Making gender discrimination in capital punishment visible

on 6 March 2023

For the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, the fight for the abolition of the death penalty must be based on an intersectional and gender-based approach. Since 2021, on World Day Against the Death Penalty, dedicated to the invisible reality of women on death row, the World Coalition has been proactively engaged in making visible the intersectional discrimination that women and LGBTQIA+ people face in the judicial process leading to the death penalty. From 2022 to 2025, the World Coalition is working on these issues primarily in Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Uganda and the United States.

  • Understanding the link between gender discrimination and the death penalty

    Women and the death penalty

    Although women currently make up less than 5% of the global death row population, analysis of their profiles, backgrounds, and crimes for which they were sentenced to death deserves particular attention as it reveals the significant existence of gender biases in capital punishment proceedings. Women are exposed to intersectional discrimination throughout the judicial process leading to the death penalty as well as once on death row.

    The 2018 Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide report, the first comprehensive report on the subject, shows that a large majority of women on death row are from ethnic and racial minorities, non-literate, have intellectual, mental and/or psychosocial disabilities, and have experienced gender-based violence. In some regions, such as the Gulf States and Southeast Asia, most women on death row are migrant. The weight of gender discrimination is also reflected in the judicial process. Gender bias is present at the investigation stage, where law enforcement agencies display gender bias; at the trial stage, where many women do not have access to a fair trial due to lack of economic resources; and at the sentencing stage, where gender-related antecedents and circumstances of the crime, such as a history of gender-based violence, are not considered. Once in prison, women’s gender-specific needs, including sexual and reproductive health, medical and mental health care, protection from gender-based and sexual violence, and substance use harm reduction services, are not addressed.

    « A human rights-based approach to capital punishment cannot be complete without a gender component » Agnès Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, 2018

    Mapping of women on death row

    Gender and sexual minorities and the death penalty

    LGBTQIA+ individuals1 are also exposed to discrimination in the application of the death penalty. Sexual minorities are first directly stigmatized by criminal laws. 11 states worldwide (Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Mauritania, Qatar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and Brunei) apply the death penalty for consensual same-sex sexual activity. In many countries, other morality-based offenses, such as « cross-dressing » and « offenses against public morals » are grounds for criminal prosecution that can lead to death sentences. Once on death row, gender and sexual minorities are particularly vulnerable to abuse and mistreatment.

    The World Coalition believes in the importance of a gender analysis of capital punishment to raise awareness of the inhumane and discriminatory nature of the death penalty and to advocate for its total abolition.

    1 The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty chooses to use the acronym LGBTIQIA+ in order to use the most comprehensive and inclusive “umbrella” term. It is important to note that these terms and acronyms are neither universally accepted nor uniformly used.

  • Gender and the Death Penalty at the World Coalition

    The integration of a gender perspective on the death penalty is one of the commitments of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. With its members, the World Coalition implements actions to strengthen the protection of women and gender and sexual minorities facing the death penalty. The World Coalition is committed to making visible the gender and intersectional discrimination at work in the death penalty process.

    From 2022 to 2025, the World Coalition, along with The Advocates for Human right and the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide are focusing their “gender and the death penalty” efforts in the following countries: United States, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Uganda.

    Strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations

    The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty assists its members to strengthen their knowledge and skills to incorporate a gender-based approach in their abolitionist actions.
    This support is done through the following actions:

    • coordination of a Gender Working Group, composed of all World Coalition member organizations with an interest or expertise in gender;
    • managing a mailing list for all partner organizations in the 11 target countries to share collaboration opportunities and relevant information;
    • developing and facilitating training and practical tools on the integration of gender issues in the abolitionist struggle;
    • capitalizing on and sharing good practices on how to develop a gender-based abolitionist strategy;
    • accompanying members in a gender-sensitive mobilization for the World Day Against the Death Penalty.

    Strengthen links with women’s, gender and sexual minority rights movements and organizations

    The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty believes it is important to strengthen the abolitionist movement’s ties with women’s rights and gender and sexual minority organizations. To this end, the World Coalition invites these organizations to join the abolitionist movement and to collaborate in the development of joint events and tools.

    Strengthen the knowledge of UN member states and abolitionist human rights organizations to advocate for a gender-sensitive approach to abolishing the death penalty.

    The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty supports the coordination of gender-sensitive international abolitionist advocacy. Particular attention is paid to the systematic integration of gender issues in the advocacy carried out with all human rights mechanisms as well as in the implementation of specific advocacy with specialized mechanisms on women’s rights such as the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

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Related document(s)

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)

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)

State-Sanctioned Killing of Sexual Minorities: Looking Beyond the Death Penalty

By Mai Sato, Christopher Alexander - Eleos Justice and Capital Punishment Justice Project, Monash University, on 10 August 2021


2021

Academic report

Australia

Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment


More details See the document

This report examines the extent to which states sanction the killing of sexual minorities. It looks beyond those countries that impose the death penalty for same-sex intimacy to the far greater number of countries in which state actors commission, condone, endorse and enable such killings.
He argues that the state-sanctioned killing of sexual minorities is often perpetrated well beyond the boundaries of the law, and even in countries that do not criminalise such conduct.

  • Document type Academic report
  • Countries list Australia
  • Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment

Document(s)

Defending Women and Transgender Persons Facing Extreme Sentences: A Practical Guide

on 14 January 2022


2022

Legal Representation

Legal Representation

Women

fr
More details See the document

Written by a team including experts in the fields of capital defense, gender rights, gender-sensitive mitigation and the rights of transgender persons, the guide includes sections on gender-based violence, women’s mental health, prison conditions, discrimination in the legal system, working with the media, and how to build a gender-sensitive team. It also includes a step-by-step gender-sensitive interview protocol that builds on resources developed by the anti-violence community and is tailored to the needs of defense teams.

Document(s)

“No One Believed Me”: A Global Overview of Women Facing the Death Penalty for Drug Offenses

on 5 October 2021


2021

NGO report

Drug Offenses

Women

fr
More details See the document

“No one believed me” is a quote from Merri Utami, who was sentenced to death for drug trafficking in Indonesia in 2002. Her quote reflects the injustices faced by women accused of capital drug offenses around the world: many decision-makers disbelieve women’s plausible innocence claims or discount the effects of relationships and economic instability on women’s decisions to traffic drugs.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Drug Offenses / Women
  • Available languages

Document(s)

Leaflet Women and the Death Penalty

By World coalition against the death penalty, on 2 October 2023


2023

World Coalition

Gender

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 1448 Ko ]

Document(s)

Leaflet LGBTQIA+ people and the Death Penalty

By World coalition against the death penalty, on 2 October 2023


World Coalition

Gender

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 861 Ko ]