World Day Against the Death Penalty: teaching abolition
World Day
On 10 October 2009, World Day Against the Death Penalty, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty wishes to teach abolition to all citizens around the world, especially to teenagers aged 14 to 18.
Today, 139 countries from all regions of the world have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice and ‘only’ 25 countries carried out executions in 2008. According to Amnesty International, 93% of registered executions took place in five countries: China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Future progress will mainly depend on the education our children receive as they are tomorrow’s citizens, politicians, defendants, judges and lawyers. The world’s future is in their hands and it will be up to each and every one of them as adults to join the abolitionist family.
By encouraging debates on the death penalty on 10 October, the members of the World Coalition would like pupils and students to understand the state of the world they are living in: the severity, sometimes the cruelty, but also the beauty of the human rights ideal. Our aim is for them to acquire fundamental knowledge and understand why the death penalty is an attack on basic rights.
Two important tools
The WCADP has created two major tools to help teach abolition:
- A Pedagogical Guide offers activities for young people from 14 to 18 years old. It is available in English, French, Italian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Russian and Spanish.
- A Capital Punishment Curriculum for law schools’ students. It is available in English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.
