All about Algeria

On 5 November, a webinar gathering high-level panelists was held by Ensemble contre la peine de mort / Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) as one of their initiatives for the moratorium campaign. Usually organized in New York, USA on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the event had to be facilitated […]

Organized by the National Algerian Committee in partnership with the Boumerdes bar association, a seminar on the death penalty took place the 28th and 29th of April in Algeria. Gathering mainly academics, lawyers and representatives of the civil society, this seminar had the ambition to contribute to the “long process for the final abolition of the death penalty in Algeria”. The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty was represented by Florence Bellivier, Deputy Secretary General of the International Federation of the Leagues of Human Rights (FIDH).

Two major events brought together international MPs on World Day Against the Death Penalty to further parliamentary cooperation in the struggle against capital punishment. The World Coalition will publish a handbook to assist abolitionist parliamentarians.

Shaken up by revolutions and conflicts, the southern shores of the Mediterranean are more than ever enticed for abolition – but opposition is fierce.

The UN body in charge of defending and promoting human rights has devoted a large part of its 22nd session to discussing capital punishment and its abolition, and vowed to continue at its next meetings.

The Regional Congress on the Death Penalty held in Rabat, Morocco between 18-20 October highlighted the key role of civil society in pushing the abolitionist agenda in a region affected by deep changes.

The abolition of the capital punishment figured prominently at the 49th session of the African Commission of Human and People’s Rights.

The winds of change have brought fresh air to the abolitionist cause in countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa, with new faces in power reigniting a stalled debate.

According to Amnesty International (2009), 21% of world executions take place in the Middle-East and North Africa. Only one of the 22 Arab League countries is abolitionist: Djibouti.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty welcomes the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of a second resolution calling for a universal moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

A group of Algerian parliamentarians has filed a bill aimed at abolishing capital punishment. The World Coalition supports their campaign to have the proposed legislation passed.

Abolitionists in the Arab World have been generating increased mobilisation and improved co-ordination, with the assistance of Penal Reform International, a member of the World Coalition.