The European Union welcomes the announcement on 14 January 2010, of a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in Mongolia. The EU congratulates the Mongolian President, the State Great Khural - the unicameral Parliament of Mongolia -, the Mongolian Government and the Mongolian people on this important decision. The EU encourages Mongolia to commute all existing death sentences into life sentences.

The European Union considers that the abolition of capital punishment contributes to the enhancement of human dignity. The EU considers capital punishment to be a cruel and inhuman punishment, which fails to provide deterrence to criminal behaviour and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity.

The European Union reaffirms its objective of working towards universal abolition of the death penalty. It hopes the moratorium in Mongolia is the first step towards the abolition of the death penalty which might encourage other countries in the region to follow suit.

The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia align themselves with this declaration.

* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

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