Hands Off Cain The UN moratorium campaign was launched in Italy by the association
Hands Off Cain, affiliated to the
Nonviolent Radical Party. The association against death penalty and
torture was founded in
Rome in 1993 by former
left-wing terrorist and current
nonviolent politician and
human rights activist
Sergio D'Elia, with his first wife
Mariateresa Di Lascia and
Italian Radicals'
liberal leaders
Marco Pannella and
Emma Bonino (former
European Commissioner).
History In 1994, a resolution for a moratorium was presented for the first time at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) by the Italian government. It lost by eight votes. Since 1997, through Italy's initiative, and since 1999 through the EU's endeavour, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) has been approving a resolution calling for a moratorium on executions with a view to completely abolishing the death penalty, every year. The 2007 vote at the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly saw intense diplomatic activity in favour of the moratorium by EU countries, and by the Nonviolent Radical Party itself; the Catholic
Community of Sant'Egidio joined forces by submitting to the U.N. an appeal and 5,000,000 signatures asking for the moratorium to be passed. ==Full text of resolution 62/149==