Mongolia praised for abolishing death penalty
The United Nations' top human rights official praised Mongolia Wednesday for abolishing the death penalty, after the sparsely populated Asian country approved a new criminal code eliminating executions.
The measure was passed by the State Great Hural, Mongolia's parliament, last week, after extended debate.
Justice minister Khishigdemberel Temuujin told the official news agency Montsame that the law was "long anticipated", adding: "There is no significant increase of crimes where countries have no death penalty."
Mongolia has not carried out an execution since 2008, according to rights group Amnesty International ©Brendan Smialowski (Pool/AFP/File)
Mongolia's President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj halted executions after he came to power in 2010, using his presidential authority to commute condemned prisoners' sentences.
"This development is very encouraging and a clear example of positive progress in the fight for human rights for all -– including people convicted of terrible crimes," UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a statement.
"We must not allow even the most atrocious acts to strip us of our fundamental humanity," he added.
The European Union's diplomatic service welcomed the decision as "truly excellent news" and urged other countries in the region to follow suit.
"Capital punishment is a cruel and inhuman punishment which fails to deter criminal behaviour and which represents a grave denial of human dignity and integrity," a spokesperson for EEAS said in a statement.
The move made Mongolia the 105th country to abolish the death penalty in law, the UN statement said. Another 60 states either have moratoriums in place or have not executed anyone in the last 10 years.
Mongolia has not carried out an execution since 2008, according to rights group Amnesty International.
"The death penalty is becoming a thing of the past across the world," said its East Asia research director Roseann Rife.
