Position paper death penalty

Position paper

Commitee: Human Court Council

Topic: Death penalty

Country: Czechia

Delegate: Sabrina Guillot- Alonso

« Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a  night already devoid of stars ». These words belong to Martin Luther King, a strong leader and entusiasta defensor of the civil rights movements. What is at stake in this debate isn’t simply about punishment and justice, it is about death. It is about certain countries believing that they can have power on an individual’s life. That is a rather egoistical way of perceiving power.  Death penalty is the fact to end life with the excuse of punishment; the need to proportionately sanction guilty criminals. In fact, this procedure proves how vicious and perveted humanity in its global sens can be. Indeed, death penalty is the direct expression of what we call revenge.

Unfortunately, for some, revenge is associated to justice and equity when in reality it  only multiplies violence as it provenly fails in deterring.

Thank you chair, dear delegates,

Capital punishment is forbidden by the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms of the Czech republic since 1991 and is simultaneously prohibited by international law by the country’s membership in both the Council of Europe and the European Union.

Czechia has learned. Czechia has evolved. Czechia has endeavored.^[a] The country understood the moral, ethical risks of capital punishment following the german occupation and the communist phase of its politics. Indeed, whilst the german occupied the territory, thousands were executed and hundreds of thousands were killed without any trial. In Prague, the Pankrac prison was used to guillotine or hang 1079 people. [pic 2]

It is in honor of its History that Czechia has faith in the right to live and the importance of understanding one another. We believe that death penalty never helped to impose the country’s authority nor prevent re-offending. Indeed, how can we contribute to the preventing of criminality with a criminal punishment as it is an offense to morality? Sanctioning an individual  in terms of the severity of their crime is opposable to what the Human Court Council and its member states believe in: we can not use murder to punish a murderer, we cannot use rape to punish a rapist.
^[b]

Lifetime jail sentences are a more severe and a less expensive punishment than death.

In addition to that, the justice system carries too many flaws to be sure to execute the right person and not an innocent. The unequal access to lawyers  and attorneys depending on wealth and social status increases the risk of  misunderstandings. Death penalty perpetuates social injustices by disproportionately targeting people, of color for example. Therefore, the process can not be totally transparent and respect human rights.

Today, Czechia would like to tackle death penalty and discuss with retentionist countries to find other means of punishment  in order to make sure that the Universal Declaration of Civil Rights is respected ,^[c] Thank you, i yield my time back to the chair

as well as important resolutions such as the Resolution 1984/50 adopted  by the Economic and Social Council on « Safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty ».

Terrorits aren’t afraid of death. as we can see, countries that use death penalty aren’t actually the countries with the lowest rate of terroriste attacks. As the Uk said , most of terrorists are kamikaze, they die with their will and their ideology remain on earth. To fight against terrorisme, we shouldn’t concentrate on the terrorists but the ideology. Therefore, using the death penalty doesn’t go anywhere. as it doesn’t eradicate

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