Page 3661 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 16 October 1990

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Last week I wrote to the Governor of Louisiana, in the United States, requesting that the death penalty against a mentally ill prisoner be commuted. This man had spent 10 years on death row. His previous history of mental illness and retardation was not presented to the 1980 sentencing jury. These are but a few of the examples of the broad spectrum of abuse that is taking place in countries of widely differing ideologies.

The protection of human rights is a universal responsibility transcending the boundaries of nations and ideologies. As Victor Hugo said, "A stand can be made against invasion by an army; no stand can be made against invasion by an idea" - that is, the notion that human rights is unstoppable.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Assembly adjourned at 4.57 pm

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