Answer of the swedish foreign affairs minister, Lena HJELM-WALLEN, on the questions of Death penalty abolition and institution of the international criminal court

12 July 1996

Mr. Olivier Dupuis

European Parliament

Rue Belliard 97/113 REM 508

1047 Brussels

BELGIUM

Dear Mrs Lööw, Mr Cars and Mr Dupuis,

I thank you for your letter dated 5 June, in which you raise two particularly important issues, the universal abolition of the death penalty and the establishment of a Permanent International Criminal Court.

In 1994, the initiative for a resolution in the General Assembly dealing with the death penalty was taken by Italy, with the support of a number of other countries, including Sweden. The proposal did not gain sufficient support. It is Sweden's view that if a renewed initiative led to another defeat in the General Assembly, more harm would be done to the cause than waiting until there is full certainty that a resolution could be carried by a majority.

I regret that the support for the abolition of capital punishment makes slow progress. As of 31 December 1995 not more than 29 States had ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. Sweden promotes wider adherence to this Protocol in various ways.

In the UN Commission on Human Rights, Sweden is the main sponsor of the resolution on the Special Rapporteur on Summary, Arbitrary or Extrajudicial Executions. His mandate also covers measures to limit the number of cases of capital punishment around the world. The Rapporteur has emphasized in his report to the Commission, that the highest legal guarantees, including the 1984 ECOSOC Safeguards guaranteeing the protection of rights of those facing the death penalty and the 1989 ECOSOC resolution on their implementation, should scrupulously be adhered to. At our initiative the Rapporteur will for the first time, this year, submit a report to the General Assembly. Sweden will do its best to use his conclusions and recommendations in the drafting of the resolution on this subject in the General Assembly.

Sweden remains committed to combating capital punishment. Sweden takes part in, and often initiates, common EU demarches in third countries in favour of individuals sentenced to capital punishment. I and my Cabinet collegues regularly draw attention to this issue, both from the rostrum of international meetings like in the Human Rights' Commission and privately when visiting countries where the death penalty is still applied.

As regards the establishment of a Permanent International Criminal Court, work proceeded reasonably well at the March/April meeting of the Preparatory Committee. The number of countries that participate actively in the proceedings has increased compared to last year. Differences of opinion were narrowed in some instances but remain in others. A large number of amendments and additions to the draft statute for the Court were proposed.

At the August meeting of the Preparatory Committee, the remaining issues pertaining to the statute of the Court will be discussed. The Swedish delegation will work actively to overcome the hurdles and to speed up the pace of negotiations.

The Commission must now proceed to the stage of actual drafting. This was only partly possible during the spring session. I sincerely hope that the issues will have matured in August.

It is still not clear whether progress in the Preparatory Committee will enable the General Assembly already this coming autumn to convene in 1997 a Diplomatic Conference for the final elaboration and adoption of the Court Statute. Provisional agreement on at least some of the major issues will have to be reached first.

On the other hand, some of the disputed issues can probably only be solved when a firm deadline is set to hold the Conference. Sweden and other like-minded countries will do their utmost both to achieve agreement on outstanding issues and to convince other countries of the necessity to hold a Conference next year.

Yours sincerely,

(signature)

Lena HJELM-WALLEN