The Council of Europe re-elected Macedonian representative Aleksandar Nikoloski as its rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty. Nikoloski, who is Vice President of the VMRO-DPMNE party, was at the PACE assembly in Paris where he received his second one year appointment.

Nikoloski presented a report on the events held since the last discussion on this issue. He noted that so far, two thirds of the countries in the world (144 in total) have abolished the death penalty or have ceased using it, while 55 countries still have it as a penalty in their legal systems.

Some progress toward abolishing the death penalty was achieved in the past months, but it remains incomplete. The death penalty is a cruel, inhumane and degrading penalty that is contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights, Nikoloski said.

He called on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to continue to share expertise and best practices with countries across the world toward this goal. “We must further our efforts to fully erradicate the death penalty from our continent”, Nikoloski added, asking that the report is declassified and made public.

As rapporteur, his task will continue to be to follow events in the countries and to condemn the issuing and execution of new death penalties.