World Day campaign launched!
World Day
The countdown has begun: on October 10, abolitionists worldwide will answer the World Coalition’s call and take action to accelerate the decline of the death penalty.
This year, the World Day Against the Death Penalty will coincide with the UN General Assembly’s schedule. Following a proposal by the European Union, delegates from the United Nations’ 192 member states will vote on a text declaring an global moratorium on the death penalty.
This would constitute a first step towards the definitive outlawing of capital punishment.
“A pronouncement in the UNGA – a universal body representing the entire UN membership – that the death penalty is a violation of the right to life would be an important international milestone in the campaign to abolish the death penalty worldwide”, said Martin MacPherson, director of Amnesty International’s international law and organizations programme.
The World Coalition is launching an international effort to support the proposed resolution and get as many countries as possible to vote for it.
The World Coalition is calling upon all its members to get in touch with national governments to discuss their position.
It offers activists a variety of explanatory and militant documents to help them persuade their contacts. They are available for download from this website.
A petition will remind hesitating governments of world opinion’s growing opposition to the death penalty. The signatures gathered through this petition will be added to those of the five million people who have already signed the “Moratorium 2000” appeal launched by World Coalition members Amnesty International and the Community of Sant’Egidio.
World abolitionists will focus on that crucial international event while making the World Day Against the Death Penalty a grass-roots event, with educational and militant actions being prepared worldwide.
Just keep an eye on the World Day section on this site if you want to know what is planned in your country, or if you are organising an event and wish to add it to the upcoming global programme.
Categories
Moratorium
