French foreign minister meets former US death row inmate

Laurent Fabius spoke for half an hour with Kirk Bloodsworth, an American who was sentenced to death for the murder of a young girl and spent nine years behind bars before being the first such inmate to be exonerated by a DNA test.

Fabius praised the courage of the wrongfully convicted man, who has campaigned against capital punishment since his 1993 release.

"It's an issue dear to our hearts because the death penalty is inefficient, irreversible and inhumane," Fabius said.

"There's no better place than the United Nations to launch this fight."

Other international gatherings are planned in the context of the campaign, including one in Paris on October 9 followed by others in Rabat and Madrid, according to Fabius.