Sweetening the deal: Abolishing could bring trade benefits

EU diplomats say they publicly express their opposition, but any anti-death penalty movement should be home-grown.

ISLAMABAD:

Starting January 2014, the European Union will give some select developing countries duty-free access to the European market under its Generalised System for Preferences plus (GSP+) programme.

To be selected for this programme, the developing countries need to ratify 27 international conventions, some of them related to human and labour rights. Pakistan has already ratified these conventions, but enforcement is key.

“Beyond ratifying the conventions, it will be important to see if Pakistan is showing the willingness to face difficult decisions,” Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, the ambassador and head of the EU delegation to Pakistan said. Abolishing the death penalty is one such difficult decision.

In Pakistan, the EU delegation and the diplomatic representatives of independent EU member states have raised the death penalty with the country’s officials during various meetings and discussions, Wigemark told The Express Tribune.

“First of all, we are very pleased that Pakistan has had a moratorium on the death penalty since 2008, which also coincides with the time the democratic government has been in place,” Wigemark said.The indefinite moratorium, however, is a situation that can go either way in the long run.

“We have been concerned by indications that the moratorium might be removed, and it could be a slippery slope from there,” Wigemark said. “There will be a great deal of concern in the EU parliament if Pakistan were to lift its moratorium. Conversely, we would be very pleased if Pakistan goes the distance and lifts the death penalty.”

Although the abolition of the death penalty is not a requirement for GSP+, Wigemark said it could boost Pakistan’s chances of inclusion in the programme.

“Public opinion does play a role. When the EU considers developing countries for inclusion in this programme, Pakistan can send a strong signal to the EU if it abolishes the death penalty.”

The countries selected for the programme will be announced in 2013.Ambassador Wigemark said the EU delegation publicly expresses its opposition to the death penalty, but it is not pressurising the government of Pakistan. Though EU member states’ diplomats support the stance they also say it is not their place to force anything upon the Pakistani government. They emphasise that any anti-death penalty movement should be home-grown.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2012.