Human rights activists renewed on Monday their call to abolish capital punishment as the United Nations gets ready to vote on a resolution calling on member states to declare a moratorium on executions.
Tuesday's vote will be the first by the U.N. General Assembly on a resolution against the death penalty, human rights lawyer Maiko Tagusari told a news conference, adding the outlook for adoption is positive.
"The situation of the world has changed drastically in the past 10 years or so," with more and more countries abolishing the death penalty, Tagusari said. "The resolution may not be binding, but Japan and other countries opposed to the resolution . . . must strongly recognize that the situation has greatly changed and I think the Japanese people themselves also need to realize that."