All about Belarus

As the 36th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) was being held under the auspices of the UN Human Rights Council from 02 to 13 November, the Advocates for Human Rights, a member organization of the World Coalition, facilitated Facebook live debriefings to cover the review of States that have not yet abolished capital […]

Sunday 8 November: live stream starts at 19:00 London time. Belarus Free Theatre serve up food, music, dance and Shakespeare as they share true stories from inmates, executioners, human rights lawyers and families of the executed.

Despite an execution this month, Amnesty International’s latest annual report on the death penalty shows Belarus did not kill any prisoner last year, meaning Europe and Central Asia was execution-free for the first time since 2009. This achievement bolsters local abolitionists – despite the risks they face in their activism.

More than 20 ministers of justice met in Rome for the annual conference on the abolition of the death penalty organised by the Community of Sant’Egidio and heard harrowing testimonies from courageous activists.

European Union officials and Belarusian activists denounce Minsk’s lack of political will to tackle the death penalty.

At least 682 people were executed last year aside from China, according to Amnesty International.

In a new report, Amnesty International analyses some of the key developments in the worldwide application of the death penalty, citing figures it has gathered on the number of death sentences handed down and executions carried out in 2011.

The Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)’s Report entitled “The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2010” was published and discussed during the “Exchange of views on abolition of capital punishment”.

After one year of encouraging signals from Belarus, the last European country with the death penalty has brutally resumed secretive executions and the harassment of abolitionist activists.

Amnesty International has released its report on the death penalty in the world in 2009. The organisation has decided to exclude China from its calculation due to the lack of transparency on capital punishment in that country.

Representatives from 56 abolitionist and retentionist countries attended the opening session of the World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Geneva.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has decided not to restore Belarus’s special guest status until the country establishes a moratorium on the death penalty.

World Coalition member Amnesty International has released its annual statistics on the death penalty and launched a campaign against capital punishment in Belarus.