Resolution on the death sentence passed on Karla Faye Tucker in the United States

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the resolution adopted on 3 April 1997 by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights which calls for a moratorium on executions in anticipation of their total abolition,

A. whereas in December 1997 the United States Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence passed on Karla Faye Tucker, a prisoner being held in Texas, and whereas the district court judge has decided that the execution will take place on 3 February 1998,

B. whereas 48 female prisoners are currently being held on death row in the United States, only one woman has been executed since the death penalty was reinstated there in 1976, and a woman was last executed in Texas in 1863,

C. whereas of the 58 US death row prisoners who were under age at the time of committing their crimes, 43% are being held in Texas, and whereas nine minors have been executed in the United States since 1976, five of those executions having taken place in Texas,

D. whereas of the 74 executions that took place in the United States in 1997, 37 were carried out in Texas, and whereas of the 30 executions due to be carried out in the United States by May 1998, 14 will take place in Texas alone, and the remainder in seven other States,

E. whereas the decision to grant a stay of execution to Karla Faye Tucker and commute her sentence now rests with the Texas State Governor, George Bush Jr, who will be called upon to act on the basis of a recommendation by the Mercy Commission,

1. Addresses a formal appeal to the Governor of Texas and the other state authorities concerned to grant a stay of execution to Karla Faye Tucker and commute her sentence;

2. Calls on the institutions, legislatures and governors of states where the death penalty is in force to impose a moratorium on executions;

3. Calls on the US Federal Government to withdraw the reservation to the provision prohibiting the execution of minors, a qualification added by the United States to the Act ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

4. Calls on the Council and Commission to lend their utmost support to the appeal to the Governor of Texas to commute the sentence or grant a reprieve;

5. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the US Federal Government and the Governor of the State of Texas.