General Assembly Resolution #535 “Death Penalty Ban” (Category: Civil Rights; Strength: Significant) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.
Noting that there is strong support for the Death Penalty in many WA member nations,
Further noting that it is the will of the World Assembly to promote the free democratic expression of ideas and ensure that the government responds to the will of the people,
Believing that forcing member nations to forsake the death penalty creates a contradiction with the democratic ideals of the World Assembly, whereby member nations are forced to ignore the will of their people,
Noting that the desire of the original proposal is to “spend money currently dedicated to the substantial administrative and legal costs of pursuing death penalties on enforcement or rehabilitation programmes”, but that the original proposal does not clarify what these programs are, how to implement them, or how to assess their effectiveness,
Believing that this ambiguity is detrimental to the functionality of the criminal justice system, especially in poor nations where the introduction of ineffective programs can severely drain the financial resources of the Justice Department,
Noting that the proposal believes the “[Application of the death penalty] targets the mentally ill, socio-economically disadvantaged, and members of racial and cultural minorities”,
Noting that most nations with the death penalty enforce stringint laws to prevent the execution of the mentally ill,
Believing that the issue of using the death penalty to target racial and cultural minorities and the socio-economically disadvantaged is part of a larger systemic issue of disparity in the justice departments of individual nations, and that the abolition of the death penalty does not directly mitigate this effect,
Noting that the original proposal wishes to prevent “death penalties [from being] issued against people who are actually innocent of the crimes for which they are to be punished”
Noting that the criminals who have been sentenced to death were convicted in a fair trial by a jury of their peers,
Further noting that substantial opportunity for appeal and stay of execution exists in nations with the death penalty,
Believing that this sufficiently mitigates the risk of false execution through ample opportunity to introduce reasonable doubt,
Hereby repeals General Assembly Resolution 535 “Death Penalty Ban”.
