950 bears testimony to our
commitment to the ideology.
In fact the last time a non-war death punishment was imposed in Belgium was in 1918
though we formally abolished capital punishment only in 1996.
Our seriousness to anti-capital punishment is signified to the citizens of the nation and to
the world by including Article 14bis that prohibits death penalty in the Belgian
constitution.

The reasons that inspire us to be steadfast in our purpose are the following
1. The purpose of the legal system is to rehabilitate the criminals and reinitiate them into
the society. What reform can be achieved in death? To that end, the death penalty is
quite contradictory to the justice system as it goes against its very purpose.
2. Securing the lives of citizens is the most important responsibility of the state. We cannot
relinquish this responsibility by taking the easier option of using death penalty as a
deterrent.

3. The fact that homicide in Belgium in particular and in countries that have abolished
death penalty in general are much lower than those in the countries that retain it. The
U.S., with the death penalty, has a higher murder rate than the countries of Europe or
Canada, which do not use the death penalty.
4. Flawed verdicts can result in death to innocent citizens. And there is nothing that the
state can do later to rectify this error. And we remind you that no less than 4% of
executions end up with the wrong persons head on the chopping block.

We are aware of the fact that several of the developed and powerful nations including the
United States of America support capital punishment. And they would have their reasons, as we
have ours.

The most common argument that the nations on the other side of the debate put forth is
that death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder. However, surveys of the most preeminent criminologists prove otherwise. 87% of them believe that abolition of the death
penalty would not have any significant effect on murder rates.

The other argument that it is a burden on the exchequer to keep the criminal in
rehabilitation or asylum is indefensible as the value of a human life cannot be and
should not be measured in dollars. We strongly believe that it is the responsibility of the
state to provide the criminals an opportunity to reform by providing the necessary
counseling and conditions.

Thus, in line with the moral stand of our citizens, the King and the successive governments,
Belgium strongly opposes sentencing and executing its citizens. Instead, it believes that
imprisonment without parole after a proper trial can lead to reform and rehabilitation. It also
hopes that other retentionist countries realise its negative implications and establish a
moratorium or progressively restrict its use according to international minimum standards.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/capitalpunishment/
http://www.unbrussels.org/component/content/article/1-latest-news/517-10thanniversary-of-world-and-european-day-against-the-death-penalty.html
http://www.eu-un.europa.eu/articles/en/article_6337_en.htm
http://ccrjustice.org/files/CCR%20Death%20Penalty%20Factsheet.pdf
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology