Italy's deputy foreign minister Emanuela Del Re on Thursday opened an international meeting in Rome entitled 'A World without the Death Penalty', the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“We need joint action by institutions and civil society to keep up the pressure at the United Nations and with public awareness campaigns," Del Re told the 12th International Congress for Justice Ministers .
"A commitment to fighting the death penalty means committing to affirming the supreme value of the dignity of every single human being," Del Re added.
Italy's Catholic Communità di Sant'Egidio organised the conference to support and encourage countries that are moving to abolish the death penalty, or which might.
Taking the floor, Zambia's justice minister Given Lubinda underlined that judicial and constitutional reforms were needed in countries to make their abolition of capital punishment "irreversible", the statement noted.
