19th World Day Against the Death Penalty – Women and the death penalty, an invisible reality

World Day

on 10 June 2021

Observed every 10 October, the World Day Against the Death Penalty unifies the global abolitionist movement and mobilizes civil society, political leaders, lawyers, public opinion and more to support the call for universal abolition of capital punishment. The day encourages and consolidates the political and general awareness of the world-wide movement against the death penalty.

On 10 October 2021, the World Day will be dedicated to women who risk being sentenced to death, who have received a death sentence, who have been executed, and to those who have had their death sentences commuted, exonerated, or pardoned.

Extensive discrimination based on sex and gender, often coupled with other elements of identity, such as age, sexual orientation, disability, and race expose women to intersecting forms of structural inequalities. Such prejudices can weigh heavily on sentencing, including when women are stereotyped as an evil mother, a witch, or a femme fatale. This discrimination can also lead to critical mitigating factors not being considered during arrest and trial, such as being subjected to gender-based violence and abuse.

 

While working towards the complete abolition of the death penalty worldwide for all crimes and for all genders, it is crucial to sound the alarm on the discrimination women face and the consequences such discrimination can have on a death sentence.

 

The death penalty in practice

(Statistics from Amnesty International unless otherwise specified)

  •  Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide estimates that there are at least 800 women sentenced to death around the world.
  • At least 7 countries are confirmed to have a woman under the sentence of death in 2020: Ghana, Japan, Maldives, Taiwan, Thailand, USA, Zambia. The number of countries is, in reality much higher, like in Saudi Arabia and Iran, but where there is no accurate breakdown of death-row statistics by gender.
  • In 2020, amongst the 483 individuals who were executed, 16 were women located in Egypt, Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
  • 108 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes.
  • 28 countries are abolitionist in practice
  • 55 countries are retentionist.
  • In 2020, the 5 countries that carried out the most executions were: China, Iran, Egypt, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.

Scroll down and find more information about women and the death penalty in our leaflet, and facts & figures sheet.

 

Call for initiatives*:

Wherever you are… in Africa, America, Asia, Oceania or Europe,

Whoever you are… NGOs, teachers, lawyers, local representatives, parliamentarians, artists, reporters, religious leaders, citizens,

Whatever your plans are… debates, concerts, press conferences, demonstrations, petitions, educational and cultural activities….

Take action against the death penalty, on 10 October 2021!

Join the hundreds of initiatives organized worldwide. In 2020, despite the urgent challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic there were over 500 events planned in over 70 countries around the world! You can read more about the 2020 World Day here.

 

Developing World Day plans? Get in touch with the World Coalition to tell us about events scheduled on 10 October 2021.

World Day Posters are available in Tagalog, Luganda,Lingala, English, Arabic, German, Chinese, Spanish, Farsi, French, Italian, Japanese, Swahili, Russian.

 

10 Things YOU can do to end the death penalty

(and for more ideas, check out our Mobilization Kit, also available in French and Arabic):

Take action

  • Organize a demonstration.This option must be considered with the utmost care given the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Organize a gathering on a videoconference platform. It can take the shape of a webinar, remote workshop, conversation, a public debate, art exhibition or even a virtual film screening to create awareness.

  • Build partnerships with women’s rights organizations to spread awareness about how gender-bias is present in the application of the death penalty.

  • Participate in a TV show or within a community radio to raise awareness of the need to abolish the death penalty and the realities of women on death row.

  • Organize an interview with a woman on death row to help raise awareness on their story.

  • Join the events prepared for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide.

  • Donate to a group working to end the death penalty.

  • Follow and repost the social media campaign on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: #nodeathpenalty

  • Mobilize the media to raise awareness on women who are sentenced to death both locally and worldwide.

  • Participate in “Cities Against the Death Penalty/Cities for Life” on 30 November 2021.

  • Share the campaign

    Share the campaign
  • *In the context of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic that started in 2020, we encourage safety in your actions on World Day. Make sure your event is compatible with your local and/or national government’s regulations regarding public health and safety. We also advise the creation of a contingency plan for your activity, as policies can change quickly to adapt to the COVID-19 threat. Please see our Mobilization Kit and 2020 World Day Report for remote or socially distanced activities.

    Previous World Day editions

    Related document(s)

    Document(s)

    Mobilization Kit World Day 2021

    By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 10 June 2021


    2021

    Campaigning

    Women

    arfrzh-hant
    More details Download [ pdf - 847 Ko ]

    The World Day Against the Death Penalty is aimed at political leaders and public opinion in both retentionist and abolitionist countries.

    For the 19th year in a row, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty is calling for local initiatives and world-wide actions that shine a spotlight on the abolition of the death penalty.

    The goal of this Mobilization Kit is to inform of this year’s objectives as well provide ideas of activities that boost the global abolitionist goal. This year the World Day is dedicated to women who risk being sentenced to death, who have received a death sentence, who have been executed, and to those who have had their death sentences commuted, have been exonerated or pardoned.

    Document(s)

    Leaflet World Day Against the Death Penalty 2021 – EN

    By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 10 June 2021


    Campaigning

    Women

    arfr
    More details Download [ pdf - 652 Ko ]

    On 10 October 2021, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and abolitionist organizations around the world will celebrate the 19th World Day Against the Death Penalty.

    This year the World Day is dedicated to women who risk being sentenced to death, who have received a death sentence, who have been executed, and to those who have had their death sentences commuted, have been exonerated or pardoned.

    Their stories are an invisible reality.

    Document(s)

    FACTS AND FIGURES 2020/2021

    By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 30 June 2021


    2021

    Campaigning

    Terrorism

    Women

    fr
    More details Download [ pdf - 196 Ko ]

    2020/2021 Facts & Figures Sheet for the World Day Against the Death Penalty

    Document(s)

    PRIMER ON TRANSGENDER INDIVIDUALS FACING THE DEATH PENALTY

    By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty; FIACAT; The Advocates for Human Rights; Cornell Center on the DP Worldwide, on 30 June 2021


    Campaigning

    Women

    fr
    More details Download [ pdf - 450 Ko ]

    On 10 October 2021, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and other abolitionist organizations worldwide will celebrate the 19th World Day Against the Death Penalty.

    This year the World Day is dedicated to women who risk being sentenced to death, who have received a death sentence, who have been executed, and to those who have had their death sentences commuted, have been exonerated or pardoned. Included in this theme, are trans women and other gender diverse individuals, who are a minority on death row but who are discriminated against on the basis of gender.

    Capital punishment disproportionately targets socially marginalized individuals; it is no different for transgender people, who may face discrimination in every aspect of their lives.

    Document(s)

    Detailed Factsheet: Women and the Death Penalty

    By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, The Advocates for Human Rights, on 1 July 2021


    2021

    Campaigning

    Women

    fr
    More details Download [ pdf - 534 Ko ]

    On 10 October 2021, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and other abolitionist organizations worldwide will celebrate the 19th World Day Against the Death Penalty.

    This year, the World Day is dedicated to women who risk being sentenced to death, who have received a death sentence, who have been executed, and to those who have had their death sentences commuted, exonerated, or pardoned.

    This detailed factsheet will use the phrase “women sentenced to death” as an inclusive phrase for all of these categories. As women represent a small percentage of those on death row globally, very little has been reported about these women. Yet we can learn much by analyzing their crimes, their lives prior to the crimes, and the conditions under which they are detained on death row.

    Document(s)

    TESTIMONIALS FROM WOMEN SENTENCED TO DEATH

    By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 July 2021


    Campaigning

    Women

    fr
    More details Download [ pdf - 942 Ko ]

    Collection of testimonials of women’s experiences around the world regarding their death sentences- World Day 2021

    Document(s)

    19th World Day Against the Death Penalty – Engaging the Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council: Women and the Death Penalty

    By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Reprieve, FIACAT, The Advocates for Human Rights, on 10 August 2021


    2021

    Working with...

    Women

    fr
    More details Download [ pdf - 454 Ko ]

    While the methods in this tool are applicable beyond the scope of capital punishment, for the 19th World Day Against the Death Penalty, Reprieve and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty have drafted this How-To on engaging the United Nations (UN) Special Procedures for elevating cases pertaining to women who have been sentenced to the death penalty.

    Document(s)

    Addressing the Gender Dimension of the Death Penalty: Coaction Between Parliamentarians and Civil Society

    By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 10 September 2021


    2021

    Working with...

    Women

    fr
    More details Download [ pdf - 311 Ko ]

    Created on the occasion of the 19th World Day Against the Death Penalty (10/10/21), this tool’s aim is to provide practical advice and concrete suggestions to civil society organizations who wish/ are already collaborating with parliamentarians to end the death penalty and bring attention to women sentenced to death.

    Document(s)

    Judged for More than Her Crime: a Global Overview of Women Facing the Death Penalty

    By Cornwell Death Penalty Project / Delphine Lourtau, on 1 January 2018


    2018

    NGO report

    fr
    More details See the document

    This groundbreaking report aims to bridge critical gaps in understanding of how states apply capital punishment from a gender perspective. This study is the first to examine how and when women receive death sentences and the conditions under which they are detained on death row, with a particular focus on India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malawi, Pakistan and the United States. The conclusions are that gender discrimination is pervasive at all stages of capital cases, but that its operation is complex. Report published by Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide with the support of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty

    Document(s)

    2020 World Day report

    By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 10 June 2021


    2021

    Campaigning

    Legal Representation

    fr
    More details Download [ pdf - 1081 Ko ]

    The 18th World Day Against the Death Penalty explored the theme “Access to Counsel: A Matter of Life or Death” in light of the continued execution of individuals who struggle to have adequate support from the State (in having access to a trained, experienced attorney, to have adequate time to mount a defense, etc), who consequently also face their challenges in the judicial system.

    Having access to qualified and effective representation at all stages of a trial is important to ensure due process and can spell the difference between life and death for people facing capital punishment.