"To advance our common humanity" - Susanne Cardona

Hello everybody!
Dear audience, coincidental, and not entirely coincidental listeners,
Hello friends and abolitionists.  
And hello
to the representatives of the United States of America.                                                                                                                                                                            

My name is Susanne Cardona. I chair the German Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.    

Firstly, thank you all for being here today to listen to our stories and speeches! Thank you also to 'Voices for Death Row Inmates' for inviting me. It is a pleasure and an honour for me to be here with you today.    

Murder  

Justice  

Revenge  

Death  

Loss  

Pain  

The Death Penalty  

Justice?      

Today you are listening to many personal stories. Stories which tell you about the pain of losing a loved one. 
Stories which tell you about the feelings one has when witnessing an execution.
Stories which tell you about the agony one feels when being innocently sentenced to death.

I wondered whether I should also talk about some of my personal experiences.
I too, visited death rows in the United States. I too, have friends who were exonerated from death row. Friends of mine are fighting for the lives of their sons who are sentenced to death. And I have friends who have lost loved ones to murder, but despite this still cannot accept the system of capital punishment.  

But these experiences are not my personal story. They are not the reason why I, Susanne Cardona, object to and work against the death penalty world-wide.

I am driven by the thought of humanity. 
By the dream that people do not live in fear of their lives being taken by the authorities. 
I am driven by the issues of justice.
Of fairness.
Of rights.    
I am driven by the rights of each and every human being.  
I am driven by the thought that humans wrongly think they can take another human life. And that they can do so with the authority and protection of a legal system they themselves created!

I recall my first encounter with the death penalty. A TV documentary where the presenter was describing the living conditions on death row in Texas.  

I still recall the sense of shock I felt about the things I learned:  

• Solitary confinement – not for weeks, but for years!
• Regular strip searches – thus taking away the dignity of prisoners
• Tiny concrete boxes being used as prisoner cells
• Almost no yard exercise
• No working programs, no craft sessions, no TV
• Knowing your date & time of death for month in advance!
• Executions which have NOT been proven to be painless  

And so it went on, and on.    

This just couldn’t be true!!
They’re talking about the United States and not about some misanthropic dictatorship! There MUST have been something wrong with this documentary! The United States would NEVER allow such human rights abuses!!  

I just couldn’t get it out of my mind so I finally started checking on the internet. And I find out that things are even WORSE than what I had first heard!

In the introduction of its first report to the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights in conjunction with the Universal Periodic Review the government of the United States writes:  

'From the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the ensuing Covenants and beyond, the United States has played a central role in the internationalization of human rights law and institutions. We associate ourselves with the many countries on all continents that are sincerely committed to advancing human rights, and we hope this UPR process will help us to strengthen our own system of human rights protections and encourage others to strengthen their commitments to human rights.' 

Yes, I do agree that the United States has played an important role in the internationalisaion of human rights.

BUT,
Do human rights end at the gate of a prison? 
Do human rights stop when it comes to a decision of life or death?
Where are the human rights when we take someone’s life?        

'We associate ourselves with the many countries on all continents that are sincerely committed to advancing human rights…' the US report says.  

Looking at Amnesty’s 2009 death penalty statistics, the US unfortunately associates itself with countries whose commitment to advancing human rights is indeed poor!
In the order of executions are the following countries: 
China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi-Arabia, the United States, Yemen, Sudan, Vietnam and so on.  

These are the countries with which the United States places itself on the same level. China, Iran, Iraq.  

Are these the countries YOU want to be compared with when it comes to human rights issues?  
I am chilled just thinking about China or Iran in relation to human rights….

150 nations worldwide have abolished the death penalty or at least have not carried out an execution in the past 10 years.  Unfortunately 45 countries are still not on this list. The USA is one of these.      

In early August Mrs Clinton urged Iran to respect the fundamental freedoms of its citizens. She also raised concerns about the fate of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani (who was originally sentenced to death by stoning).  

And as a relevant side point on human rights, while the Iranian government later stated she would not face execution by stoning, she might still be executed for, as the Iranian authorities state, her role in the murder of her husband.  

Mrs Clinton said these words in early August. And on September 23rd, Teresa Lewis was executed in Virginia for her role in the murder of her husband. A woman with an IQ of only 72, Mrs Lewis was found guilty of organising the murder of her husband and her stepson. She was sentenced to death. And the actual killers got life sentences.  

Only days before Mrs Lewis’ death, Iran accused the US of human rights violations and double standards regarding this execution.  As much as I despise what is going on in Iran, as much as I hate what the Iranian government does to its people when it comes to human rights, I have to admit that Iran has a point here!  If a country allows and facilitates death by execution, it has no grounds whatsoever to forbid or condemn this in another country.  

So, as much as I would love for the United States to be standing with us in this fight for human rights world-wide, based on the death penalty issue alone, the US cannot stand with us.    

Can the US put its own house in order?….            

Interestingly, the US government does admit that there are flaws in its criminal justice and death penalty systems:  

For example, the American Report to the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights states:  

'The federal government utilizes a system for carefully examining each potential federal death penalty case. This system operates to help ensure that the death penalty is not applied in an arbitrary, capricious, or discriminatory manner, and to promote indigent defendants receiving competent representation by qualified attorneys. Many of our states have adopted procedures of their own to provide experienced counsel for indigent defendants. In addition, existing federal law permits DNA testing in relevant federal and state cases.' 

Did you notice that only ‘many’, but not all of the American states have adopted procedures to provide counsel? So, a defendant may be lucky to be tried in a state which provides him with counsel. But if unlucky, he/she will stand in a court without legal help.  

Did you notice that existing federal law only permits DNA testing. It does not demand it.    

Elsewhere, the report states:  

'…many in civil society continue to raise concerns about our nation’s criminal justice system at federal and state levels, including in the areas of capital punishment, juvenile justice, racial profiling, and racial disparities in sentencing. We are committed to continued vigilance in our effort to enforce the law in a manner consistent with the Constitution and with the rights and dignity of all citizens.'  

It is definitely a good and noble cause to be committed to continued vigilance in the effort to enforce the law in a manner consistent with the rights and dignity of all citizens. But vigilance just might not be enough.  

If there are concerns about the system already, concerns that people might be sentenced unfairly, perhaps even sentenced for a crime they did not commit, shouldn’t the system be at least fixed before continuing with something as irreversible as an execution?        

And what about the innocent? Juan Melendez is here today and he is one of the speakers. He, just like many others who have been exonerated, states that he was not saved by the system, but in spite of the system.  

Death sentences in the US are always done in the name of the people. In YOUR name. In the name of each and everyone of you who is a citizen of the United States.  

Juan Melendez was sentenced to death. It was only mere luck that prevented his execution and set him free. He was innocent. Today as we sit here, he could have been and would have been dead for a crime he did not commit, if not for luck.  

All in your name.  

Your name is supporting a system that would have been guilty of his death. Can YOU look into his eyes and tell him that yes, you agree to the death penalty system even though this system was about to murder him, an innocent man?      

Or do you, the people, agree with Justice Scalia who wrote in his dissent against last year’s US Supreme Court decision in the Troy Davis case:  

'This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince court that he is ‘actually’ innocent.  Quite to the contrary, we have repeatedly left that question unresolved, while expressing considerable doubt that any claim based on alleged 'actual innocence' is constitutionally cognizable.'  

In other words, as long as you had a full and fair trial, it does not matter if you are actually guilty or innocent – the law allows your execution.  

How does this correspond to the US commitment to advancing Human Rights?

Since the re-introduction of the death penalty in the US in 1976, 1228 people have been executed. In this time 138 people have also been exonerated from death row.  

And these 138 are the 'lucky' ones. And as Juan states, coincidentally saved by luck, in spite of the system; not by the system.  

138 people corresponds to almost 12%! That means that for every 100 people executed, 12 are found to be wrongly condemned to death and are actually innocent. 12 people for every 100!  

How many go to their death unfairly, wrongly?
How many innocent people are executed?
Innocent people executed in the name of the people.
Innocent people executed in your name.      

A 2009 Gallup poll shows that 59% of Americans believe that an innocent person has been executed in the US already.      

We commonly hear 'It’s better that 10 guilty men go free than one innocent man be wrongly convicted.'  

The point of injustice here is clear.  

I don’t ask for guilty people to be set free. I simply ask that a system which produces an irrevocable result – a death – be scrapped.  

We, the people, the officers, the juries, the judges, may and DO get a matter of guilt or innocence wrong. And although we cannot compensate for the time lost in prison and the trauma, we can exonerate and set the person free. But how do you resurrect an innocent person from the grave?!

In July 2008, Barak Obama’s Berlin speech moved millions to tears. It moved people to join efforts for freedom, human rights and against terrorism.  

In his speech he said:  

'Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more – not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.  

YES!!!  

Yes. Let us work together. Let us cooperate more and advance our common humanity.  

Let us start with scrapping some of the differences. BIG differences such as the death penalty.  

In advancing our common humanity, we must tighten our views on human rights. We must work tirelessly in erasing human rights abuses all around this world. And this begins in our own country. This can begin with the death penalty!    

I strongly believe that we can do it!  

I believe in the American people. I have known them for a long time. I call many of them my friends. I was married to an American, both of my children are American citizens.

I know that Americans have big hearts and are friendly and loving people.
People who favour and celebrate life and not death.
People are religious, take care of their neighbour and would do everything for their families.
They are not vengeful and have blind furies.
They are people who try to do what they think is right.  

BUT

Many of them have not even thought about the death penalty! It is simply something that exists. Something that does not get questioned.

It is something about which the American people may not know enough. Maybe they didn’t see that documentary that I saw many years ago. And if they didn’t, they lack important information about the flawed death penalty system.  

AND the system IS flawed!  

The American Law Institute, the very same organisation which provided the blueprint for the death penalty laws in the US, has withdrawn its model death penalty law last fall!  

After research and analysis by top US legal minds, the Institute concluded that the system it created does not work and cannot be fixed!  

It concluded:  

'We cannot devise a death penalty system that will ensure fairness in process or outcome, or even that innocent people will not be executed.'      

In Berlin, Obama also asked:    

'Will we acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world?'  

YES. We definitely acknowledge this.  

But the question remains: 
which example do we want to give to the world?  

Is it the example of a country which holds on to a deadly system which 'does not work and cannot be fixed'?  

OR the example of a country which admits its mistakes and corrects them by scrapping a faulty system?  

Through scrapping the death penalty system, the US, as stated in the introduction of the US Report in conjunction with the Universal Periodic Review, strengthens its 'own system of human rights protections and encourages others to strengthen their commitments to human rights'.  

I LOOK FORWARD TO THIS DAY!  

I look forward to the day when the United States and Europe can REALLY stand together in the global fight for human rights.  

I look forward to the day when the US will be a shining example for other countries.  

I look forward to the day when the brutal and archaic use of the death penalty will be scrapped from this world forever!      

Thank you!