INDEX

The General Assembly of the United Nations calls for a global moratorium on the death penalty, emphasizing the importance of human rights, fair trials, and transparency. It encourages states to reduce capital punishment offenses, improve detention conditions, and share their experiences in limiting or abolishing the death penalty.

• Document type International law - United Nations
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• Themes list Fair Trial / Juveniles / Mental Illness / Moratorium / Trend Towards Abolition
• Available languages 2024 قرار اتخذته الجمعية العامة في 17 كانون الأول/ديسمبرResolución aprobada por la Asamblea General el 17 de diciembre de 2024Résolution adoptée par l’Assemblée générale le 17 décembre 2024Резолюция, принятая Генеральной Ассамблеей 17 декабря 2024 года2024 年 12 月 17 日大会决议

The Global Commission on Drug Policy’s report, Beyond Punishment: From Criminal Justice Responses to Drug Policy Reform, exposes how punitive drug policies have driven mass incarceration and grave human rights violations. In 2023 alone, over 3.1 million people were arrested for drug-related offenses, with 20% of the global prison population detained for such crimes – nearly half for simple possession.

The report underscores the devastating consequences of prohibitionist policies, including over one million overdose deaths in the U.S. in the past two decades and 40,000 in Canada in just eight years. It also highlights systemic inequities, such as Indigenous peoples in Canada being six times more likely to face drug-related arrests than white counterparts. Furthermore, the report illustrates the disproportionate burdens on women and children, deepening cycles of poverty and marginalization.

It examines the broad spectrum of criminal justice responses to drug offenses, ranging from stop-and-search practices that disproportionately target marginalized communities to extreme measures like the death penalty and enforced treatment. These approaches often violate human rights, perpetuate stigma, and fail to address the root causes of substance use.

Offering a roadmap for reform, the report advocates for evidence-based strategies, including harm reduction measures (e.g., Overdose Prevention Centers, naloxone distribution, and safer supply programs), decriminalization and the legal regulation of drug markets. These approaches not only save lives but also reduce societal harms, foster dignity, and promote health and equity.

• Document type NGO report
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• Themes list Drug Offenses
• Available languages De l’échec de la pénalisation à la réforme des politiques en matière de drogues

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) has released a detailed report exposing the inhumane conditions at Qarchak Prison in Iran, a facility originally designed as a poultry farm. The prison detains over 2,000 women and children in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, with a lack of healthcare, contaminated drinking water, and inadequate nutrition. Children, some born in the prison, are exposed to severe hardships, including unhygienic environments, insufficient food, and inadequate medical care, and are often separated from their mothers at the age of two.

The report also highlights the use of solitary confinement for women, including death row prisoners awaiting execution. These cells lack ventilation and basic facilities, exacerbating the psychological and physical suffering of detainees. Mothers detained with their children face additional challenges, including threats of separation and the absence of educational or recreational resources for their children.

IHRNGO calls for the immediate closure of Qarchak Prison and urges the international community to take action against these egregious human rights violations. This report underscores the urgent need to protect the dignity and rights of all prisoners, particularly the most vulnerable women and children.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment / Death Row Conditions / Women
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Executions take a severe psychological toll on prison staff, with many experiencing PTSD, moral injury, and emotional distress. This article explores the hidden casualties of the death penalty, revealing how executioners and correctional officers face mental health challenges that often go unacknowledged. With insights from studies, personal accounts, and cases across the U.S., it highlights the urgent need for systemic support and reform.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Death Row Conditions / Mental Illness
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Literature on opposition to the death penalty typically characterizes abolition as inexorable and attributes its fulfillment to the age of human rights. Although most countries abolished capital punishment after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, this article uses three comparative case studies to demonstrate abolition’s entanglement with a broader range of political, legal, and cultural factors. Applying a historically grounded nonteleological approach, we offer three insights. First, civilizationist values drove abolitionism in countries in the “vanguard,” such as Canada and England/Wales, where human rights rationales were expressed well after abolition and as a mark of superiority. Second, death penalty abolition has often allied with decolonization and penal reform, but assertions of independence and sovereignty have periodically provoked reinstatement, as in Mexican and Philippine history, which underscores the fragility of abolition. Third, state-centric approaches to de jure and de facto abolition overlook the practice of extrajudicial and summary “rebel” executions in polities such as Myanmar and Mali, which lack a state monopoly on force. Further historical studies that do not presuppose a human rights explanation of abolition and that compare jurisdictions within as well as between the Global North and South will better grasp the death penalty’s complex history.

• Document type Academic Article
• Countries list Canada / Mali / Mexico / Myanmar / Philippines / United Kingdom
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment / Trend Towards Abolition
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Project 39A has launched Capital Letters from death row India, a unique digital exhibition curated by reFrame. Featuring letters, artwork, audio recordings, and photographs created by prisoners on death row, the exhibition offers a deeply humanizing look into their lived experiences. Through eight thematic sections, visitors can explore the complex realities of life on death row and engage with stories of hope, trauma, and resilience.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list India
• Themes list Death Row Conditions
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The present report provides information on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 77/222, including on developments towards the abolition of the death penalty and the establishment of moratoriums on executions. Trends in the use of the death penalty, including the application of international standards relating to the protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty, are highlighted. Issues such as conditions of detention for persons on death row, the application of the death penalty to foreign nationals, its disproportionate and discriminatory application to women, its disproportionate impact on poor and economically vulnerable individuals, its discriminatory use on persons exercising their human rights, and various initiatives for advancing its abolition are also discussed. In the report, the Secretary-General welcomes progress made towards universal abolition in States representing different legal systems, traditions, cultures and religious backgrounds and concludes that all measures towards limiting the application of the death penalty constitute progress in the protection of the right to life.

• Document type United Nations report
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• Themes list Moratorium / Trend Towards Abolition
• Available languages 2024 تقرير الأمين العام - وقف العمل عقوبة الإعدامInforme del Secretario General 2024 - Moratoria sobre el uso de la pena de muerte2024 Rapport du Secrétaire général - Moratoire sur l’application de la peine de mort2024 Доклад Генерального секретаря - Мораторий на смертную казнь2024年秘书长报告 - 暂停使用死刑

Human Rights Watch highlights a dramatic increase in unlawful executions in Iraq in 2024. At least 50 men were executed in September, often without fair trials or prior notice to families. Reports reveal torture, inhumane detention conditions, and arbitrary practices. The organization calls for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty and urgent reforms to Iraq’s judicial and prison systems.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Iraq
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The Death Penalty Policy Project has published a comprehensive study analyzing over three decades of FBI homicide data. The findings reveal that U.S. states without the death penalty or with moratoria on executions are safer for both the public and police. By contrast, states actively carrying out executions rank among the least safe in the U.S. The study challenges long-held deterrence arguments and underscores the death penalty’s ineffectiveness as a public safety policy.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Countries list United States
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The “Resolution on the United Nations General Assembly Biannual Vote Calling for a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty” (ACHPR/Res.614 (LXXXI) 2024) was adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights during its 81st Ordinary Session in November 2024. The resolution emphasizes the importance of promoting human rights in Africa, particularly the right to life and dignity, as outlined in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

The resolution recalls past efforts to encourage African states to impose moratoriums on the death penalty, urging them to vote in favor of the UN General Assembly’s resolution calling for a universal moratorium. It highlights the significant support for these resolutions by African Union Member States, with increasing numbers of countries voting in favor over the years.

The Commission urges African countries that still have the death penalty to consider adopting moratoriums, reduce the number of crimes punishable by death, and ensure fair legal processes for those sentenced to death, including the right to seek pardon or commutation. It also calls for the possibility of abolishing the death penalty entirely in some states.

In summary, the resolution encourages African countries to align with global trends towards abolition, promote respect for human dignity, and consider the long-term benefits of a moratorium on the death penalty.

• Document type International law - Regional body
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• Themes list Moratorium / Trend Towards Abolition
• Available languages RESOLUTION SUR LE VOTE BIANNUEL DE L'ASSEMBLEE GENERALE DES NATIONS UNIES APPELANT A UN MORATOIRE SUR L'APPLICATION DE LA PEINE DE MORT. CADHP/Res.614 (LXXXI) 2024