All about Moratorium

On 17 December 2024, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 10th resolution for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty with 130 votes in favor out of the 193 United Nations Member States (5 more than in 2022), 32 votes against (5 less than in 2022), 22 abstentions and 9 absent.

En juillet 2023, la Coalition mondiale contre la peine de mort a organisé un séminaire en Malaisie dans le cadre de son projet “Pays à risque”. Le sujet des moratoires informels a suscité beaucoup d’intérêt, les participant.es ayant réfléchi à des stratégies préventives pour empêcher le retour de la peine de mort et aux facteurs […]

In July 2023, the World Coalition hosted a seminar in Malaysia in the context of its “Countries at Risk” project. This subject of informal moratoriums solicited much interest as participants considered preventative strategies for stopping a return to the death penalty, and what environmental factors need to be considered to implement those strategies. This article […]

Le 15 décembre 2022, l’Assemblée générale des Nations unies a adopté la 9e résolution pour un moratoire sur l’application de la peine de mort avec 125 voix en faveur (2 de plus qu’en 2020), 37 voix contre, 22 abstentions et 9 absents.

On 15 December 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 9th resolution for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty with 125 votes in favor (2 more than in 2020), 37 votes against, 22 abstentions and 9 absent.

La Coalition mondiale contre la peine de mort, et ACAT-Allemagne (et leur organisation partenaire Federal Association of Vietnamese Refugees in the Federal Republic of Germany), ACAT-France, Amnesty International, Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN), Avocats Sans Frontières France, Centre for Civil and Political Rights, Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE International), Coalition Marocaine Contre la […]

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, and ACAT-France, ACAT-Germany (and their partner organization Federal Association of Vietnamese Refugees in the Federal Republic of Germany), Amnesty International, Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN), Avocats Sans Frontières France, Centre for Civil and Political Rights, Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE International), Coalition Marocaine Contre la Peine […]

Saudi Arabia: the largest mass execution in this country in years The kingdom of Saudi Arabia executed 81 men on March 12, 2022, all of whom had been convicted of a wide range of offences, including “terrorism”- related crimes, murder, armed robbery, and arms smuggling. Those put to death included seven Yemenis, one Syrian and […]

On the occasion of the publication of the Human Rights Watch World Report 2022, the World Coalition looks back at recent developments and civil society mobilization against the death penalty in the Arab world.

Papua New Guinea’s National Parliament voted to repeal the death penalty on 20 January2022. The bill has now to be signed into law and to be published in the official gazette.

Joint Appeal was published on World Day Against the Death Penlaty on 10 October 2021 and sent to the Bahraini Embassy in France, UK and Switzerland.

Member organizations of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and African ACATs (Action des Chrétiens pour l’Abolition de la Torture) met in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) for the capitalization workshop of Phase 2 of the project for the abolition of the death penalty in sub-Saharan Africa, organized on 29 and 30 November by the World […]

On 21 December 2021, Japan’s new governement executed three men after two years with no execution during which Japan hosted the Olympics and the United Nations Congress on Criminal Justice.

Kinshasa, Paris, May 27, 2021 Our organizations denounce the recent death sentences handed down by the High Court of Gombe, in the center of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, following violence against the forces of order.

Together Against the Death Penalty, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, the International Federation of ACAT (FIACAT) and Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture in the Central African Republic (ACAT CAR) welcome this interactive dialogue and wish to draw the attention of the Independent Expert on the application of the death penalty […]

We welcome Lebanon’s position in accepting some of the recommendations on strengthening the justice sector and improving strengthening the justice sector and those aimed at improving the conditions of detention, including the fight against acts of torture and ill-treatment.

Together against the death penalty, the Mauritanian Association for Human Rights, The Advocates for Human Rights and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty welcome the adoption of the report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of Mauritania by the Human Rights Council.

This Tuesday, on February 2, 2021, the Council of Paris will announce its position on the renewal of the yearly €500,000 subvention allocated to the Paris FC.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty warmly congratulates the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on the adoption of Resolution A/RES/75/183 for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, which was adopted by a great majority of 123 UN Member States on 16 December 2020.

Humanity and the global human rights movement, including the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, are celebrating the 72nd anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1948. This day has been commemorated by the United Nations as International Human Rights Day.

A few days after losing the national election to President-Elect Joe Biden, the Donald Trump administration in the United States of America has continued scheduling a spree of federal executions in an attempt to push its cruel, inhuman and degrading death penalty agenda forward. President Trump resumed federal executions in July 2020, breaking a 17-year […]

On 17 November, the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly has adopted a draft resolution calling upon UN Member States to observe a moratorium on executions.

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 […]

It has been 17 years since the United States decided on a de facto moratorium on federal executions, which can be carried out only for certain federal criminal offences. This moratorium, however, ended in July.

“When the whole world is trying hard to save lives from COVID-19, an execution by the state is contradictory and perverse” said Kevin Miguel Rivera Medina, President of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

In its 2019 annual report, the Organization Against Torture in Tunisia (Organisation contre la torture en Tunisie, OCTT) denounced the death penalty and identified it as the most cruel form of torture.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty welcomes the moratorium on executions announced by the Governor of the US State of California, Gavin Newsom. California has 737 prisoners on death row, about 25% of all US death row prisoners, and the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere. Fewer than 30% of nations still use […]

A record number of States – 121 out of 193 member states – voted in favour of a moratorium on the death penalty at the United Nations General Assembly on December the 17th. A world without the death penalty may become a reality according to Chiara Sangiorgio, Amnesty International’s Death Penalty Expert.

Today the international community offered unprecedented support to a UN call to halt executions when the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly considered a draft resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

A delegation of the International Commission against the Death Penalty met US Governors and Attorney Generals to discuss the situation of the death penalty in their respective states and issues related to possible steps towards ending the practice of capital punishment in the United States.

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).

Since the November 2013 elections, the Maldives have been moving towards the adoption of severe legal measures. On April, 27th 2014, the government decided to put an end to a 60-year moratorium.The civil society of Maldives is mobilizing against this worrying situation.

The World Coalition was invited to take part in the 6th international Conference on Human Rights, on February 22nd, 2017 in Beirut. addressing the very worrying situation in Bahrain, the event resulted in a series of calls and recommendations.

On 19 December 2016, with 117 States voting in favour of the resolution, the UN member states reasserted their support for a universal moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

To date, the Democratic Republic of the Congo maintains the death penalty in its legislation. The proponents of the capital punishment argue that it remains an efficient tool for deterrence in general as well as a solution to the recurring criminal phenomenon hitting the country’s Eastern part.

At the end of October, the civil society gathered for the NGO Forum preceding the 59th African Commission for Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR): an occasion to put the death penalty on the agenda of the African Commission and to make the calls for the abolition heard. Nonetheless, difficulties on the path towards the abolition in the African continent remain.

Today the overwhelming majority of UN member states once again threw their weight behind a UN General Assembly draft resolution to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. 115 of the UN’s 193 member states voted in favour of the proposal, with only 38 voting against it. The draft will now go before the UN General Assembly plenary for final adoption.

In the context of the 6th World Congress Against the Death Penalty, the World Coalition together with Hands Off Cain and Amnesty International co-hosted a side event focusing on the 6th UNGA resolution for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, whose adoption will be decided in New York in December this year.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty takes the opportunity to support the call of the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on Summary Executions and on Torture, for the establishment of a federal moratorium on the death penalty.

Newly elected Governor Tom Wolf placed a moratorium on executions in Pennsylvania on 13 February until concerns about the fairness of the state’s death penalty system are addressed.

The World Coalition and its members have criticised decisions by the governments of Jordan and Pakistan to reverse their policy of suspending executions despite a historic vote in favour of a moratorium on the use of the death penalty at the UN General Assembly.

The latest vote at the UN General Assembly shows wider support than ever for a resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

On 18 July 2014, Singapore executed two death row prisoners, Tang Hai Liang, 36, and Foong Chee Peng, 48, bringing to an end a three-year official moratorium established by the government in 2011 as part of the review process of the mandatory death penalty.

The World Coalition has redesigned its online library to help visitors find the documents they need in its multilingual database of resources and campaigning tools on capital punishment.

Following the botched execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma on 29 April, the United Nations called on the United States to suspend executions in the face of potential international law violations. The World Coalition supports this appeal.

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.

Several hundred activists, experts and political leaders met in Beirut at the end of January to push the abolitionist cause with the Lebanese authorities and organise their movement at the national level.

After weeks of debates, Tunisia has adopted a new Constitution. As expected by local abolitionists, the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) passed a text allowing capital punishment on 26 January 2014.

The Executive Committee of the Greater Caribbean for Life (GCL) network, constituted in October 2013, met in San Juan, Puerto Rico on January 11 and 12 to devise strategies to combat the death penalty in the region.

Hands Off Cain organised a conference on the abolition and moratorium of the death penalty in West Africa on January 13 and 14, in partnership with the government of Sierra Leone and with support from the World Coalition, the European Union and FIACAT.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), a World Coalition member organisation, has welcomed the federal government’s announcement on continuing the moratorium on capital punishment and has called for a thorough review of the death penalty regime in the country.

Iraq’s ambassador to Paris met representatives from the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty as the country has been accelerating the rhythm of executions.

The Anti Death Penalty Asia Network calls for the restoration of a formal moratorium after the government postponed a wave of executions under pressure from international abolitionists.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a World Coalition member, has called on the government formed following recent elections to suspend executions. A previous moratorium order has expired and many prisoners are at risk of being hanged.While the 2008 moratorium was introduced under the rule of the Pakistan People Party, whose former leader Benazir Bhutto was a well-known abolitionist, it expired shortly after Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League became Prime minister.
Pakistan had already broken the moratorium when it executed a soldier in November 2012.

Although most executions continue to take place in Asia, their number is going down – and abolitionists are coming up with new ideas to bring about abolition.

The Paris Bar Association (a World Coalition member) and its Beirut counterpart have called on lawyers worldwide to increase efforts to defend those facing the death penalty and to push for its abolition.

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

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights warns that litigation is insufficient to combat the death penalty.

Around 180 MPs from all political hues signed the founding charter of their network against the death penalty, which promises sustained legislative action in favour of abolition.

February was a month of intense strategising for members of the regional coalition against the death penalty as well as region’s ACATs, as two meetings convened to discuss the best options to spur on Africa’s march towards abolition.

Abolitionists worldwide protest the execution of three prisoners in Japan on 21st February and call on the new justice minister to heed international calls for restraint.

As Kazakhstan’s authorities prepare to introduce a new penal code, World Coalition members are warning against attempts to broaden the offences punishable by death.

The Taiwanese authorities have been conducting a voluntary assessment of the human rights situation in the country, culminating in the visit of a panel of experts in late February. The World Coalition is taking part in the process.

The World Coalition’s Indonesian member organization KontraS has raised the international consequences of Lindsay Sandiford’s high-profile capital case in an opinion article published by the Jakarta Globe newspaper, calling on the country to abolish the death penalty.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty welcomes the adoption by a growing number of United Nations member States of a fourth resolution calling for a universal moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

Ways to strengthen transregional action led by Asian activists and ideas to combat obstruction from national authorities were among the issues discussed at the third ADPAN consultative meeting.

Participants to the meeting held by FIACAT in Senegal mid-November received training on regional abolitionist activism and set priorities for their actions.

A majority of the world’s nations have approved a text calling for a global moratorium on executions, with stronger support than in a previous vote two years ago.

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.

Hands Off Cain published its annual report in August. President of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koroma wrote the introduction and the book has been dedicated to Rwanda.

Penal Reform International welcomed the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty to celebrate its tenth anniversary in Jordan with support from Justice Minister Khalifa Al Sulaiman.

The 51st Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) was held in Banjul from April 18 to May 2, 2012. During the session, the Commission presented its “Study on the question of the death penalty in Africa” prepared by the Working Group on the death penalty of the ACHPR.

Four Singapore-based organisations denounce the high risk of miscarriage of justice in recent death sentences handed down on poor immigrants and calls for the abolition of the death penalty in the city-state.

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.

Over the last few decades, we have made great strides toward the universal abolition of the death penalty. Nevertheless, despite the progress we have made, the death penalty remains entrenched in a significant number of states. And even in those nations that have refrained from carrying out executions in a sort of de facto moratorium, […]

Conferences, round tables, talks, tours, meetings with politicians, debates, press conferences, sit-ins, cultural evenings, marches and speeches are among the many events that will take place in Africa for this 9th World Day Against the Death Penalty.

Belgium and the United Nations’ human rights office have held a panel discussion to promote efforts in favour of the strongest international instrument against capital punishment.

8th September 2011 marks the 5,000th day without executions in South Korea. Houng-oh Kim, a member of the National Assembly and former Speaker, is aiming to introduce a new bill abolishing the death penalty to mark this occasion.

Hands Off Cain’s 2011 Report contains the most important facts regarding the practice of the death penalty in 2010 and the first six months of 2011.

After a six year moratorium on executions, India’s President Patil has rejected the mercy petition of two Indian nationals despite international outcry to maintain the moratorium.

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.

Countries which continue to use the death penalty are being left increasingly isolated following a decade of progress towards abolition, Amnesty International has said in its new report Death Sentences and Executions in 2010.

The West African nation outlawed the death penalty in February 2010 and then kept the secret for over a year.

Iran hanged 121 people in six weeks between 20 December 2010 and 31 January 2011, many of them after unfair trails and for crimes that did not result in a person’s death.

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

Following one year of lobbying led by the World Coalition, the Central Asian country has become a party to the UN protocol on the abolition of the death penalty.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights met in Banjul between November 10-24. A group of abolitionist organisations took part in the conference.

A proposed United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for a global suspension of executions has gained the support of two more countries pending a plenary vote next month.

A few days out from the World Day Against the Death Penalty, California has decided not to resume executions. A shortage of one of the drugs used for lethal injections gives death row inmates and abolitionists more time to continue the legal battle.

The FIDH and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights released a new report, From Visions to Facts: Human Rights in Vietnam under its Chairmanship of ASEAN, on 16 August 2010.

Activists in Japan and elsewhere have criticised Justice Minister Keiko Chiba for ordering two men to be hanged in Tokyo on July 28 despite her earlier abolitionist statements.

Legal action by local activists and pressure from international organizations have succeeded in stopping plans by Nigeria’s authorities to execute hundreds of death row inmates.

Abolitionists have lashed out at Taiwan’s government for the surprise execution of four death row inmates in contradiction to its public commitment to work towards the 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.

After Taiwan’s justice minister was forced to step down for not signing execution warrants, local and international abolitionists rushed in to restore a balanced debate and protect the country’s 44 death row inmates.

Luis Arroyo Zapatero is the head of the Institute for European and International law at the University of Castilla-La-Mancha. In 2009, he kick-started the foundation of the International Academic Network for the Abolition of Capital Punishment.

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 participants to the World Congress Against the Death Penalty have handed over their final declaration to the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay.

The first plenary session of the World Congress Against the Death Penalty focused on “increasing cooperation between States, NGOs and international organizations and developing common strategies for a death penalty-free world”.

In a vibrant speech before the parliament on January 14, President Elbegdorj Tsakhia of Mongolia developed all the arguments put forward by the abolitionist community.

Speaking at a symposium on the death penalty organised in Tokyo by the Swedish presidency of the European Union, a Japanese minister expressed his commitment for abolition.

Upcoming United Nations resolutions for a moratorium on executions and progress towards abolition across Africa were among the subjects discussed on the fringe of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights organised its first regional conference on the death penalty in Africa in late September.

The African human rights watchdog has asked Libya not to execute 20 Nigerians on death row in the North African country after a Nigerian NGO highlighted their plight.

National experts and civil society representatives from took part in a seminar in Madrid on 14 and 15 July 2009 at the invitation of Casa Arabe and the Spanish ministry for foreign affairs and cooperation.

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 organisation Hands Off Cain has launched a campaign targeting DRC’s opinion leaders. The government regards the renovation of the prison system as a prerequisite for abolition.

While the World celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the Togolese government decided to abolish the death penalty.

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.

The Great Lakes Regional Coalition Against the Death Penalty held its first meeting on November 17 in Kinshasa. Its lobbying efforts have accelerated Burundi’s legislative process.

As the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly gets under way in New York, the spotlight is once again put on a text calling for a global moratorium on executions.

Gathered in Rabat on World Day Against the Death Penalty, Moroccan and international politicians, religious leaders and campaigners held advanced discussions on this subject. The country has not carried out a single execution in the last fifteen years.

On October 10, World Day Against the Death Penalty, the World Coalition took part in a South Korean event aimed at bringing lawmakers closer to the abolition of capital punishment.

A working group of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights is preparing a report on capital punishment on the continent.

Pakistan’s new government has called on all death sentences in the country to be commuted to life imprisonment. Pakistani lawyer and human rights defender Kamran Arif believes a moratorium is at hand.

A World Coalition delegation found the door closed on June 16 when they attempted to handover to the Chinese Liaison Office in Hong Kong a petition urging for changes in the death penalty system in China.

Between 12-14 May, representatives from Arab civil society organisations gathered in Alexandria, Egypt at the invitation of the Swedish Institute to discuss the implementation of the UN moratorium on the use of the death penalty in the Arab world.

With public meetings, football matches and media action Malian activists have been covering all bases to try to push through adoption of a law abolishing the death penalty before the end of the parliamentary session.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty calls on President Mahmoud Abbas to declare an official moratorium on the death penalty and not to ratify Mr Tha’er Rmailat’s death sentence.

The World Coalition condemns the April 16th decision of the United States Supreme Court upholding the lethal injection as a humane method of executing a human being.

The Tunisian Coalition Against the Death Penalty has launched a campaign combining support for an abolition bill and reaction to the sentencing of a man sentenced for terrorism.

The World Coalition and ADPAN are publicising an open letter to the China National People’s Congress demanding concrete steps towards the abolition of the death penalty in China.

Members of the European Parliament Hélène Flautre and Raimon Obiols have called on Guatemala to maintain its moratorium on the death penalty after the Central American country passed dangerous legislation.

Wherever the Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT) is present, the struggle against the death penalty is an important element within their commitment to respect for human dignity.

Uzbekistan became the first state to abolish the death penalty in 2008. World Coalition members Community of Sant’Egidio and Mothers Against the Death Penalty, who have led a campaign in the region, welcome the move.

The Italian-based abolitionist group organised the event in Libreville on December 10, Human Rights Day 2007, with the government of Gabon and financial backing from the Dutch government.

The Italian province celebrated the anniversary of the first law to ever abolish the death penalty on November 28.

Executions are currently on hold in the US pending a Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of lethal injections. This is an opportunity for action from abolitionists, especially among the medical professions.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty welcomes the vote by the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly of a resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty worldwide.

A delegation of World Coalition member organisations has handed over the petition to United Nations General Assembly president Srgjan Kerim.

Over 75 people attended the conference focussing on the legal and social perspectives of the abolition of capital punishment in Beyrouth on October 17.

The President of UN General Assembly is to receive 5 million signatures calling for a moratorium on executions collected worldwide by the Community of Sant’Egidio and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

Together with filmmaker Tim Robbins, abolitionists launched an appeal from New York to support the proposed UN resolution imposing a freeze on executions. Five million people signed the petition supporting this initiative. Watch the video.

The countdown to the fifth World Day Against the Death Penalty on October 10 has begun. It will focus on the proposed resolution against capital punishment to be discussed in the UN this autumn.

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.

European institutions have decided to press a resolution against the death penalty at the next General Assembly and to mark an official European Day against the Death Penalty on October 10th.

On October 10th, 2007, the World Day against the Death Penalty focussed on the proposed UN General Assembly resolution for a universal moratorium on executions. The proposal would save lives and give the population of retentionist states an opportunity to see for themselves that a pause in death sentences does not lead to higher crime rates.