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Following the launch of the investigative report Buried alive: a study of the death penalty in Tunisia is launched, ECPM’s Middle East and North Africa officer Nicolas Bray presents the research carried out in December 2012.

A bill to repeal the death penalty in the US state of New Hampshire was blocked in the Senate on 22 April with votes for and against the bill deadlocked at 12-12. Despite the disappointment, Renny Cushing, Executive Director of World Coalition member organisation Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, sees some positives.

On 9 February 2015, Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum introduced in parliament the Republic of Fiji Military Forces amended Bill 2015, a one page bill to abolish the death penalty provision.

The World Coalition and its members call on UNODC to stop support to Iran as executions for drug trafficking surge.

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.

The testimony of an exonerated death row prisoners helped international students overcome initial awkwardness and launch into passionate debates at the invitation of Paris-based organisations on World Day Against the Death Penalty.

The new Kazakh Penal Code provides for an increase in the number of capital crimes, even though Kazakhstan has been moving away from the death penalty for years and has a stated policy of meeting international standards.

Iraq emerges as the country with the fastest-growing number of executions in Amnesty International’s new annual report on the death penalty. The World Coalition’s submission for Iraq’s upcoming UN human rights review calls for a moratorium on abusive executions.

From UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to abolitionist and retentionist government ministers and World Coalition members, participants to a recent discussion on the death penalty placed the issue high on the international agenda.

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

The execution of Edgar Tamayo in violation of an international court order spurs Mexico to pursue its efforts in favour of consular rights in the US, a diplomat says.

As World Day Against the Death Penalty events unfolded on an unprecedented scale across the region, local activists and international organisations took a firm stance against capital punishment across the Caribbean.

A detailed opinion survey commissioned by the Death Penalty Project in Malaysia found that while most people initially respond supportively when asked about mandatory death sentences, their opinion changes when confronted with practical cases and additional information.

World Coalition members and a man who spent 18 years on death row for murders he did not commit joined UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon for a debate on capital punishment.

Virginia’s historic abolition of the death penalty highlighted a year in which public opinion polls, executions, and new death sentences all signaled continued erosion of support for capital punishment across the United States.

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

At its 56th ordinary session, the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) put the abolition of the death penalty at the heart of its debates and adopted a draft regional treaty to help African Union member states move away from capital punishment.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights calls for a moratorium on executions and the ratification of the UN Protocol for the abolition of the death penalty.

The University of Kinshasa has hosted a conference on the theme of death penalty-free justice to celebrate the 11th anniversary of the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court.

ACAT-France and Amnesty International France staged their 9th “die-in” against the death penalty in the United States.

New Mexico’s governor Bill Richardson signed the repeal of the death penalty in to law on March 18, 2009, attracting praise from the global abolitionist community.

Italy became the 41st state to ratify the 13th Protocol to the European Convention for Human Rights on 3 March 2009.

Nicaragua became the 71th state to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant for Civil and Politic Rights on 25 February 2009.

Vietnamese Justice Minister Ha Hung Cuong has proposed a reduction in the number of capital offences – a demand put forward by the World Coalition’s demands on World Day Against the Death Penalty.

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

On November 30, monuments in nearly 800 cities across the globe will light up to celebrate “Cities for Life – Cities Against the Death Penalty”.

The Closing Ceremony of the 8th World Congress celebrated people who play an immense role in the process of the abolition of the death penalty, with an awards ceremony and a tribute. 

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

In January 2024, China underwent its fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the UN Human Rights Council. While in all previous reviews, the death penalty was mentioned in the Chinese state report, nothing was reported this year.

Thai human rights activists led by the Union for Civil Liberty (UCL) organised a series of seminars with religious leaders to raise their awareness and discuss their perspectives on abolition.

New Liberian legislation makes some violent crimes punishable by death, in violation of the country’s international obligations.

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

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

On 10 October 2009, World Day Against the Death Penalty, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty wishes to teach abolition to all citizens around the world, especially to teenagers aged 14 to 18.

For 20 years, the United Nations Protocol to abolish the death penalty has been the only universal treaty of worldwide scope to prohibit executions and secure universal abolition of the death penalty for all crimes.

On 19 and 20 September, World Coalition member organisation Penal Reform International (PRI) is bringing 120 people from retentionist countries to London to discuss global trends towards abolition of the death penalty.

At a meeting in Brussels in July, European institutions and NGOs restated their commitment to a long-term partnership to oppose the death penalty worldwide.

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

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

The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights and Harm Reduction International, and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty along with 32 other NGOs have called on the International Narcotics Control Board and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to act on urgent measures in response to the series of drug-related executions carried […]

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

International abolitionists gathered on the Caribbean territory to promote their message and to show solidarity with the local authorities against capital punishment.

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

On 10.10.10, the 8th World Day against the Death Penalty focused on ending the use of the death penalty in the United States of America. Since 2003, abolitionists have taken actions all over the world every 10 October to raise awareness and opposition to the death penalty.

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.

Information obtained by the World Coalition suggests that the Iraqi authorities have been planning the mass execution of nearly 1,000 people. In a column offered to international newspapers, the World Coalition denounces that barbaric plan.

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

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

Five African icons in the struggle against the death penalty joined together to debate the transition from a moratorium on executions to full legal abolition.

The workshop on “Defining strategies for abolition” was an opportunity for abolitionists to share views and experience on what works – and what does not – when pushing for the repeal of the death penalty.

The Kirghiz parliament has ratified the UN Protocol on the abolition of the death penalty as demanded by the World Coalition and its partner States, months after several leaders called for its reinstatement.

In the margins of the 8th World Congress Against the Death Penalty, member organizations of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (World Coalition) and FIACAT’s African ACATs (Féderation international des Action des Chrétiens pour l’abolition de la torture) met in Berlin, Germany for an advocacy seminar.

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.

On Tuesday March 21, the Ugandan parliament passed a law that severely criminalizes people who have consensual same-sex relations. At the end of April, the law had still not been validated by the President Museveni. Among a range of harsh penalties, the law would allow the death penalty for the crime of « aggravated homosexuality […]

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

The Declaration signed by 18 Foreign Ministers from different world regions, including several that are still on a path towards abolition of the death penalty, brings one common message: International support for abolition is continuing to grow, driven by an increasing awareness of the death penalty’s inherent risks and shortcomings.

The letter, co-signed by 58 organizations, encourages the President of Sri Lanka to do everything in his power to stop executions in Sri Lanka and consign the death penalty to the history books.

The Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics, an annual report published in January 2020 by Project 39A, details the application of the death penalty in India during the year 2019. It also describes developments in criminal justice and policy in the country.

As a prominent leader in the campaign against death penalty in the South East Asia region for the last decade, Philippines’ reputation is endangered with President Duterte’s determination to reintroduce death penalty in the country. The country’s legislators are now on its second attempt to pass the bills.

As we mark the 17th World Day against the Death Penalty, a year after the government of Malaysia announced the revision of the country’s laws to fully abolish the death penalty on 10 October, we, member organizations of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty: •    Positively note the support by Malaysia for the seventh […]

As night fell, Xu Ziqiang and Zheng Xingze boarded a plane for Dubai together with a group of TAEDP members. Belgium was their final destination following this layover. This would be Ziqian’s and Xingze’s first time on European soil; they were preparing to take part in the World Congress Against the Death Penalty, held once every three years.

Following the United Nations Treaty Event in New York, two more states have committed to irreversible abolition of the death penalty by signing and ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty (OP2-ICCPR). The Protocol was highlighted by the United Nations […]

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty in partnership with FIACAT, and their local members ACAT Cameroon and Droits et Paix (Rights and Peace), organized a continental training course in July on advocacy for the abolition of the death penalty in sub-Saharan Africa in Douala, Cameroon. This training brought together abolitionists and experts from 23 African countries.

TAEDP Press Release, April 2, 2020The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty made this decision after the Ministry of Justice, in total disregard for the rule of law, arbitrarily and illegally executed a death row inmate on April 1, 2020.

The end of March saw a first of its kind awareness-building workshop in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia for the permanent French-speaking members to the African Union. Moderated by the ACHPR’s Working Group on the Death Penalty and Extrajudicial, Summary of Arbitrary Killings in Africa in close collaboration with FIACAT, the World Coalition and the Organisation International de la Francophonie (OIF), the training focused on raising awareness of the Draft Protocol on the Abolition of the Death Penalty.

The fragile victories of the abolitionist movement are being undermined by several states ready to resume the use of the death penalty, at the cost of abuses.

Today, 26th June 2023, the world is commemorating the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (International Day). Started in 1987, this International Day began when the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UN Convention Against Torture) came into force; a crucial legal text to combat […]

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

On 10 October 2018, abolitionist forces around the world celebrated the 16th World Day against the Death Penalty in a flurry of diverse activities and events meant to raise awareness on living conditions on death row. Activists in every continent mobilized civil society, challenged governments and reached out to the general public in a collective effort to promote and advance the common goal of universal, worldwide abolition of the death penalty.

In December 2017, two Kenyan men challenged the legality of capital punishment at the Supreme Court, which resulted in Chief Justice Marage declaring the « mandatory nature of the death sentence » unconstitutional. Following this groundbreaking statement, the Taskforce on the Review of the Mandatory Nature of the Death Penalty was appointed on March 15 2018.

The discussion was chaired by Mario Marazitti, who stood in front of broadcasted live images of the light-draped Colosseum in Rome, Italy, displaying the slogan of this international key event, “No Justice Without Life”.

On April 25, 2022, the Burundian Prison Observatory (BPO) organized a one-day advocacy workshop on the ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (OP2-ICCPR) with the support of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

The International Studies Programme Overseas Relations Assembly and the Institute for Human Rights Research and Promotion (INIPRODEH) organised a forum: The Death Penalty and Poverty on the 89th anniversary of abolition of the death penalty in Puerto Rico. Eminent figures from the abolitionist movement and academia reviewed and analysed research into this issue.

When President Biden won the 2020 election, he became the first successful U.S. presidential candidate to publicly oppose the death penalty.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty has obtained financial support from the European Commission for its 2007 campaign, an indication of its growing recognition and legitimacy.

The World Coalition against the death penalty, the FIDH and the Moroccan Coalition against the Death Penalty are concerned with the continued pronunciation of death sentences by Moroccan courts

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

The President of the Central African Republic promulgated the law abolishing the death penalty on June 27 2022, one month after the National Assembly passed the law. CAR is now the 24th abolitionist state in Africa and the 111th in the world.

During the past year, the 28 member associations in the FIACAT network have given their abolitionist activities a boost. The issue of the death penalty is at the heart of their mission.

The 31st Session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice of the ODC took place in Vienna from the 16th to the 20th of May 2022. At this occasion, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations organized a side-event: “Abolishing the Death Penalty: Public Opinion and the Road to Abolition”, which was held online […]

The 5th World Day Against the Death Penalty takes place on Wednesday, 10 October 2007. Organised by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, it is marked by thousands of citizens and hundreds of organisations across the world who together, through hundreds of local initiatives, say ‘NO’ to capital punishment.

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

Joint statement on the situation of the death penalty in Africa for the 71st Ordinary Session of the African Commission, signed by the FIACAT, ECPM and the World coalition. 

Sudan repealed the death penalty for homosexuality and apostasy

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!

Good news from Sri Lanka: by decision of the President, the death sentences of 60 prisoners have been commuted.

Each year, the US National Coalition Against the Death Penalty honours those individuals and organisations that have made outstanding contributions to the struggle against the death penalty. This year’s award winners included a number of World Coalition members.

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