However, for an increasing number of countries the death penalty is a critical
human rights issue. In 1997, the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights approved a
resolution stating that the "abolition of the death penalty contributes to the
enhancement of human dignity and to the progressive development of human
rights."11 That resolution was strengthened in subsequent resolutions by a call for a
restriction of offenses for which the death penalty can be imposed and for a
moratorium on all executions, leading eventually to abolition.