Bahamas set to vote on capital punishment at UN:
By Bianca Symonette, Guardian Staff Reporter -
Nassau, Bahamas:


The Bahamas is set to take part in a vote on a resolution today in which the United Nations General Assembly is calling for a worldwide suspension of the use of the death penalty.

A spokesperson for The Bahamas United Nations Office in New York told The Guardian that The Bahamas has a position that it would take during the vote, however, the spokesperson declined to state what that position would be.

The Third Committee of the UN General Assembly met yesterday to discuss the resolution and also to deal with 14 amendments to that resolution. They are expected to reconvene at 10 a.m. today to take a vote.

There hasn't been a hanging in The Bahamas since David Mitchell met his fate at the gallows on January 6, 2000. The Bahamas has hanged 50 men since 1929, according to records at Her Majesty's Prison.

Five were hanged under the Ingraham administration, 13 were hanged under the 25-year rule of the Pindling government, and the remainder executed between 1929 and 1967.

With the country's murder count now at 63, Bahamas Christian Council president Bishop John Humes has taken a firm stance on the issue, stating he would support a motion for capital punishment.

Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest has previously said that he supports capital punishment and indicated that the laws of the country should be carried out. However he said realistically that hangings will not resume in the country as the country seems to be moving away from capital punishment rather than supporting it.

Although former Prime Minister Perry Christie and former Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt had both said they are proponents of capital punishment, there were no executions carried out under their watch.

The Privy Council ruled last year that the mandatory death sentence was unconstitutional and left the door open for trial judges to determine what sentence to hand down to murder convicts.

Only three men at the prison are considered now to be under the sentence of death, as their death sentences were handed down after the March 2006 Privy Council ruling.

The UN General Assembly allocates to its Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs Committee, commonly referred to as the "Third Committee", agenda items relating to a range of social, humanitarian affairs and human rights issues that affect peoples all over the world.

An important part of the Committee's work focuses on the examination of human rights questions, including reports of the special procedures of the newly- established Human Rights Council.

The Committee also discusses the advancement of women, the protection of children, indigenous issues, the treatment of refugees, the promotion of fundamental freedoms through the elimination of racism and racial discrimination, and the promotion of the right to self-determination.

At the sixty-first session of the General Assembly, the Third Committee considered 62 draft resolutions, 31 of which were submitted under the human rights agenda item alone. These included a number of so-called country-specific resolutions on human rights situations.

11/15/07