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Document(s)
Iraq – Committee Against Torture – Death Penalty – March 2022
on 18 March 2022
2022
NGO report
World Coalition
Iraq
More details Download [ pdf - 250 Ko ]
This report provides an update to the coauthors’ report at the List of issues stage and responds to the State party’s responses to the Committee’s questions in the List of issues that touch on the death penalty.
- Document type NGO report / World Coalition
- Countries list Iraq
Document(s)
Death by Design: Part 2
By The Wren Collective, on 23 January 2024
2024
NGO report
Legal Representation
United States
More details See the document
Published in December 2023.
In “Death by Design” Parts 1 and 2, Wren investigated the state of court-appointed capital representation in Harris County—the death penalty capital of the world. The second report examines why that poor representation has thrived, and the ways that the judges overseeing those cases have enabled it to continue that way.
Wren recommends a total overhaul to the system of capital representation for poor defendants in Harris County, with either the public defender absorbing those cases or the judges establishing a new, freestanding capital public defender that is independent from judicial oversight.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Legal Representation
Article(s)
World Coalition takes part in UN death penalty report launch
on 30 May 2010
The World Coalition held a side event to accompany the presentation of the 8th Quinquennial Report of the UN Secretary General on capital punishment in Vienna on May 19.
2010
Death Row Conditions
Innocence
Juveniles
Legal Representation
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/11c162ba789ea6fd245d7005e85c82f1_2-1.png)
Article(s)
Release of the Death Penalty India Report
By Marion Gauer, on 20 May 2016
A report describing the socio-economic profiles of death row inmates in India was recently released by the National Law University’s Death Penalty Research Project (based in New Delhi).
2016
India
Document(s)
Trapped Inside: Mental Illness & Incarceration
on 25 March 2022
2022
NGO report
Mental Illness
Pakistan
More details See the document
Pakistan’s criminal justice system fails to provide meaningful protection to persons suffering from mental illness at all stages of arrest, trial, sentencing and detention. Under Pakistani law, a person of unsound mind is unable to form criminal intent and therefore is not subject to punishment. Despite this, a disproportionate number of mentally ill prisoners are currently in Pakistan’s jails and on death row.
In light of the above, JPP, in collaboration with Monash University Australia, is launching a report titled “Trapped Inside: Mental Illness & Incarceration”, a comprehensive review of Pakistani law and practice with regards to mentally ill prisoners and defendants. This report seeks to help relevant stakeholders to better understand and respond appropriately to the mental health needs of individuals across the criminal justice system. It focuses on the steps stakeholders can take to promote and protect mental health and well-being of individuals at each stage. The report also explores last year’s landmark ‘Safia Bano’ judgement by Pakistan’s Supreme Court, which commuted the death sentences of two mentally ill death row prisoners, banned the execution of prisoners with psycho-social disabilities and set key safeguards for the same.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list Pakistan
- Themes list Mental Illness
Document(s)
Annual report on the death penalty in Iran 2020
By Iran Human Rights (IHR), ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty), on 4 May 2021
2021
NGO report
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
faMore details See the document
The 13th annual report on the death penalty by Iran Human Rights (IHR) and ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty) provides an assessment and analysis of the death penalty trends in 2020 in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
- Available languages گزارش ساالنه اعدام در ایران ۲۰۲۰
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/aa39e55571d89afbd65278cc89910e35_2.jpg)
Article(s)
Asia develops into hub of abolitionist dialogue
By Emile Carreau, on 6 November 2014
World Coalition member, Community of Sant’Egidio, has organised anti-death penalty conferences in Japan and the Philippines, both of which were overwhelmingly attended. Further conferences in the region are set to continue.
2014
Cambodia
India
Indonesia
Japan
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Philippines
Sri Lanka
Viet Nam
Document(s)
Lebanon – Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women – Death Penalty
on 12 January 2022
2022
NGO report
World Coalition
Lebanon
Women
More details Download [ pdf - 1599 Ko ]
This report addresses Lebanon’s compliance with human rights obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women regarding its use of the death penalty.
Lebanon has not abolished the death penalty or established a de jure moratorium on the death penalty. The legal system does not protect women in conflict with the law from discrimination on the basis of sex or gender. Nor does it limit capital offenses to the “most serious” crimes.
Women migrant domestic workers appear to be at an elevated risk of being sentenced to death. Indeed, all three women known to be on death row in Lebanon are Sri Lankan migrant domestic workers. Such women face heightened obstacles to realizing their right to a fair trial. Moreover, there is no evidence that sentencing authorities take into account a woman’s history of abuse when determining an appropriate sentence. Finally, women under sentence of death face degrading conditions of detention.
- Document type NGO report / World Coalition
- Countries list Lebanon
- Themes list Women
Document(s)
World Psychiatric Association position statement mental health and the death penalty
By World Psychiatric Association, on 30 November 2023
2023
Arguments against the death penalty
Fair Trial
Intellectual Disability
zh-hantMore details See the document
International law and laws of various countries prohibit the imposition of the death penalty on persons
with mental illness or developmental and intellectual disabilities due to the special barriers faced by
them in defending themselves; their limited moral culpability; and their diminished ability to
understand the nature and reason for their execution. However, due to lack of accommodations in
criminal proceedings and legal safeguards, persons with mental illness, developmental and intellectual
disabilities are at a greater risk of being sentenced to death and having their fair trial rights denied.
Authors:
Maitreyi Misra, Director (Mental Health and Criminal Justice), Project 39A, National Law University
Delhi.
Namrata Sinha, Research Associate (Mental Health and Criminal Justice), Project 39A, National Law
University Delhi.
Neeraj Gill, Professor, Health Research Institute, University of Canberra and Griffith University,
School of Medicine, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia.
Soumitra Pathare, Consultant Psychiatrist, Director, Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy, ILS
Law College, Pune.
Afzal Javed, President, World Psychiatric Association.
- Document type Arguments against the death penalty
- Themes list Fair Trial / Intellectual Disability
- Available languages 世界精神醫學會針對精神健康與死刑之立場聲明
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/52a7494159529c38b9c69e9946ba4f27_2.jpg)
Member(s)
Act for Human Rights (ALEF)
on 30 April 2020
Act for Human Rights previously know as “Association libanaise pour l’éducation et la formation” core mandate is Monitoring and Advocacy. Its main concern are Human Rights issues, thus the organization has been advocating against death penalty. Currently our project activities are the following: Death Penalty Abolition Activities in Lebanon- ALEF – act for human rights […]
2020
Lebanon
Article(s)
US death sentences hit new low in 2009
By Death Penalty Information Center, on 7 January 2010
As legal efforts and economic woes weighed in against the death penalty, fewer Americans were sent to death row in 2009 than any other year since the restoration of capital punishment in the US in 1976.
2010
Mental Illness
United States
![Live Facebook](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/live-facebook.jpg)
Article(s)
UPR 36th Session Debriefed on Facebook Live
By Louis Linel, on 17 November 2020
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 […]
2020
Belarus
Jamaica
Liberia
Libya
Malawi
Maldives
United States
![75th Ordinary Session of the African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/75th-Ordinary-Session-of-the-African-Commission-of-Human-and-Peoples-Rights.jpg)
Article(s)
75th Ordinary Session of the African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights
By Wendy Adouki, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 15 August 2023
From 3rd to 23rd May 2023, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) held its 75th Ordinary Session for the first time in a hybrid format with participants both attending online and in person in Banjul, the Gambia, seat of the ACHPR.
2023
Trend Towards Abolition
![UN Human Rights Council](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/UN-Human-Rights-Council.jpg)
Article(s)
Abolition of the death penalty at the United Nations Human Rights Council 51st session
By World coalition against the death penalty, on 24 October 2022
The United Nations Human Rights Council met for its 51st regular session from September 12 to October 7, 2022. If you missed it, here is what happened regarding the abolition of the death penalty!
2022
Trend Towards Abolition
Article(s)
Is the death penalty a cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment under international law?
on 20 March 2009
Special Rapporteur Manfred Nowak raised the issue at the UN’s Human Rights Council, triggering a debate in which World Coalition member organisations had their say.
2009
Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment
Document(s)
The Physician in the Execution Chamber: No Such Thing as the Normal Pain of Dying
By Joel Zivot, California Western International Law Journal , on 1 February 2024
2024
Academic Article
United States
More details See the document
Published in October 2023.
For capital punishment to be lawful in the United States of America, it must occur without cruelty, a requirement of the traditional reading of the Eighth Amendment. There has never been a consensus on what form of execution is cruel, although some historic practices are shockingly barbaric to modern sensibilities— I think of the “draw and quarter” technique. The family of the murdered victim may fairly argue that the murderous behavior should be the minimum degree of cruelty meted out. But western countries eschew that standard and seek moderate forms, partly to deter by punishment and partly as a forfeit of the murderer’s life for the victim’s life when execution is allowed in that state. Certainly, there is substantial support for continuation of execution in states that allow it. The judges must be respectful of that, but still, they must respect the 8th amendment. At present, the prevalent method of execution in the United States is “lethal injection” using injectable medicines in very high doses that are repurposed to kill the prisoner. Because it is impossible to ask an executed individual about the cruelty experienced during their own death, the state instead relies on the empathy of witnesses to gauge the cruelty of a prisoner’s execution. Lethal injection was expected to be a bloodless execution and aimed to eliminate the visible appearance of cruelty, sometimes through the use of a paralytic.
- Document type Academic Article
- Countries list United States
Document(s)
Mobilization Kit 2006
By World Coalition against the death penalty , on 10 October 2006
2006
Campaigning
Trend Towards Abolition
frMore details Download [ pdf - 114 Ko ]
The World Coalition was created in Rome on 13 May
2002, following the commitment undertaken by the
organizations who signed the Final Declaration of
the First World Congress against the death penalty
in June 2001 in Strasbourg. It comprises 52 non-
governmental organizations, as well as bar asso-
ciations, trade unions and local communities.
The Coalition aims to reinforce the international
movement to abolish the death penalty, to reduce
the scope of capital punishment and put an end
to executions wherever they take place. To this
end, the Coalition facilitates the creation and devel-
opment of national and regional coalitions against
the death penalty. The Coalition also spearheads
lobbying efforts directed towards states and inter-
national institutions.
- Document type Campaigning
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition
- Available languages Kit de mobilisation 2006
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-final-1.png)
Article(s)
“Frightening” increase of executions in Iran
By World coalition against the death penalty, on 20 June 2024
Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) reports that at least 243 people, including 10 women, have been executed in 2024, as of 15 June. In 2023, the number of people executed has increased from 582 to 834. At least 471 people were executed for drug-related offenses. This represent a 84% increase compared to 2022 (256).
2024
Drug Offenses
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Document(s)
Qatar – Human Rights Committee – Death Penalty – January 2022
on 31 January 2022
2022
NGO report
World Coalition
Qatar
More details Download [ pdf - 236 Ko ]
Qatar had been maintaining a de facto moratorium on executions since 2000, but courts continued to sentence people to death. In 2020, however, Qatar executed a Nepali migrant worker by firing squad. Qatar’s death penalty practices are not in compliance with the Covenant. Qatar does not limit the death penalty to the most serious crimes, it is not taking steps toward a de jure moratorium on executions or ratification of the Second Optional Protocol, and it does not ensure that defendants in capital cases have a fair trial. Recent history suggests that a migrant worker may be more likely to be sentenced to death and executed for killing a Qatari national, as opposed to a non-citizen. Migrant workers are particularly vulnerable in the context of the country’s criminal legal system.
- Document type NGO report / World Coalition
- Countries list Qatar
Document(s)
Defending Women and Transgender Persons Facing Extreme Sentences: A Practical Guide
on 14 January 2022
2022
Legal Representation
Legal Representation
Women
frMore details See the document
Written by a team including experts in the fields of capital defense, gender rights, gender-sensitive mitigation and the rights of transgender persons, the guide includes sections on gender-based violence, women’s mental health, prison conditions, discrimination in the legal system, working with the media, and how to build a gender-sensitive team. It also includes a step-by-step gender-sensitive interview protocol that builds on resources developed by the anti-violence community and is tailored to the needs of defense teams.
- Document type Legal Representation
- Themes list Legal Representation / Women
- Available languages Défendre les femmes et les personnes transgenres confrontées à des peines extrêmes
Document(s)
Gender and Death Penalty Glossary
By World Coalition against the Death Penalty, on 1 August 2023
2023
World Coalition
Gender
frMore details Download [ pdf - 829 Ko ]
As part of the integration of a gender and intersectional approach into its strategy, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (World Coalition) decided to develop a glossary to identify and define the key terms of which the abolitionist movement should be aware to consider gender and other axes of intersectional discrimination at work in the capital punishment process, and more broadly to mainstream gender into their abolitionist work. This glossary was developed based on existing glossaries of World Coalition members on closely related topics, existing international definitions and standards established by international human rightsmechanisms as well as based on definitions written by international organizations specializing inwomen’s rights and LGBTQIA+ people’s rights.This glossary aims to support the abolitionist movement in recognizing the gender and intersectional biases at work in the judicial process leading to the death penalty and to contribute to the developmentof a common language around these issues, a process initiated a few years ago by members of theWorld Coalition Against such as the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide. Moreover, this glossary also aims to promote the integration of a gender approach into the internal workings o fabolitionist organizations.
- Document type World Coalition
- Themes list Gender
- Available languages Glossaire Genre et Peine de mort
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/87e827849f1588f4b8bacbfc4c87eeca_2.jpg)
Article(s)
Asia: Stop executions and unfair trials
By ADPAN, on 6 December 2011
A hard-line group of Asian countries are defying the global trend against the death penalty and putting to death thousands of people after unfair trials every year, the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) said today in a new report.
2011
Article(s)
3rd World Congress Report: a 400-page strategy
on 22 April 2008
The report of the Paris World Congress, organised by Together Against the Death Penalty with the help of the World Coalition in Paris in 2007, is just out. Its aim is to serve as a “guide to abolitionist strategy”.
2008
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/9a71589104663251548826e18b2ae644_2.jpg)
Article(s)
ADPAN network strengthens abolitionists across Asia
By Aurélie Plaçais (in Taipei, Taiwan), on 9 December 2014
The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network, a coalition hosted by Amnesty International in London since 2006, has become an independent organisation registered in Malaysia and held its first AGM in Taipei, Taiwan on 4-5 December.
2014
China
Japan
Malaysia
Mongolia
Public Opinion
Republic of Korea
Taiwan
Taiwan
Document(s)
Worked to Death: A study on migrant workers and capital punishment
By Migrant Care and Reprieve, on 24 November 2021
2021
NGO report
Fair Trial
Indonesia
Legal Representation
Malaysia
Nigeria
Pakistan
Saudi Arabia
Women
More details See the document
Foreign nationals, and within this group migrant workers, are a population that disproportionately faces the death penalty around the world. The data and statistics gathered by Reprieve and Migrant CARE for this report show that migrant workers as a sub-set of the foreign national population are at grave risk of human rights violations related to the death penalty, including arbitrary deprivation of the right to life in the context of unlawful death sentences and executions.
This report focuses on: states that receive migrant workers (‘receiving states’), in particular the states that make up the Association of South East Asian Nations or ASEAN (‘South East Asian states’) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (‘Gulf states’), and on states from which migrant workers travel to work (‘sending states’).
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list Indonesia / Malaysia / Nigeria / Pakistan / Saudi Arabia
- Themes list Fair Trial / Legal Representation / Women
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/d5a054eb68476f424d3962a116392ec6_2.jpg)
Article(s)
Asia still top executioner but more divided than ever: Hands Off Cain Report
By Aurélie Plaçais, on 11 August 2011
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.
2011
China
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Drug Offenses
India
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Mongolia
Moratorium
Myanmar
Viet Nam
Document(s)
Palestine – Committee Against Torture – Death Penalty – June 2022
on 21 July 2022
2022
NGO report
World Coalition
State of Palestine
More details Download [ pdf - 1747 Ko ]
The State of Palestine on 1 April 2014 ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. On 28 December 2017, the State of Palestine signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. On 18 March 2019, the State of Palestine also ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which aims to abolish the death penalty. The State of Palestine has not yet abolished the death penalty. Indeed-as described herein-the 14 June 2007 split in power between the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah in the West Bank under President Abbas, and the Hamas movement in Gaza, has been followed by many documented executions in Gaza without the requisite signature of President Abbas, and Gazan military courts conduct trials of civilians, where they can be sentenced to death.
This report considers the prevalence of torture and other issues ancillary to the death penalty itself: confessions under torture or degrading treatment, due process, access to legal counsel, death-row conditions, and methods of execution.
- Document type NGO report / World Coalition
- Countries list State of Palestine
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/d1c197abe33cfd3c3a11cc2eb523e1a8_2-1.jpg)
Article(s)
Ways to Restrict the Use of the Death Penalty in Iran
By Iran Human Rights, on 8 April 2019
Iran Human Rights (IHR); March 27, 2019: A part of the 11th Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran, by IHR, deals with the ways to restrict the use of the death penalty in Iran.
2019
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
![A candlelight vigil to protest the execution of Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam in Singapore (Mohd Rasfan/AFP via Getty Images)](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/candelight-vigil-Singapore-gettyimages.jpg)
Article(s)
Death penalty: Singapore’s growing abolition movement
By Kirsten Han, on 5 September 2022
Article first published by the Interpreter Public support for capital punishment isn’t as overwhelmingand unshakeable as the government often portrays it to be.
2022
Singapore
![Amnesty International, Harm Reduction International, Iran Human Rights, Transformative Justice Collective Logos](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/statement-june-23-death-penalty.jpg)
Article(s)
World Drugs Day: UNODC must act to stop the use of death penalty for drug-related offences and urge states to end executions
By Amnesty International, Harm Reduction International, Iran Human Rights, Transformative Justice Collective, on 27 June 2023
On 26 June, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is marking World Drugs Day with the theme “People first: stop stigma and discrimination, strengthen prevention”, and launched another edition of the World Drug Report. Sadly, as has been the case over the years, UNODC has failed to raise concerns over the continued use […]
2023
Drug Offenses
Article(s)
Japan executions “a step backward for Asia”
on 30 July 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.
2010
Japan
Moratorium
Public Opinion
Taiwan
Article(s)
US murder victims’ families advocate abolition in Asia
on 14 July 2010
World Coalition member organisation Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights held public events and meetings with victims and leaders during a recent tour of South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
2010
Murder Victims' Families
Republic of Korea
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/b5763ce18a872e462c29d2a3e812f6fb_2.jpg)
Article(s)
Japan in breach of international standards, opinion wavering – study
By Thomas Hubert, on 14 March 2013
A report published by the Death Penalty Project and the Center for Prisoners’ Rights shows that Japanese law and practice on capital punishment violate international treaties, and questions the high level of public support for the death penalty reported by the authorities.
2013
Japan
Public Opinion
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ce9305ff9e6921f8b8121b60aae52bd2_2.jpg)
Article(s)
Kazakh criminal law reform could add capital crimes
By Thomas Hubert, on 15 February 2013
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.
2013
Kazakhstan
Moratorium
Public Opinion
Article(s)
India: a “lethal lottery”
on 15 May 2008
A study of the rulings by New Delhi’s Supreme Court for more than 50 years concluded that “the administration of the death penalty in India is manifestly flawed”.
2008
Fair Trial
India
Innocence
Legal Representation
Terrorism
Article(s)
Teng Biao: Olympics an opportunity to put pressure on the Chinese authorities”
on 13 February 2008
Teng Biao is one of the rare activists who call for the immediate abolition of the death penalty from within China. In the past weeks, the police confiscated his passport and he received threats.
2008
China
Innocence
Public Opinion
![Singapore's Death Penalty Discourse](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/article-singapore-march-2024.jpg)
Article(s)
Unveiling Singapore’s Death Penalty Discourse: A Critical Analysis of Public Opinion and Deterrent Claims
By World coalition against the death penalty, on 27 March 2024
While Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) maintains a firm stance on the effectiveness of the death penalty in managing drug trafficking in Singapore, the article presents evidence suggesting that the methodologies and interpretations of these studies might not be as substantial as portrayed.
2024
Singapore
![World Coalition Against the Death Penalyt](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/WC-ImageDefautArticle2-1.png)
Article(s)
Plans to carry out arbitrary executions in Myanmar must halt immediately
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty , on 23 June 2022
The undersigned organizations are gravely concerned at the recent announcement by the military authorities of Myanmar that the death sentences imposed on four people after grossly unfair proceedings have been approved for implementation.
2022
Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment
Fair Trial
Legal Representation
Myanmar
![UN Human Rights Council](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/UN-Human-Rights-Council.jpg)
Article(s)
Abolition of the death penalty at the United Nations Human Rights Council 49th session
By Aurelie Placais, staff, on 3 May 2022
The 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council took place from 28 February to 1 April 2022. If you missed it, here’s what happened in relation to the abolition of the death penalty!
2022
Document(s)
Cameroon – Committee to Eliminate Racial Discrimination – Death Penalty – March 2020
By RACOPEM, ACAT Cameroun, on 21 March 2020
2020
NGO report
World Coalition
Cameroon
More details Download [ pdf - 1898 Ko ]
This report addresses Cameroon’s compliance with human rights obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, particularly with respect to the imposition of the death penalty against Anglophone Cameroonians.
By way of background, the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon began in 2016 as peaceful protests by lawyers and teachers demanding linguistic reforms but rapidly escalated into a war of secession that has killed thousands of people and displaced over one million.
The Cameroonian Criminal Code adopted in 2016 allows for the death penalty, including for vaguely defined terrorism-related offences. In this regard, the Anti-Terrorism Law of 2014 has been used to prosecute Anglophone human rights activists before military courts for acts of terrorism, secession, rebellion, and spreading false news, with the death penalty as a potential sentence in such cases.
While Cameroon ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1984, it has yet to ratify its Second Optional Protocol aiming at the abolition of the death penalty (ICCPR-OP2). Although no execution has taken place in Cameroon since 1997, civil society organizations estimate that 220 people currently are under sentence of death in Cameroon.
As discussed below, Cameroon fails to uphold its obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination because its domestic law and institutional and political framework do not sufficiently protect Anglophones facing the death penalty.
- Document type NGO report / World Coalition
- Countries list Cameroon
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/72a0e9784d632fdcddba1e8c23480f45_2-1.jpg)
Article(s)
Eager to learn more about the death penalty? Abolitionist civil society around the world answered your call!
By Elise Guillot, on 8 November 2016
10 October saw the release of several publications and tools to raise awareness on the death penalty in all regions of the world. Take a look!
2016
Terrorism
Document(s)
Children, Youth and the Death Penalty
By International Commission against the Death Penalty, on 23 June 2023
2023
NGO report
Juveniles
More details See the document
ICDP announces the launch of its latest report: Children, Youth and the Death Penalty. The issue of how the death penalty affects children and youth is often ignored by policy makers. This report aims to change that by putting the protection of children’s rights at the center of the debate on the death penalty.
The report builds on the panel discussion titled “Youth and the Death Penalty,” which was organized by the International Commission against the Death Penalty (ICDP) and the Government of Australia. The discussion was held on 29 June 2022, at the sidelines of the 50th session of the UN Human Rights Council, in Geneva.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Juveniles
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/6c0e4aac593238d4b77e4318fa76fb82_2.jpg)
Article(s)
Death penalty at the heart of human rights review
By Thomas Hubert, on 5 February 2013
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.
2013
Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment
Moratorium
Taiwan
Taiwan
Document(s)
The Road to Abolition?: The Future of Capital Punishment in the United States
By Charles J. Ogletree and Austin Sarat, on 24 August 2023
2023
Book
United States
More details See the document
At the start of the twenty-first century, America is in the midst of a profound national reconsideration of the death penalty. There has been a dramatic decline in the number of people being sentenced to death as well as executed, exonerations have become common, and the number of states abolishing the death penalty is on the rise. The essays featured in The Road to Abolition? track this shift in attitudes toward capital punishment, and consider whether or not the death penalty will ever be abolished in America.The interdisciplinary group of experts gathered by Charles J. Ogletree Jr., and Austin Sarat ask and attempt to answer the hard questions that need to be addressed if the death penalty is to be abolished. Will the death penalty end only to be replaced with life in prison without parole? Will life without the possibility of parole become, in essence, the new death penalty? For abolitionists, might that be a pyrrhic victory? The contributors discuss how the death penalty might be abolished, with particular emphasis on the current debate over lethal injection as a case study on why and how the elimination of certain forms of execution might provide a model for the larger abolition of the death penalty.
- Document type Book
- Countries list United States
Document(s)
Getting to Death: Race and the Paths of Capital Cases after Furman
By Fagan, Jeffrey and Davies, Garth and Paternoster, Raymond, Columbia Public Law Research Paper, Forthcoming, Cornell Law Review, Vol. 107, No. 1565, 2022, on 13 January 2023
2023
Academic report
Fair Trial
United States
More details See the document
Decades of research on the administration of the death penalty have recognized the persistent arbitrariness in its implementation and the racial inequality in the selection of defendants and cases for capital punishment. This Article provides new insights into the combined effects of these two constitutional challenges. We show how these features of post-Furman capital punishment operate at each stage of adjudication, from charging death-eligible cases to plea negotiations to the selection of eligible cases for execution and ultimately to the execution itself, and how their effects combine to sustain the constitutional violations first identified 50 years ago in Furman. Analyzing a dataset of 2,328 first- degree murder convictions in Georgia from 1995–2004 that produced 1,317 death eligible cases, we show that two features of these cases combine to produce a small group of persons facing execution: victim race and gender, and a set of case-specific features that are often correlated with race. We also show that these features explain which cases progress from the initial stages of charging to a death sentence, and which are removed from death eligibility at each stage through plea negotiations. Consistent with decades of death penalty research, we also show the special focus of prosecution on cases where Black defendants murder white victims. The evidence in the Georgia records suggests a regime marred less by overbreadth in its statute than capriciousness and randomness in the decision to seek death and to seek it in a racially disparate manner. These two dimensions of capital case adjudication combine to sustain the twin failures that produce the fatal lottery that is the death penalty.
- Document type Academic report
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Fair Trial
Document(s)
2021 OHCHR Report on Deterrence: High-level panel discussion on the question of the death penalty
By Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), on 14 January 2022
2022
United Nations report
Public Opinion
aresfrruzh-hantMore details See the document
The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 26/2 and 42/24. It provides a summary of the high-level panel discussion on the question of the death penalty held on 23 February 2021 at the forty-sixth session of the Council. The panel discussion addressed the human rights violations related to the use of the death penalty, in particular with respect to whether the use of the death penalty has a deterrent effect on crime rates.
- Document type United Nations report
- Themes list Public Opinion
- Available languages حلقة نقاش رف عة المستوى بشأن مسألة عقوبة الإعدامInforme de la OACDH 2021 sobre el efecto disuasorio : Mesa redonda de alto nivel sobre la cuestión de la pena de muerteRapport HCDH 2021 sur l'effet dissuasif : Réunion-débat de haut niveau sur la question de la peine de mortОбсуждение в рамках дискуссионной группы высокого уровня вопроса о смертной казни,способствует ли ее применение сдерживанию преступности2021年联合国威慑效应报告 - 关于死刑问题的高级别专题小组讨论会
Document(s)
Capital punishment and implementation of the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty
By United Nations , on 26 May 2021
2021
United Nations report
aresfrruzh-hantMore details See the document
Summary
In its resolution 1745 (LIV) of 16 May 1973, the Economic and Social Council invited the Secretary-General to submit to it, at five-year intervals starting from 1975, periodic updated and analytical reports on capital punishment. The Council, in its resolution 1995/57 of 28 July 1995, recommended that the quinquennial reports of the Secretary-General continue to cover also the implementation of the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty.
In the same resolution, the Council requested the Secretary-General, in preparing the quinquennial report, to draw on all available data, including current criminological research. The present report, which is the tenth quinquennial report, contains a review of the use of and trends in capital punishment, including the implementa tion of the safeguards during the period 2014–2018.
In accordance with resolutions 1745 (LIV) and 1990/51, of 24 July 1990, of the Economic and Social Council, as well as its decision 2005/247 of 22 July 2005, the present report is submitted to the Council at its substantive session of 2020, and will also be before the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at its twenty-ninth session and the Human Rights Council at its forty-fourth regular session.
The report on the 2014–2018 quinquennium confirms the trend documented in previous reports towards abolition and restriction of the use of capital punishment in most countries. The number of States that have abolished the death penalty in law and in practice continued to grow. This is reflected in the increased number of States bound by treaty obligations not to implement the death penalty. The quinquennium also witnessed some years of dramatic increases in the number of executions, which were carried out by a small number of States. The situation stabilized at the end of the survey period, and the number of recorded executions in the final year, 2018, was the lowest in many years. The safeguards guaranteeing the protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty apply to States that retain capital punishment. It is of concern, however, that the death penalty continued to be imposed on persons below 18 years of age at the time of commission of the offence, and that death sentences were imposed in cases where the “most serious crimes” standard was not met and in cases of trials that did not comply with international standards.
- Document type United Nations report
- Available languages عقوبة اإلعدام وتنفيذ الضمانات التي تكفل حماية حقوق من يواجهون عقوبة اإلعدامLa pena capital y la aplicación de las salvaguardias para garantizar la protección de los derechos de las personas condenadas a la pena de muertePeine capitale et application des garanties pour la protection des droits des personnes passibles de la peine de mortСмертная казнь и применение мер, гарантирующих защиту прав тех, кому грозит смертная казнь死刑和保护死刑犯权利的保障措施的执行情况
Document(s)
Cuba – Committee Against Torture – Death Penalty – March 2022
on 21 March 2022
2022
NGO report
World Coalition
Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment
Cuba
More details Download [ pdf - 250 Ko ]
Cuba has maintained a de facto moratorium on the imposition of the death penalty since its last reported execution in 2003. In 2010, Cuba’s Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of Cuba’s last remaining death row inmate. As of the date of this report, there is no record of an individual currently sentenced to death. Although a de facto moratorium is in place, Cuba has not committed to a de jure abolition of the death penalty, citing national security concerns.
- Document type NGO report / World Coalition
- Countries list Cuba
- Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment
![Amnesty Annual report](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/amnesty-annual-report-2022.jpg)
Article(s)
Increase in the number of executions, but clear progress toward abolition in 2022
By World coalition against the death penalty, on 18 September 2023
On 16 May, Amnesty International published their annual report on the global use of the death penalty, which shows the overall number and trends in sentencing and executions in 2022.
2023
Trend Towards Abolition
Document(s)
How to Insert Gender issues in Abolitionist Advocacy?
By World Coalition against the Death Penalty, on 1 August 2023
2023
Lobbying
Gender
frMore details Download [ pdf - 710 Ko ]
This tool was developed by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (World Coalition) in partnership with the Advocates for Human Rights (TAHR), after noting the limited integration of gender issues into the abolitionist advocacy of the World Coalition’s member organizations. This tool has also been edited and enrichened by the World Coalition’s Gender Working Group.
As part of the “Leave No Woman Behind on Death Row” project, this tool aims to assist World Coalition members and partners in implementing gender-sensitive abolitionist advocacy.
In this document, intended to be a practical tool, guidance is provided on how to incorporate gender-specific recommendations into abolitionist advocacy with human rights bodies. This tool focuses recommendations made by civil society organizations (CSOs) to international and regional human rights bodies, intended to encourage national authorities to act in a certain way. Human rights mechanisms and bodies serve as crucial actors in legitimizing and supporting CSOs work on the ground. A recommendation made by a CSO can, in turn, be accepted by a human rights special mechanism and be transformed into an official recommendation to the State. From there, CSOs can continue to use this official recommendation in their national advocacy to strengthen their claim and position, fulfilling a virtuous circle in advocacy work.
In this document, the recommendations made are done pending full abolition of the death penalty. They are seen as transitional steps towards full abolition of the death penalty in law and in practice.
This tool is divided into two sections. The first part focuses on how to increase visibility of the discrimination faced by women in the judicial process leading to the death penalty. The second part focuses on the discrimination faced by LGBTQIA+ people during the same judicial process. In both sections, definitions are provided as well as background information in order to understand the issues at stake in each of the themes.
- Document type Lobbying
- Themes list Gender
- Available languages Comment insérer les questions de genre dans le plaidoyer abolitionniste ?
Document(s)
Death Penalty Politics: The Fragility of Abolition in Asia and the Pacific
By Mark Finnane, Mai Sato and Susan Trevaskes, on 1 September 2022
2022
Academic report
More details See the document
Despite a steady increase worldwide in the number of states that have abolished the death penalty, capital punishment remains a troubling presence in the international order. The world’s leading powers in terms of economics and population include the retentionist states of China, India, Japan and the United States of America (USA). It seems there is no linear path to abolition, and its achievement is indeterminate. Yet, in international human rights law, death penalty abolition is a powerful norm embraced by half the countries across the world. While the majority of death penalty research has emanated from and focuses on the USA, well over 90 per cent of global executions occur in Asia, which lags behind the global trend towards abolishing the death penalty. Our symposium and this collection seek to bring perspectives from a variety of disciplines and methods—historical, legal, sociological, comparative— to bear on the questions of retention and abolition in a variety of jurisdictions and time periods.
This article was first published in Crime Justice Journal: https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/issue/view/119
- Document type Academic report
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/9d26ff61ae6b9461b23e88f23c38d467_2-1.png)
Article(s)
Death Sentences in the Democratic Republic of the Congo More Numerous than Previously Thought
By Bronwyn Dudley, on 12 March 2020
ECPM and CPJ published a report in December 2019 following a fact-finding mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that took place earlier in the year. The results of the mission were astonishing – while the number of individuals sentenced to death was previously estimated to be 300 at most, the mission uncovered that there are at least 510 waiting execution. Liévin Ngondji, co-author of the report and President of CPJ, was in Paris in February 2020 to comment. Photo on the cover of the Report : 22 Oct 2015. Prison Centrale Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo copyright Ben Houdjik/ Shutterstock
2020
Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Fair Trial
Document(s)
Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran 2022
By Iran Human Rights & ECPM, on 13 April 2023
2023
NGO report
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
frMore details See the document
The 15th Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran, by Iran Human Rights and ECPM reveals the highest annual number of executions since 2015. At least 582 people were executed, an increase of 75% compared to 2021. In 2022, Iran’s authorities demonstrated how crucial the death penalty is to instil societal fear in order to hold onto power.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
- Available languages Rapport annuel sur la peine de mort en Iran 2022
Document(s)
Report 2008. Asia: Its time to end executions
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2008
2008
Campaigning
frMore details Download [ pdf - 771 Ko ]
The 2008 World Day report presents information on the death penalty in the world with particular attention to India, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Pakistan and Vietnam. The events that took place around the world in 2008 for the world day are noted in this report also.
- Document type Campaigning
- Themes list Networks,
- Available languages Rapport Journée Mondial de la Coalition mondiale : Asie: Il est temps d'arreter les exécutions
Document(s)
Annual Statistics Report 2022
By Project 39A, on 22 February 2023
2023
NGO report
India
More details See the document
This is the seventh edition of the Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics Report published by Project 39A at National Law University, Delhi. 2022 represents a significant shift in death penalty adjudication, with the Supreme Court recognising the need to reconsider the capital sentencing framework for the first time since it was laid down in Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab in 1980. In a momentous order, the Supreme Court noted the gaps in the death penalty sentencing framework and has sought to address these concerns through a Constitution Bench towards establishing the components of a real, meaningful and effective capital sentencing hearing. In another decision, the Court laid down guidelines for the collection of mitigating material by trial courts. However, in the same year that the Supreme Court cast grave doubts on the death penalty sentencing framework and its implementation by trial courts, it is of concern that 165 death sentences were imposed by Sessions Courts, the highest in a single year since 2000.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list India
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/9f40002f3656d37fab7264b324a5440c_2.jpg)
Article(s)
Call to end flawed Caribbean death penalty
By Thomas Hubert, on 10 December 2012
An appeal signed by local organizations and a new report by Amnesty International denounce multiple human rights violations in the use of capital punishment in the region and ask governments to “remove the death penalty once and for all from the law books”.
2012
Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Dominica
Fair Trial
Grenada
Guyana
Intellectual Disability
Jamaica
Mental Illness
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ed6ea0ff1cb4b28f24eb2f9686246e7c_2-1.png)
Article(s)
Iran: 2016 a deadly year despite a slight decrease in the executions
By Iran Human Rights, on 6 April 2017
The 9th annual report by Iran Human Rights (IHR)and ECPM (Ensemble contre la peine de mort) on the death penalty in Iran shows that in 2016 at least 530 people were executed in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Although this number is significantly lower than the annual execution numbers from the past five years, Iran remained the country with the highest number of executions per capita.
2017
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Document(s)
Indonesian – Laporan Global Amnesty International : hukuman mati dan eksekusi 2023
on 29 May 2024
2024
NGO report
Trend Towards Abolition
More details Download [ pdf - 897 Ko ]
Pemantauan yang dilakukan oleh Amnesty Internasional terhadap hukuman mati secara global
mencatat terdapat 1.153 eksekusi hukuman mati pada tahun 2023. Angka tersebut menunjukkan
adanya peningkatan sebanyak 31% dari 883 eksekusi pada tahun 2022. Namun, ada penurunan
yang signifikan pada angka negara yang menerapkan hukuman mati. Dari 20 negara pada 2022
menjadi hanya 16 negara di 2023
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition
Document(s)
2021 World Day Report
on 10 June 2022
2022
World Coalition
Women
frMore details Download [ pdf - 4154 Ko ]
On 10 October 2021, the World Coalition and abolitionists around the world celebrated the 19th World Day Against the Death Penalty (‘World Day’). Every year on World Day, the World Coalition highlights one problematic aspect of the Death Penalty. In 2021, the World Day explored the theme “Women sentenced to death, an invisible reality” to raise awareness on how the treatment of gender and gender-based inequalities create particularly precarious conditions for women sentenced to capital punishment. This report presents the activities organised for the 19th World Day and the media coverage it received.
- Document type World Coalition
- Themes list Women
- Available languages Rapport journée mondiale 2021
Document(s)
The death penalty and the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
on 21 August 2021
2021
NGO report
World Coalition
Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment
frMore details See the document
The signatory organizations are convinced that the death penalty is incompatible with the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, which is a peremptory norm of international law (jus cogens) and should thus be abolished. The death penalty is only tolerated by international law and standards to the extent that it may only be imposed for the most serious crimes and applied in a way that causes the least possible suffering. However, the signatory organizations believe that from the sentencing to the execution, the death penalty inevitably causes physical harm and psychological suffering amounting to torture or ill-treatments.
The present position paper documents the extent to which international and regional organisation have already recognised a violation of the absolution prohibitionof torture in the application and imposition of the death penalty.
- Document type NGO report / World Coalition
- Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment
- Available languages La peine de mort et l'interdiction de la torture et des peines ou traitements cruels, inhumains ou dégradants
Document(s)
Detailed factsheet – World Day 2024 & 2025
By World coalition against the death penalty, on 11 July 2024
2024
Campaigning
World Coalition
frMore details Download [ pdf - 485 Ko ]
- Document type Campaigning / World Coalition
- Available languages Fiche d'information détaillée - journée mondiale 2024 & 2025
![Iran annual report 2022](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/iran-annual-report-22.jpg)
Article(s)
Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran: Alarming Increase in Executions
By World coalition agains the death penalty, on 18 September 2023
As of 12 September 2023, Iran Human Rights reported that at least 499 people, including 13 women were executed in 2023, which represents an alarming rise compared to the same period in 2022.
2023
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Document(s)
Report No. 211/20. Case 13.570. Report on admissibility and mertis. Lezmond C. Mitchell. United States of America
By Inter-american Commission on Human Rights, on 24 August 2020
2020
Regional body report
esMore details See the document
- Document type Regional body report
- Available languages Informe No. 211/20. Caso 13.750. Informe sobre admisibilidad y fondo. Lezmond C. Mitchell. Estados Unidos de America
![eminar June, 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/seminar-nairobi-kenya-june2023.jpg)
Article(s)
East African Seminar on Best Practices in Kenya: A Key Gathering for the Abolitionist Movement on the Continent
By Wendy Adouki, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 15 August 2023
A privileged moment to exchange on the different abolitionist dynamics in Africa As part of the Africabolition project, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (World Coalition) and FIACAT (the International Federation of ACATS) organized a seminar for English-speaking African members from 19-26 June, 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya.
2023
Kenya
Trend Towards Abolition
Article(s)
High-Level Remote Panel on the Moratorium Resolution
By Louis Linel, on 6 November 2020
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 […]
2020
Algeria
Belgium
Democratic Republic of the Congo
France
Italy
Moratorium
Morocco
Switzerland
![World Coalition Against the Death Penalyt](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/WC-ImageDefautArticle2-1.png)
Article(s)
Joint Open Letter to the Minister of Justice of Malawi on the abolition of the death penalty
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 26 July 2024
Dear Minister of Justice, Honorable Titus Mvalo Ahead of this joint letter, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty would like to express its deepest condolences to the Government and people of Malawi for the passing of Vice President Mr. Saulos Chilima on 11 June 2024.
2024
Malawi
Document(s)
MOBILIZATION KIT World Day Against the Death Penalty 2024 – 2025 Security and the death penalty
By World coalition against the death penalty, on 12 June 2024
2024
Campaigning
World Coalition
frMore details Download [ pdf - 2534 Ko ]
- Document type Campaigning / World Coalition
- Available languages KIT DE MOBILISATION Journée mondiale contre la peine de mort 2024 - 2025 Sécurité et peine de mort
Document(s)
2022 World Day Report
By World coalition against the death penalty, on 12 June 2023
2023
Campaigning
World Coalition
frMore details Download [ pdf - 1557 Ko ]
On 10 October 2022, the World Coalition and abolitionists around the world celebrated the 20th World Day Against the Death Penalty (‘World Day’). Every year on World Day, the World Coalition highlights one problematic aspect of the Death Penalty.
- Document type Campaigning / World Coalition
- Available languages Rapport journée mondiale 2022
![Journalists participating in the media parley in Lagos © LEDAP, HURILAWS](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/19th-world-day-Journalists_media_parley_Lagos.jpg)
Article(s)
Women Sentenced to Death Showcased on the 19th World Day Against the Death Penalty
By Elise Garel, on 3 December 2021
With the theme “Women sentenced death: an invisible reality”, the 19th World Day Against the Death Penalty aimed to highlight the issues faced by women who are sentenced to death, executed, pardoned or exonerated around the world.
2021
Cameroon
Indonesia
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Morocco
Nigeria
Pakistan
Sierra Leone
United States
Women
Document(s)
Death by Design: Part 1
By The Wren Collective , on 23 January 2024
2024
NGO report
Legal Representation
United States
More details See the document
Published in December 2023.
In “Death by Design” Parts 1 and 2, Wren investigated the state of court-appointed capital representation in Harris County—the death penalty capital of the world.The first report delves into the failings of the lawyers in capital cases.
Wren recommends a total overhaul to the system of capital representation for poor defendants in Harris County, with either the public defender absorbing those cases or the judges establishing a new, freestanding capital public defender that is independent from judicial oversight.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Legal Representation
![World Coalition Against the Death Penalyt](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/WC-ImageDefautArticle2-1.png)
Article(s)
Middle East and North Africa: Abolitionist civil societies in full swing despite a difficult context
By Aurelie Placais, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 15 February 2022
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.
2022
Bahrain
Egypt
Fair Trial
Iraq
Moratorium
Morocco
Saudi Arabia
State of Palestine
Terrorism
Tunisia
![World Coalition Against the Death Penalyt](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/WC-ImageDefautArticle2-1.png)
Article(s)
Abolition of the death penalty at the United Nations Human Rights Council 52nd session
By World coalition against the death penalty, on 22 May 2023
The United Nations Human Rights Council met for its 52nd Regular Session from February 27 to April 4, 2023. If you missed it, here is what happened regarding the abolition of the death penalty!
2023
Trend Towards Abolition
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/01cd60bd133af6a6086ee64a2e03c2cd_2-1.png)
Article(s)
Iran Execution Trends Six Months After the New Anti-Narcotics Law
By Iran Human Rights (IHR), on 29 May 2018
On Monday, May 10, 2018, Iran Human Rights (IHR) reported the execution of Kiomars Nasouhi, a prisoner sentenced to death for drug offenses. This execution is the first drug-related execution registered by IHR since the latest amendment to the Anti-Narcotics Law was enforced on November 14, 2017.
2018
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Document(s)
Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2022: The Year in Review
By Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, on 16 December 2022
2022
NGO report
United States
More details See the document
Use of the death penalty in Texas remained near historic low levels in 2022, with juries sentencing two people to death and the State executing five people. Three other scheduled executions were stayed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA). Overall, the eight execution dates set for 2022 were the fewest in Texas since 1996.
Despite their low number, the executions set and carried out in 2022 raise troubling issues about the fairness and utility of the death penalty. Four of the men put to death, including 78-year-old Carl Wayne Buntion, suffered from physical or mental impairments or histories of childhood trauma, while two maintained their innocence of the crimes for which they were convicted.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list United States
Document(s)
Gender Matters: Women on Death Row in the United States
By Sandra Babcock, Nathalie Greenfield, Kathryn Adamson, Cardozo Law Review , on 24 April 2024
2024
Academic report
Gender
United States
Women
More details See the document
This article presents a comprehensive study of 48 persons sentenced to death between 1990 and 2023 who presented as women at the time of their trials. This research is the first of its kind to conduct a holistic and intersectional analysis of the factors driving women’s death sentences. It reveals commonalities across women’s cases, delving into their experiences of motherhood, gender-based violence and prior involvement with the criminal legal system. This report also explore the nature of the women’s crimes of conviction, including the role of male co-defendants and the State’s use of aggravating factors. Finally, it reveals for the first time the extent to which capital prosecutions are dominated by men—including judges, elected District Attorneys, defense attorneys, and juror forepersons—and explain why gender matters in determining who lives and who dies
- Document type Academic report
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Gender / Women
Document(s)
Joint letter with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to abolish the death penalty
on 1 January 2020
2020
NGO report
Regional body report
esfrMore details Download [ pdf - 105 Ko ]
- Document type NGO report / Regional body report
- Available languages Carta conjunta con la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos sobre el 30º aniversario del Protocolo a la Convención Americana sobre Derechos Humanos sobre la Abolición de la Pena de MuerteLettre conjointe avec la Commission interaméricaine des droits de l'homme à l'occasion du 30ème anniversaire du Protocole à la Convention américaine relative aux droits de l'homme traitant de l'abolition de la peine de mort
Document(s)
Explaining the Invidious: How Race Influences Capital Punishment in America
By Sheri Lynn Johnson, James and Mark Flanagan, Cornell Law School, on 1 September 2022
2022
Academic report
United States
More details See the document
This article primarily focuses on how racial bias creates nearly ubiquitous racial disparities in the imposition of the death penalty; it does so both to amass further reasons McCleskey was wrongly decided, and to point the way forward. Part I provides the necessary foundation by summarizing the history of race and the death penalty in the United States, with a focus on the Supreme Court’s treatment of racial discrimination claims in capital sentencing. Part II, the heart of this Article, examines the multiple psychological mechanisms that create racially biased decision making in capital cases. Understanding those mechanisms further undercuts the Supreme Court’s reasoning in McCleskey and argues for overturning the holding. However, recognizing the reluctance with which today’s Court would view overturning McCleskey, Part III considers whether and how alternative, case-specific uses of the data described in Part II might ameliorate the influence of racial bias in capital sentencing.
- Document type Academic report
- Countries list United States
![Annual Report on the death penalty in Iran 2021](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/report-death-penalty-iran-2021.jpg)
Article(s)
Death Penalty in Iran: Sharp Increase in Executions
By Anissa Aguedal, on 10 June 2022
An alarming situation On 28 April 2022, Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) released their 14th Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran, revealing an increase in the number of executions in 2021. At least 333 people were executed and 83,5% of these executions were not announced by […]
2022
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Document(s)
Ethiopia – Committee Against Torture (LOI) – Death Penalty – June 2022
on 21 July 2022
2022
NGO report
World Coalition
Ethiopia
More details Download [ pdf - 1447 Ko ]
This report addresses Ethiopia’s compliance with its human rights obligations with regard to the death penalty. Although there are currently at least 147 people on death row in Ethiopia, the country has not carried out any executions during the reporting period and has also pardoned and released 41 additional death row inmates since that time.[1] The Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia has also issued sentencing guidelines that purport to further reduce the likelihood of persons being sentenced to death as a punishment for their crimes.[2] Nonetheless, Ethiopia has not taken concrete steps to reduce the number of crimes eligible for the death penalty, and the use of torture and other due process violations related to judicial proceedings render all death sentences arbitrary.
- Document type NGO report / World Coalition
- Countries list Ethiopia
Article(s)
E Book review: a guidebook to the death penalty in Asia
on 10 March 2009
A new, authoritative study sheds a new light on capital punishment across Asia and may help abolitionists enhance their strategies.
2009
China
Japan
Philippines
Republic of Korea
Taiwan
Viet Nam
Document(s)
The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2022
on 24 March 2023
2023
NGO report
China
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Drug Offenses
Indonesia
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Malaysia
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Viet Nam
More details See the document
Harm Reduction International has monitored the use of the death penalty for drug offences worldwide since our first ground-breaking publication on this issue in 2007. This report, our twelfth on the subject, continues our work of providing regular updates on legislative, policy and practical developments related to the use of capital punishment for drug offences, a practice which is a clear violation of international standards. As of December 2022, Harm Reduction International (HRI) recorded at least 285 executions for drug offences globally during the year, a 118% increase from 2021, and an 850% increase from 2020. Executions for drug offences are confirmed or assumed to have taken place in six countries: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, plus in China, North Korea and Vietnam – on which exact figures cannot be provided because of extreme opacity. Therefore, this figure is likely to reflect only a percentage of all drug-related executions worldwide. Confirmed death sentences for drug offences were also on the rise; with at least 303 people sentenced to death in 18 countries. This marks a 28% increase from 2021.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list China / Democratic People's Republic of Korea / Indonesia / Iran (Islamic Republic of) / Malaysia / Saudi Arabia / Singapore / Viet Nam
- Themes list Drug Offenses
Document(s)
Holdouts in the South Pacific: Explaining Death Penalty Retention in Papua New Guinea and Tonga
By Daniel Pascoe and Andrew Novak, on 1 September 2022
2022
Academic report
Papua New Guinea
Tonga
More details See the document
The South Pacific forms a cohesive region with broadly similar cultural attributes, legal systems and colonial histories. A comparative analysis starts from the assumption that these countries should also have similar criminal justice policies. However, until 2022, both Papua New Guinea and Tonga were retentionist death penalty outliers in the South Pacific, a region home to seven other fully abolitionist members of the United Nations. In this article, we use the comparative method to explain why Papua New Guinea and Tonga have pursued a different death penalty trajectory than their regional neighbours. Eschewing the traditional social science explanations for death penalty retention, we suggest two novel explanations for ongoing retention in Papua New Guinea and Tonga: the law and order crisis in the former and the traditionally powerful monarchy in the latter.
This article was first published in Crime Justice Journal: https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/issue/view/119
- Document type Academic report
- Countries list Papua New Guinea / Tonga
Document(s)
The Death Penalty for Drug Crimes in Asia
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty / Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l'Homme (FIDH), on 1 January 2015
2015
NGO report
More details See the document
The report, published for the 13th World Day against the Death Penalty, analyzes how the death penalty is applied for drug-related crimes in Asia, evaluates the most common arguments used by governments to justify their use of this inhumane and illegal measure, and exposes why these arguments are unjustified. Asia is the continent that executes the most people for drug-related crimes. However, the death penalty has not proven to be effective in reducing drug crimes in Asia.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Drug Offences, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Detailed Factsheet – World Day 2022
By the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 4 July 2022
2022
World Coalition
frMore details Download [ pdf - 893 Ko ]
Detailed factsheet on torture and the death penalty, for the 20th World Day Against the Death Penalty (2022).
- Document type World Coalition
- Available languages Fiche détaillée - Journée mondiale 2022
Document(s)
Death Penalty For Drug Offences: Global Overview 2020
By Harm Reduction International (HRI), on 4 May 2021
2021
NGO report
Drug Offenses
More details See the document
Harm Reduction International has monitored the use of the death penalty for drug offences worldwide since our first ground-breaking publication on this issue in 2007.
This report, our tenth on the subject, continues our work of providing regular updates on legislative, policy and practical developments related to the use of capital punishment for drug offences, a practice which is a clear violation of international law.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Drug Offenses
![Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Americans_for_Democracy_and_Human_Rights_in-Bahrain.png)
Member(s)
Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain
on 7 January 2022
Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) fosters awareness of and support for democracy and human rights in Bahrain and Gulf Cooperation Council Countries (GCC). ADHRB has launched an Anti-Death Penalty Campaign during the summer of 2020 which involved local, national, and international engagements to advocate and lobby for the abolition of the […]
2022
Bahrain
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/eb525ef933b0ef290068294f54c53f24_2.jpg)
Article(s)
Moving away from the death penalty in Asia
By Sandra Babcock (DeathPenaltyWorldwide.org) in Bangkok, on 25 October 2013
Following up on the World Day Against the Death Penalty, successive meetings in Thailand and in China highlight decreasing support for capital punishment among Asian governments and public opinion.
2013
Brunei Darussalam
China
Japan
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Moratorium
Myanmar
Public Opinion
Thailand
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/cd1672efb2c8e15b934651bf9f685608_2-1.jpg)
Article(s)
Follow-up to the initiative on the conditions of detention and treatment of death row prisoners
By Nordine Drici (Planète Réfugiés) & Sandrine Ageorges-Skinner (ECPM), on 10 June 2019
PRDH, in partnership with ECPM and the University of Grenoble-Alpes, organized a side event on the conditions of detention and treatment of death row prisoners worldwide during the 7th World Congress against the Death Penalty in Brussels (27 February – 1 March 2019) which provided food for thought and some areas of work thanks to the presence of some thirty participants working in more than 10 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. The results of these discussions are shared in this article.
2019
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/fe89d3fee624218ee91f39e5ade65d6f_2.jpg)
Article(s)
At least 1,193 executions since Hassan Rouhani’s election as president in Iran
on 13 March 2015
The annual report on the death penalty in 2014 shows that the Iranian authorities have executed more than 1193 people since the election of President Rouhani in June 2013. This is an average of more than two executions every day.
2015
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Document(s)
Sentenced to death without execution: Why capital punishment has not yet been abolished in the Eastern Caribbean and Barbados
By Death Penalty Project, on 1 January 2020
2020
NGO report
More details See the document
The report Sentenced to Death Without Execution, Why capital punishment has not yet been abolished in the Eastern Caribbean and Barbados, was published on 7 April 2020. It presents the views of opinion formers and was written by Roger Hood and Florence Seemungal with the assistance of Amaya Athill.Six independent nations in the Eastern Caribbean – Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines, all members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) – and Barbados, retain the death penalty for murder. Most of these countries have not executed anyone sentenced to death for at least ten years with the vast majority not carrying out an execution for more than twenty years.This independent empirical study, which presents the views of 100 ‘opinion formers’, drawn from the seven jurisdictions, aims to shed light on why these countries hang on to capital punishment and what are the barriers to the complete abolition of the death penalty in these nations. The respondents were asked about their knowledge of the use of capital punishment in their respective countries and the extent to which, and why, they either supported the policy of retaining the death penalty or were in favour of its abolition, as well as the factors, beliefs, and assumptions that appeared to account for their government’s unwillingness to embrace complete abolition.Key findings include:- Across these seven nations, 48 of the interviewees favoured retention of the death penalty (18 of them strongly) and 52 were in favour of its abolition (30 of them strongly) Of those who favoured retention of the death penalty, only a minority were committed to retaining it: only 10 of 48 interviewees said they would ‘strongly oppose an Act of Parliament to completely abolish the death penalty by definitely voting against it’. Respondents believed the best strategies to persuade their respective governments to embrace reform were: ‘through creating an influential civil society pressure group ‘Citizens Against the Death Penalty’; by ‘mounting a legal challenge to the constitutionality of the death penalty’; or by ‘persuading the government to establish a high-level commission to report on the subject’.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Legal Representation, Mandatory Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Philippines – Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women – Death Penalty – June 2022
on 21 July 2022
2022
NGO report
Philippines
Women
More details Download [ pdf - 443 Ko ]
The Government of the Philippines has taken commendable steps toward protecting and promoting the rights of women overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), but those workers remain vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, and when they come into conflict with the law in their host countries, their vulnerabilities are compounded by linguistic and legal barriers, as well as judicial systems which fail to account for the gendered context in which they allegedly committed criminal acts. The Government of the Philippines should do more to ensure protection of the rights of these women OFWs, particularly when they are at risk of being sentenced to death.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list Philippines
- Themes list Women
Document(s)
State-Sanctioned Killing of Sexual Minorities: Looking Beyond the Death Penalty
By Mai Sato, Christopher Alexander - Eleos Justice and Capital Punishment Justice Project, Monash University, on 10 August 2021
2021
Academic report
Australia
Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment
More details See the document
This report examines the extent to which states sanction the killing of sexual minorities. It looks beyond those countries that impose the death penalty for same-sex intimacy to the far greater number of countries in which state actors commission, condone, endorse and enable such killings.
He argues that the state-sanctioned killing of sexual minorities is often perpetrated well beyond the boundaries of the law, and even in countries that do not criminalise such conduct.
- Document type Academic report
- Countries list Australia
- Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/fc1527f77b5f23c7d3e84eba419dbd55_2.jpg)
Article(s)
World Coalition members call for increased scrutiny of Iran
By Thomas Hubert, on 31 March 2014
The UN has renewed the mandate of its special rapporteur on Iran as a new IHR/ECPM annual report exposes rising execution numbers since increased engagement between President Rohani and the West.
2014
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Document(s)
Capital punishment and implementation of the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty: Report of the Secretary-General
By United Nations, on 1 January 2005
2005
United Nations report
arruesfrzh-hantMore details See the document
The present report, prepared pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolutions 1754 (LIV) of 16 May 1973 and 1995/57 of 28 July 1995, and Council decision 2005/247 of 22 July 2005, is the eighth quinquennial report of the Secretary-General on capital punishment. It covers the period 2004-2008 and reviews developments in the use of capital punishment. The report confirms a very marked trend towards abolition and restriction of the use of capital punishment in most countries. The rate at which States that retained the death penalty at the start of the quinquennium have abolished its use either in law or in practice is comparable with that of previous reporting periods, and may even be accelerating slightly. Moreover, countries that retain the death penalty are, with rare exceptions, significantly reducing its use in terms of numbers of persons executed and the crimes for which it may be imposed. Nevertheless, where capital punishment remains in force, there are serious problems with regard to the respect of international norms and standards, notably in the limitation of the death penalty to the most serious crimes, the exclusion of juvenile offenders from its scope, and guarantees of a fair trial.
- Document type United Nations report
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,
- Available languages عقوبة الإعدام وتنفيذ الضمانات التي تكفل حماية حقوق الذين يواجهون عقوبة الإعدام : م ذكّرة من الأمين العامСмертная казнь и применение мер, гарантирующих защиту прав тех, кому грозит смертная казнь : Доклад Генерального секретаряLa pena capital y la aplicación de las salvaguardias para garantizar la protección de los derechos de los condenados a la pena de muerte : Informe del Secretario GeneralPeine capitale et application des garanties pour la protection des droits des personnes passibles de la peine de mort: Rapport du Secrétaire général死刑和保护死刑犯权利的保障措施的执行情况: 秘书长的报告
Document(s)
Moratorium on the use of the death penalty. Report of the Secretary-General (2008)
By United Nations, on 8 September 2020
2020
United Nations report
arruzh-hantesfrMore details See the document
The present report surveys respect for the rights of those sentenced to death as set out in the international human rights treaties and the guidelines established by the Economic and Social Council in 1984. Drawing on contributions of Member States, the report surveys various motivations for establishing a moratorium on or abolishing the death penalty, as well as those for retaining the death penalty. It also includes up-to-date statistical information on the worldwide use of the death penalty, including moratoriums established in States that have not abolished this form of punishment, together with relevant developments since the sixty-second session of the General Assembly. The report concludes by confirming the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty, the important role played by moratoriums in those States that seek to abolish it and possibilities for further work on the issue.
- Document type United Nations report
- Themes list Moratorium ,
- Available languages وقف استخدام عقوبة الإعدام :تقرير الأمين العامМоратории на применение смертной казни: Доклад Генерального секретаря暂停使用死刑: 秘书长的报告Moratoria del uso de la pena de muerte : Informe del Secretario GeneralMoratoires sur l'application de la peine de mort: Rapport du Secrétaire général
Page(s)
About the Library
on 4 December 2020
For a resource to be placed in the library, two main criteria need to be satisfied. Firstly, the resource needs to be substantially based on the death penalty or shed light on a particular issue relevant to the death penalty.Secondly, the resources need to be published after the year 2000, to ensure that only the […]
2020
![19-world-day-against-the-death-penalty-events-map](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/19-world-day-against-the-death-penalty-events-map.jpg)
Article(s)
Take Action for World Day 2023!
By World coalition against the death penalty, on 20 September 2023
Take action now! The 21st World Day Against the Death Penalty is an excellent opportunity to publicly oppose the use of this inhumane punishment and to support those who are fighting for its abolition all over the world.
2023
Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/b3714476196bb616692c6ded08e7aac7_2.jpg)
Article(s)
The international responsibility of States
By Pierre Désert, on 25 June 2008
When a State ratifies a treaty, it undertakes to respect the undertakings that it has made before the whole of the international community. If it fails to meets its obligations and goes against the provisions of the treaty, it can be held responsible at international level.
2008
Article(s)
Indonesian activists face upward death penalty trend
on 10 February 2009
Indonesia-based researcher Dave McRae finds that a core group of abolitionists are battling a rise in the number of executions, death sentences and death row inmates in the country.
2009
Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment
Drug Offenses
Indonesia
Public Opinion
![](https://worldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ac768c58d317b67cb96345e95eabc627_2-1.jpg)
Article(s)
Iran’s brave human rights defenders and their struggle against the death penalty
By Amnesty International, on 5 March 2018
As the world moves away from the death penalty, Iran continues to execute hundreds of people every year and comes second only to China in the number of executions carried out annually. Amnesty International recorded nearly 1,000 executions in Iran in 2015 and at least 567 in 2016.
2018
Iran (Islamic Republic of)