Death penalty

So the UN General Assembly voted 99-52 for the adoption of a non-binding resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty. This moratorium was adopted with a view on the eventual abolition of the death penalty as a form of criminal justice. Thirty-odd other countries abstained.

1984-ville, not surprisingly, voted against the adoption of this resolution. In fact, some news wires reported that the UN representative of 1984-ville led the group of 52 nations who voted nay.

A 99-52 margin is not even close. In fact, it's almost 66-33 in terms of percentages. In any electoral process, that wide a margin is considered a thrashing. To put it in context, the Prime Minister of 1984-ville, considered one of the more popular MPs, barely achieved that kind of margin in his own constituency a year ago.

Which begs the question: Is 1984-ville a pariah state?

Hardly. That's because the United States government is a firm supporter of the death penalty. But then again, one could argue that a post-9/11 US is a pariah in the world community.

Progress in this area is slow. Like the abolition of slavery, apartheid and other such things, changes take time. The hangman's (or firing squad, lethal injection etc) count will continue to increase until humanity finally sees the light. But given the sad state of human affairs, I'm not optimistic.

Update: Here is the BBC report. And it quotes the 1984-ville UN representative, "They (countries that voted for) claim to support freedom of expression, but vote to deny it to others." Since when was the death penalty a form of expression that needed protection?