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Nigel Baker

Ambassador to the Holy See (2011-2016)

Part of UK in Holy See

24th October 2012

Together against the Death Penalty

Panel discussion at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to mark World Day Against the Death Penalty. 9 October 2012.

The UN General Assembly is currently discussing the terms of a  resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty. It is likely to go to a vote next month. The last time there was such a vote (in 2010), 109 states were in favour, 41 against, and 35 abstained.

The United Kingdom and the Holy See are both against the use of the death penalty. Earlier this week, I discussed the debates at the UN with Holy See officials, and we agreed that our delegations in New York should work together on this issue.

Worldwide abolition of the death penalty remains a long term British human rights objective. In Great Britain, it was abolished for murder in 1969 (1973 in Northern Ireland) and under all circumstances in 1998. For the Holy See, although capital punishment was on the statute books of the Vatican City State between 1929 and 1969, no execution was ever carried out. The notional death penalty in the Vatican was abolished in 1969 by Pope Paul VI.

Catholic teaching does not rule out entirely the use of the death penalty, and accepts that it is a matter for individual states. But successive Popes, including Pope Benedict XVI, have made clear that the death penalty is permissible only in the narrowest of circumstances, and have supported organisations lobbying for its abolition. In his Encyclical “Evangelium Vitae”, in 1995, Pope John Paul II wrote that the death penalty might be appropriate only “in cases of absolute necessity, in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today, however, as a result of steady improvement in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically nonexistent.”

The UNGA vote is not binding. But it is a key indicator of opinion, and my government believes it is important to continue the trend of growing support for the resolution. This will send a strong signal to those fighting for its abolition. The Holy See and the United Kingdom can, together, play an important part in achieving this.

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About Nigel Baker

Nigel was British Ambassador to the Holy See from 2011-2016. He presented his Credentials to Pope Benedict XVI on 9 September 2011, after serving 8 years in Latin America, as…

Nigel was British Ambassador to the Holy See from 2011-2016. He presented his Credentials to Pope Benedict XVI on 9 September 2011, after serving 8 years in Latin America, as Deputy Head of Mission in the British Embassy in Havana, Cuba (2003-6) and then as British Ambassador in La Paz, Bolivia (2007-11). In July 2016, Nigel finished his posting, and is currently back in London.

As the first British Ambassador to the Holy See ever to have a blog, Nigel provided a regular window on what the Embassy and the Ambassador does. The blogs covered a wide range of issues, from Royal and Ministerial visits to Diplomacy and Faith, freedom of religion, human trafficking and climate change.

More on Nigel’s career

Nigel was based in London between 1998 and 2003. He spent two years on European Union issues (for the UK 1998 EU Presidency and on European Security and Defence questions), before crossing St James’s Park to work for three years as The Assistant Private Secretary to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. At St James’s Palace, Nigel worked on international issues, including the management of The Prince of Wales’s overseas visits and tours, on the Commonwealth, interfaith issues, the arts and international development.

Nigel spent much of the early part of his FCO career in Central Europe, after an initial stint as Desk Officer for the Maghreb countries in the Near East and North Africa department (1990-91). Between 1992 and 1996, Nigel served in the British embassies in Prague and Bratislava, the latter being created in 1993 after the peaceful division of Czechoslovakia into the separate Czech and Slovak Republics.

Nigel joined the FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) in September 1989. Between 1996 and 1998 he took a two year academic sabbatical to research and write about themes in 18th century European history, being based in Verona but also researching in Cambridge, Paris and Naples. The research followed from Nigel’s time as a student at Cambridge (1985-88) where he read history and was awarded a First Class Honours degree, followed by his MA in 1992.

Before joining the Foreign Office, Nigel worked briefly for the Conservative Research Department in London at the time of the 1989 European election campaign.

Nigel married Alexandra (Sasha) in 1997. They have one son, Benjamin, born in Bolivia in September 2008.

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