On the eve of the World Day against the Death Penalty, Italy's foreign ministry on Tuesday hosted an event in Rome on a universal moratorium on capital punishment, the ministry said in a statement.
Foreign under-secretary of state Manlio Di Stefano chaired the meeting of a joint task force between the ministry and several civil society organisations including Catholic charity Comunita di Sant'Egidio, anti-death penalty NGO Nessuno Tocchi Caino and Amnesty International's Italian section, the statement said.
The task force aims to coordinate awareness-raising activities rolled out by the Italian government and major civil society organisations committed to this issue ahead of the UN General Assembly’s biannual Resolution for a universal moratorium on the use of the death penalty, according to the statement.
“Italy played a leading role in the negotiations for this Resolution from the very start.... it is a goal that we share with Italy’s civil society," Di Stefano told the meeting.
As part of an awareness-raising campaign to coincide with the opening week of the United Nations General Assembly, Italy on 25 September co-organised an event which was attended by foreign minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi and UN Human Rights chief Michelle Bachelet, Di Stefano recalled.
