To the attention of Mr. Irvin Hoyland

Counsellor minister at the Norwegian Embassy

Via delle Terme Deciane, 7

00153 Rome

Brussels, August 7, 1998

Excellency,

I was very pleased to meet you last week in the occasion of the meeting on the death penalty organized by Hands off Cain. The last news coming from the Ecosoc in New York are not really good. Jordan, in the name of other 50 countries, made a statement against the possibility that the UN undertake other initiatives in favour of the abolition of the death penalty. On the other side, Italy has still not decided to put the item of the moratorium on the agenda of the next session of the UN General Assembly. At the moment we have received positive answers from around 20 countries, mostly from South America and Europe. The problem is still to find a leading country. I'm personally convinced that Your country is one of the few which could break this "vicious circle" putting the question on the agenda of the UN General Assembly before August 20.

Here enclosed you could find some more information about the campaign and, in particular the letter we sent some weeks ago to the norwegian foreign affairs Minister, a dossier country by country about the situation of death penalty, the text of the resolution passed in the Commission on Human Rights of the United Nations.

Thanking you for your attention and with the hope that some good news could come from Your country, please accept my best regards.

Olivier Dupuis

Secretary of the Transnational Radical Party)