DUSHANBE, July 17, Asia-Plus - “We would like to see more progress in a campaign to abolish death penalty,” Mr. Aaron Rodez (phonetically spelled), Executive Director of International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) told journalists in Dushanbe on July 17.  

According to him there could be various legal and technical aspects of the issue that should be solved.  

“If political leaders make bold, the technical issues will be solved,” stated IHF executive director, “We hope they will not think up any excuse; the most thing that all should move towards international standards.” 

The IHF consultant, Ms. Maria Louisa Baskur noted that the death penalty was also used as an instrument of pressure, means of political and economic control.   She termed France as an example.  In France , according to her, more than a half of the population spoke against the abolition of the death penalty but the president showed political will and abolished the death penalty by his edict.  

            The IHF officials arrived in Dushanbe to attend a conference entitled “ Tajikistan : From Moratorium to Abolition of Death Penalty.”  The conference initiated by IHF was held in Dushanbe on July 17.  

ABOUT: IHF is an international, nongovernmental organization constituted by national Helsinki Committees and Cooperating Organizations in the participating States of the OSCE.  The IHF seeks to promote compliance with the human rights provisions of the Helsinki Final Act and its follow-up documents, with international legal obligations undertaken in the Council of Europe and the UN, and with human rights norms promoted by the European Union.  The IHF mandate is to protect and strengthen civil society groups that monitor and report on human rights issues from a non-partisan perspective, and to bring them together on a common international platform. The IHF represents its affiliates on the international political level and in the media, supports and assists their human rights monitoring and advocacy activities, and disseminates documentation based on their research.