SERGIO D'ELIA, Secretary - Italy. I would like to start by assigning tasks to the members of "Hands off Cain" Steering Committee in order to ensure that the goals discussed and endorsed during the proceedings of this Congress are attained.

The first commitment that we have made is the promotion of a campaign that we have called "10 countries, 100 cities, 100.000 signatures for the United Nations to stop the death penalty". Today, during the proceedings, European Commissioner Emma Bonino stressed the importance to have the campaign for the moratorium on executions included in the schedule for the six-month period of Italian Presidency of the European Union. We believe it is extremely important to try and have the highest possible number of countries sponsoring the proposal of a world-wide moratorium on executions. In this context, I would like to remind you that among the members of our Honorary Presidency there are Emma Bonino, European Commissioner, and Adelaide Aglietta, co-President of the Green Parliamentary Group who was the rapporteur at the European Parliament for a "historic" report on the death penalty. And then there is also EuroMP Ernesto Caccavale.

I think that all European matters can be followed by these institutional representatives and Olivia Ratti, who lives and works in Brussels, and is the Secretary of a parliamentary group.

As for Scandinavian countries, Antonio Stango is the President of the Italian section of the Helsinki Committee and he regularly meets with the other Secretaries of this Committee. I think it appropriate to entrust him with finding at least one Scandinavian country which will submit the moratorium proposal to the United Nations.

As far as Spain is concerned, its former Minister of Foreign Affairs, now President of NATO, assured us that Spain would join the initiative. It is now necessary to ask him whether, now that the Minister has changed, Spain is still willing to do that.

Then we mentioned the former Soviet Union, Moldova and Ukraine in the motion. Within a short time, we must see whether the President of Moldova, a country which has recently abolished the death penalty, agrees to put forward the moratorium proposal to the United Nations in 1996. I think that the task to follow this part should be assigned to our member of the Steering Committee Petru Munteanu, who did a lot to turn his country into an abolitionist country.

As regards Ukraine, a country which has recently adopted a moratorium on executions, we will try, through the Minister of Justice, Mr. Golovati, who is also member of the Radical Party, to make this country submit the moratorium proposal to the United Nations.

As far as the Arab world is concerned, after the Tunis Conference and the top-level meetings that we had with the President of Parliament and the Minister of Justice, we have no doubts that Tunisia will be among the submitters of the moratorium proposal to the United Nations. I think that Samir Labidi could perfectly deal with that.

As for South Africa, as we said during the Congress, we will write a letter to Nelson Mandela to ask him to join us in putting forward the moratorium proposal.

Then there is the Latin American Parliament, which adopted an important resolution inviting, as the European Parliament had already done, its Member States to call for a moratorium on executions. I would like to know from Perly which other Latin American Parliaments endorse the initiative.

Moreover, we must commit ourselves to collecting the 100.000 signatures on the international petition for the moratorium and finding at least 100 towns supporting our action.

Finally, there are the Moscow and New York Conferences, the Olympic actions, the Yearbook on the death penalty in the world and non-violent actions.

"10 COUNTRIES, 100 CITIES, 100.000 SIGNATURES FOR THE UNITED NATIONS TO STOP THE DEATH PENALTY"

OLIVIA RATTI, Treasurer - Belgium. I undertake the commitment of co-ordinating the European institutions from Brussels, though it will not be easy because, when you are not there, you have the impression that they are a single unit, whereas they often lack communication.

EMILIO VESCE, member of the Steering Committee - Italy. I will be responsible, together with Roberto Spagnoli from Rome, for the co-ordination between Italian local institutions.

ELISABETTA ZAMPARUTTI, jurist, member of the Steering Committee - Italy. Our project aims at having 10 countries simultaneously urging the United Nations to adopt a world-wide moratorium on executions. In order to see whether it is feasible or not, I would like to ask all participants whether they think that there is a good chance that their governments support it and how long will it take to have an answer from them.

PETRU MUNTEANU, former MP, member of the Steering Committee - Moldova. Credit for stopping executions in Moldova must be given to our President who, as a real democrat, has succeeded in obtaining this result in spite of the opposition of other political forces.

I can already say that not only will our Republic join the initiative of the moratorium proposal to the United Nations, but also the proposal to definitely abolish the death penalty. And I can guarantee that our President will do his utmost to make our experience known internationally.

As regards the Moscow Conference, I think it is important that all MP's of the Republics formerly belonging to the Soviet Union who are also members of the Radical Party receive an invitation to do all they can in their countries to gain support for our initiative.

We, the representatives of Moldova, will do our best to achieve the goals set in the final motion.

ALBERTO CASTIEL, Director of the Institute for Human Rights IDHIDA, member of the Steering Committee - Brazil. As far as Brazil is concerned, our country is very likely to submit a proposal of a moratorium on executions.

IGOR BEZRUKOV, member of the Presidential Commission for the Mercy, member of the Steering Committee - Russia. First of all, it will be necessary to assess the political situation after today's elections. The President had imposed a veto on the criminal code in relation to the application of the death penalty. The new Parliament will re-examine the code and, if the veto is lifted, we will have to ask the President to impose it again.. I would also like to write a personal letter to President Yeltsin to inform him about the outcome of this Congress, enclosing an appeal by our Steering Committee that should aim at sensitising Russia, as the largest country of the former Soviet Union, about our initiative. Instructed by Sergio D'Elia, I will write the texts and, if necessary, will meet the President. In addition, it will be necessary to organise a signature collection campaign and mobilise the press, always bearing in mind that Moscow will soon host the Conference.

CIPRIANO PERLY, representative of the Governor of the State of Santo Spirito, member of the Honorary Presidency - Brazil. As far as human rights are concerned, I would like to inform you that a conference on this issue will be promoted by the Brazilian Government with the participation of various Assemblies and NGO's; it is intended to launch a national plan for the protection of human rights. This will be the forum where we will try and raise the question of the abolition of the death penalty in the world, because Brazil does not envisage it.

We will also try to involve in this struggle not only the State Governors who are against the death penalty but also the mayors, local and town councils which will take part in this conference.

PAOLO CESARI, journalist, member of the Steering Board - Italy. I am convinced that Europe should play an increasingly important role in this struggle. For this reason, I would like to see an increase in the number of initiatives which, like the conference which was held in Tunis thanks to the contribution of the European Commission, give the idea of an abolitionist Europe within and without its boundaries. I think that trade agreements should also be used to put pressure to bear on and sensitise governments on the issue of capital punishment. I would also like to stress the importance to establish contacts with Ireland, which played a very active part at the United Nations in 1994, because this country will hold the European Presidency after Italy.

We must also ask our Tunisian friends and the Arab League to create contacts between us and Morocco, which has already invited us to speak about our project, since we must set the goal of having Tunisia as a country which proposes the moratorium and Morocco as one abstaining. I would like to draw your attention to one aspect which is generally taken for granted, though it should not. The death penalty does not formally belong to the sphere of human rights. Amnesty International itself has separate sections for the death penalty and human rights. Well, we must conversely be fully aware of the fact that the death penalty is connected with the respect of human rights, because it is one of its key elements.

SAMIR LABIDI, jurist, member of the Steering Committee - Tunisia. As regards Tunisia, after our Conference the Tunisian Government was encouraged to take remarkable steps forward. I can already say that during the next session we will have a much more advanced stance compared to the one we had taken up in 1994. As for Morocco, together with Sergio D'Elia and Elisabetta Zamparutti, we must arrange a meeting with the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Human Rights. I would also like to inform you that the new Tunisian Ambassador in Italy is a former Secretary in charge of the Arab League legal matters who can act in a way so that, if not all, at least three or four countries will abstain. We should be able to achieve these results by June-July.

ABOUBAKRY BA, member of the African Institute for Democracy in charge of Foreign Relations, member of the Steering Committee - Senegal. Senegal keeps the death penalty, but it has been applied only twice since 1960, and, since Senegal entered a stage of democracy in 1970, I think it is not unlikely that Senegal joins the initiative.

MIKE TSHISONGA, Chairman of the Management Committee of the Department of Justice, member of the Steering Committee - South Africa. I believe it is important to soon send a formal letter to President Nelson Mandela. I can talk about it with my country's Minister of Justice and what I will say will be reported to the President. I commit myself to doing that, but it will also be necessary to keep in touch with the Secretariat.

SERGIO D'ELIA. We will write the letter together.

IBRAHIM N'DOURE, MP, member of the Steering Committee - Mali. Like Senegal, also Mali has not abolished the death penalty, but it is not applied in practice. Moreover, the human rights organisations, such as LMH, are making efforts to arouse a debate on this subject in Mali and the delegation of MP's present at this Congress has already worked in Parliament, so that it is now ready to discuss about it.

ELISABETTA ZAMPARUTTI. Owing to the political weight that their decisions may have, I think it is of vital importance to goad supranational organisations to make decisions committing their Member States to promoting the proposal of a world-wide moratorium at the United Nations. For this reason, I would like to ask the representative of the Council of Europe whether there is any chance to submit such a resolution in that forum and have it adopted.

RENATE WHOLWEND, member of the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee of the Council of Europe - Liechtenstein. Of course. Another resolution against the death penalty had already been adopted last year. As soon as I go back to the Council of Europe, I will think over how it will be possible, also in my capacity as a member of the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee, to put forward a new resolution at the Council of Europe.

GEORGE BIZOS, lawyer - South Africa. I would like to remind that, on 10th October, the Human Rights Commission will organise the anti-apartheid day and, considering the large number of people who will attend the celebration, I think we should try to be present. Furthermore, in order to sensitise my country about the initiative of the moratorium, it is necessary to establish a contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which, together with the Ministry of Justice, must be our points of reference to best reach the President. I think this is the right path to follow and we must do that.

MOSCOW CONFERENCE

to be held in the 1996 Spring, in April or early May as a maximum.

OLIVIA RATTI. I would like to inform you that we have already applied for financing from the European Commission in relation to this initiative, and I think we will be granted 30-40.000 dollars, which will only partially cover expenses.

Therefore, we need to have organisational support in Moscow. "Memorial", for example, could do the same as the Arab Institute for Human Rights in this sense, but it will also be necessary to find local sponsors.

VALENTINE OSKOTSKI, writer, member of the Presidential Commission for the Mercy - Russia. I think that three people should be entrusted with the conference preparatory work: Pristavkin, Bezrukov and Oskotski. We will have different tasks, since we already have three different spheres of action. Bezrukov has taken on the task of contacting former and present MP's and tells me that he can also find some sponsors. Pristavkin, owing to his social position, could maintain relations with "Memorial", presided over by Kovaliov, the Human Rights Commission and the Helsinki Group, which is very active in Russia. As far as I am concerned, I am ready to do all the work connected with publications, because I work in a publishing company and I am in touch with other democratic publishing companies. An effective propaganda press campaign is essential. Moreover, I am the chief editor of a newspaper and I am ready to devote 1 or 2 special issues to "Hands off Cain" I would like to add that jurists not only against but also i

n favour of the death penalty should be invited.

SERGIO D'ELIA. We must also invite representatives of other countries formerly belonging to the Soviet Union to the Conference: Golovati, who will certainly come form Ukraine, and others.

NEW YORK CONFERENCE

OLIVIA RATTI. For this Conference, too, we have submitted an application for financing from the European Commission, but I think that an obstacle to financing may be the fact that the Conference will take place in the United States. In the event they grant something to us, it will be very little, so we need to find sponsors.

MARIA GIOVANNA MAGLIE, journalist, member of the Steering Committee - USA. I think this Conference should be held either in early July or in September, on the eve of the UN session. I think that the New York Conference of "Hands off Cain" should have two objectives, which may seem to be limited, whereas they are of great importance. First of all, stable relations must be established with people involved in the struggle for the abolition of the death penalty in the United States, who belong to numerous different associations. But I also think that we should have contacts with the people who work around high security prisons. For example, the network around Mumia Abu Jamal is wider that those around individual associations. In addition to Mumia, there are others around other inmates, and I think that, in this respect, Helen Prejean and Leo Weinglass could help us a lot.

Then it is desirable to find people in trade unions, associations of actors, doctors, lawyers, professors and to establish contacts with similar European and Italian professionals.

It is also necessary to work with communities such as the Irish, Greek, Spanish and Italian ones. The Italian community, for example, had voted for Clinton until 1992, it was democratic and had doubts on the death penalty, but it suddenly turned republican and, in the New York State, greatly contributed to the election of a very bad Governor such as George Pataki. There are therefore changes of mood and opinion which are much quicker than we expect, and this is important, if we consider that pressure has never been exerted to date. At least for this reason I do not think that all communities will have a negative attitude.

We should also contact personalities willing to become our testimonials; our initiative might otherwise run the risk of being limited to those who are already aware of the problem.

Then a network to avoid what happened with the UN debate on the moratorium, which practically had no coverage, should be created in order to draw the attention of the media on the initiative .

The Conference should therefore be a bridge between the Death-Penalty fortress-island and the rest of our organisation and the countries willing to support the moratorium proposal; it could be useful to inform people about the moratorium tool and about the United Nations, which are not very well known in America.

Having said that, it is necessary that some people having a budget carry out a preparatory work for 6-7 months. And I am sure that the European Commission will not grant financing. In addition, next year there will be elections, and it will be even more difficult then usual to be noted.

I would not refrain from trying to have a contact with that part of the Democratic Party which is abolitionist. They might answer that they cannot be too explicit during the electoral campaign, but I think we should at least try. In this context, I think of Edward Kennedy, but there are many others. In order to do that it is therefore necessary to move the whole association to the United States. This is why we need to raise money. I have some ideas, but I think I should not be the only one to think it over. We might ask RAI, our public broadcasting company, to organise a marathon, like Telethon, for this initiative at the United Nations. I think we should address both public and private sectors. We should turn to large companies and see whether they have courage or they have fear of support abolitionist actions.

UMBERTO CROPPI, ad-man, member of the Steering Committee - Italy. I would like to say a word about communities. Having had institutional relations with communities of immigrants, I can say that they are important, organised, well-structured presences having a certain political weight. I would link these communities to the 100 towns, because all immigrant communities in the United States have clubs depending on their origin, even if it is a small village. I therefore suggest that the towns joining the initiative should be called upon to take official steps through their privileged channels, because immigrants are deeply interested in what comes from their country of origin.

I undertake the task of following up the relations between communities and towns of origin.

ALSSANDRA FILOGRANO, journalist, member of the Steering Committee - Italy. In my view, the date of the New York Conference must be close to the beginning of the session of the UN General Assembly, because it is necessary to use the press to raise awareness among the public opinion. I think that we could immediately start by creating a network of journalists - not only American but also European ones - for the abolition of the death penalty, something similar to "Rapporteurs sans fronti res". I also think that the Conference should come after the Olympic Games. This is why a good period is September.

MICHAEL KROLL, member of the Steering Committee - USA. I would like to quickly say three things. First of all, I have prepared a list of outstanding personalities against the death penalty that I will show you. Then I would like to stress the importance to carry on a struggle against the death penalty in any case, not only for those who are not guilty. We should also pay attention to the 52 people mentioned by Weinglass who were set free from death rows over time, because each case opens a series of problems which may greatly contribute to the Conference in the Unites States.

LEO WEINGLASS, lawyer of Mumia Abu Jamal's defence counsel - USA. There are good elements about the New York Conference. In New York there is the largest University against the death penalty, the New York University, with Tony Amsterdam, a very well-known professor. In New York there is an extremely important person for the abolition of the death penalty because he is a former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, and I know he would be very pleased to participate. Then there is former Governor Mario Cuomo, a really outstanding person who is also against the death penalty. The present Manhattan general attorney, Mr. Roger Morghentau, is against the death penalty; he will be happy to participate and also has organisational power. There is the Legal Defence Fund, which is a very active fund of lawyer having its headquarters in New York. Then there is the Irish Child Organisation, which is against the death penalty. I would also like to inform you that a whole beautiful building is available, the Art and Culture Socie

ty, with many large rooms and I am sure it will be willing to host you. Another possible place is the Cooper Union Hall. There are other advantages, such as the existence of Mumia Abu Jamal's network which has headquarters in New York, Washington and Philadelphia. I think that I can make them all work for this campaign. In conclusion, in New York there is organisational strength, there are facilities and therefore I encourage you all to go on. The negative aspect is that the media will be concentrated on the elections in 1996. It will be difficult to penetrate them and, even if dealing with the United Nations, they will pay less attention to our Conference.

PAOLO CESARI. For this New York initiative, I think it is important to consider the actions of the various associations, because they are many but results are few. Obviously, the failure has not yet been detected and we must succeed in doing that in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes

ATLANTA OLYMPIC GAMES

MICHAEL KROLL. I need help to contact athletes. Moreover, I think that we must not confine ourselves to abolitionist countries. On the contrary, athletes must be personally contacted and sensitised.

PETRU MUNTEANU. I think it is very important for our league to address all national Olympic Committees. We will explain our humanitarian purposes and they may not remain insensitive.

PETER HODGKINSON, professor, member of the Steering Committee - United Kingdom. I think Paolo is perfectly right, In the United States there are small groups or persons taking individual actions, also on the occasion of the Atlanta Olympic Games, and it is difficult to understand whether, where and how we should concentrate our energies. In January, there will be meetings in Atlanta to try and co-ordinate actions. We will have to be very imaginative to link death-rows to individual countries or individual people. An idea could be that of twinning one inmate with one athlete or one country. We will have to see and find possible new initiatives.

SERGIO D'ELIA. There is not one person among us entrusted with the Olympic Games. Let's see if we can find one. For example, I think that Peter Hodgkinson can make a a of the various abolitionist associations dealing with the Atlanta Olympic Games. We should also assess the financial resources needed to organise such events. For the time being, I inform you that we have made agreements with a company that organises events, Network, which is ready to help us to deal with communication initiatives and finding sponsors for the initiative. Paolo Cesari reminds me that, for us, 1996 must be the year of the moratorium on executions at the United Nations. 1996 is also the year of the Olympic Games. So why not linking the two things together in the most symbolic way? During the Olympic Games, in Greece all conflicts, all wars used to be suspended. The message must be that in 1996, the year of the Olympic Games, there must also be a suspension of executions, that is the moratorium. I would put aside now the suggestio

n made in the motion by Emma Bonino, that is non-violent actions. The commitment that we undertake by now is to send a letter to all of us with a summary report of the proceedings of this Steering Committee. There is one last item regarding the Yearbook on the institutional situation of the death penalty in the world. The relevant papers were delivered by Peter Hodgkinson and Elisabetta Zamparutti. I propose to entrust Peter Hodgkinson, Elisabetta Zamparutti and our President, William Shabas, with agreeing on a project already drafted to apply for contributions from the European Union.

ABOUBAKRY BA. I would like to say something about the project that I explained yesterday, that I would like to implement in Dakar together with "Hands off Cain". Generally speaking, in Africa there are not discussions about the abolition of the death penalty, even though there are many human rights organisations, which proves that it would be very appropriate to raise the question in the African continent. Many African States still envisage it and, unfortunately, the subject becomes topical only when there are important people sentenced to death.

SERGIO D'ELIA. We expect a detailed project by a few weeks and then we will decide. Thanks a lot.