15th World Day Against the Death Penalty: Poverty
World Day
On 10 October 2017, the 15th World Day Against the Death Penalty aims at raising awareness about the reasons why people living in poverty are at a greater risk of being sentenced to death and executed.
Since the 1980s, there has been a global trend towards the abolition of the death penalty, a trend which continues to this day. According to Amnesty International, 16 countries had abolished the death penalty in law for all crimes in 1977. Today, two-thirds of all countries (141) are now abolitionist in law or in practice.
However, the application of the death penalty is inextricably linked to poverty. Social and economic inequalities affect access to justice for those who are sentenced to death for several reasons: defendants may lack resources (social and economic, but also political power) to defend themselves and will in some cases be discriminated against because of their social status.
The death penalty is used discriminatorily, and often used against the poor and should be abolished.
The death penalty in practice
• 104 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes
• 7 countries have abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes
• 30 countries are abolitionist in practice
• 57 countries are retentionist
• 23 countries carried out executions in 2016
• In 2016, the top five executioners were China, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.
1. Organize a public debate and a movie screening with exonerees, victims of terrorism, murder victim’s families, experts, to raise awareness on the reality of the death penalty. See our mobilization kit for useful tips!
2. Organize an art exhibition (photo, drawings, posters) or a theatre performance.
5. Call upon your government officials to follow the recommendations for World Day by using our model letter to governments of retentionist countries.
