MONGOLIA ATTENDS WORLD CONGRESS AGAINST DEATH PENALTY

Ulaanbaatar, /MONTSAME/. President Ts. Elbegdorj has been invited to attend the 4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty that opened February 24. Due to his tight business schedule, Mr Elbegdorj was unable to take part in this event thus he has sent his envoys headed by E.Bat-Uul MP.
National political leaders, activists, representatives of international organisations and many others have made it: a wide variety of abolitionist actors are now gathered in Geneva for the 4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty. This Wednesday morning’s opening session reflects the effort to bring together all the forces at work in the abolitionist movement, from grassroots groups to far-reaching transnational organisations. In the highly symbolic setting of the Palace of Nations – the headquarters of the UN’s human rights agencies – speakers from all horizons have been taking turns to address the participants. Representatives from international organisations and government ministers came to seal their alliance with NGOs, who were represented by Ensemble contre la peine de mort and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty at the opening session. During the three-day event, Mongolian representatives will make a report on the abolishment of death penalty in its country.
As soon as the official opening session ends, registered participants – nearly 2,000 of them – will get down to work. Their aim is to strengthen the networks they have established across borders and identities, and to move forward together through a common strategy. All burning issues regarding the death penalty in 2010 will be dealt through a dense programme of working sessions.
The World Congress also makes room for testimonies from the victims of the cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment that is the death penalty. In a pre-Congress session, the participants to a screening of the film Manners of dying Tuesday evening got a rare chance to hear US death row inmate Mumia Abu Jamal speak live from his prison cell over the telephone.
This was the first occasion among many in the three coming days to hear death row inmates, their relatives and friends as well as those of crime victims, to put a face on the added and useless suffering created by capital punishment.
S. Batbayar
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