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Benin’s President Thomas Yayi Boni, one of the World Congress’s guests, has asked the parliament to enshrine the abolition of the death penalty in the constitution. Justice Minister Victor Tokpanou details Benin’s path to abolition.

The abolition of the capital punishment figured prominently at the 49th session of the African Commission of Human and People’s Rights.

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

The African Commission on Human Rights and People (ACHPR) once again met on Zoom for its 71st Ordinary session from April 21st to May 13th, 2022. The honorable Rémy Ngoy Lumbu, President of the Commission, has expressed his hopes for the next session to take place in person in Banjul this autumn. 

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

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty celebrated its 15th anniversary with an International Conference and its General Assembly on 22-24 June in Washington DC.

On 18 June 2018, the Korean National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) called on the South Korean President to declare an official moratorium on the death penalty to mark the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10.

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

ECPM (Together against the death penalty) and CPJ (Culture for Peace and Justice) organized a conference in late March on strategies for abolition at the regional level. The Congolese government has reaffirmed its commitment to abolish the death penalty.

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

Asia has the highest number of retentionist countries in the world. Eight members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) retain the death penalty and four of them carried out executions in 2015.

This report covers the judicial use of the death penalty for the period January to December 2015. As in previous years, information is collected from a variety of sources, including: official figures; information from individuals sentenced to death and their families and representatives; reporting by other civil society organizations; and media reports. Amnesty International reports only on executions, death sentences and other aspects of the use of the death penalty, such as commutations and exonerations, where there is reasonable confirmation.

On 10 January 2017, São Tomé and Príncipe ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty and became its 84th State party.

Through this joint statement twenty one national and international NGOs, calls upon Mauritanian authorities to reverse the recent adoption of a law on apostasy related crimes making the death penalty mandatory for blasphemy.

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 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 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

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.

In Singapore and Malaysia, governments are considering removing mandatory death penalty in some drug and murder cases. A move welcomed by activists on the ground, though they consider it “only a small step in the right direction”.

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 […]

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.

On 21 April, we published our annual report on the global use of the death penalty, which shows that in 2020 the world got one step closer to freeing itself from this cruel punishment.

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.

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.

on 20 and 21 September 2017, Gambia signed and Madagascar ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.

On 14 September 2016, Togo acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the abolition of the death penalty, joined on 21 September 2016 by the Dominican Republic. These accessions make abolition of the death penalty in Togo and the Dominican Republic irreversible.

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

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.

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.

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 […]

The Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) held a two-day seminar on mental health evaluations in preparation for the resentencing of nearly 200 individuals after their mandatory death sentences were deemed unconstitutional.

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

The death penalty issue is back on the parliamentary agenda in the Democratic Republic of Congo thanks to a legislative sequence welcomed by local abolitionists.

Spanish President José Luis Zapatero attended the international abolitionist colloquium during which the Academic Network against the Death Penalty was launched.

Jeanne Woodford, who used to oversee excutions in California, has become the executive director of the prominent anti-capital punishment organisation Death Penalty Focus.

On 24-27 July, 2011, World Coalition members Penal Reform International (PRI), Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) and the International Commission of Jurists-Kenya section (ICJ), jointly hosted a regional roundtable on “Death Penalty in East Africa: Challenges, Strategies and Comparative Jurisprudence”, with the Judicial Studies Institute (JSI) in Nairobi, Kenya.

Two leading American grassroots organisations have come together to raise awareness about the execution of mentally ill defendants.

The Advocates for Human Rights and Together against the Death Penalty (ECPM), in partnership with other members of the World Coalition, organized a Round Table on the issue of the death penalty for drug-related crimes. The event took place during the 30th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, on September 28, 2015.

Kenya is one of a few target countries for the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty’s “Gender and the Death Penalty” campaign; a campaign that is being conducted in collaboration with its member organisations in the country, namely the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya) and the Kenya Human Rights Commission.

The UN Biennial High Level Panel on the Death penalty focused on the deterrent effect capital punishment has on crime. Representatives from member states, NGOs and NHRIs made statements to the high level panel discussing the deterrent theory.

Harm Reduction International and co-signatories congratulate Mr Tidball-Binz on his appointment as Special Rapporteur on summary executions. With this statement, we highlight key violations of the right to life enabled by repressive drug policies or reported in the context of drug law enforcement; and encourage this Rapporteur to pay specific attention to the impact of […]

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and supporting member organizations welcome the annual full-day meeting to discuss the human rights of women under resolution 6/30.

To celebrate the 11th World Day Against the Death Penalty dedicated to the Greater Caribbean, a regional conference is organised by local civil society in Trinidad and Tobago on October, 1st.

A report describing the use of the death penalty in India in 2017 in comparison with 2016 was recently released by the National Law University’s Death Penalty Research Project (based in New Delhi).

In October 2017, Pakistan has agreed to initiate efforts to narrow down the scope of the death penalty. This first step is the result of a strong mobilization from Pakistani and international organizations, in particular during World Day.

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

An abolitionist wave of marches, cultural happenings, petition signings and educational events swept across the world for the 7th World Day on October 10.

The World Coalition, together with Death Penalty Worldwide and the law firm of Fredrikson & Byron P.A., has launched the English and French editions of a manual compiling guidelines for defense lawyers whose clients face the death penalty at the 5th World Congress Against the Death Penalty.

China removes nine non-violent and rarely used criminal offenses from capital punishment.

Recent figures show that a January ruling by the Ugandan supreme court making it illegal to keep people on death row for more than three years has saved 167 lives.

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 […]

The Centre on the Death Penalty is keen to develop a robust and rewarding internship programme that will provide meaningful exposure to the complexities and nuances, in particular, of the administration of the death penalty and the criminal justice system in India more generally, therefore the centre introduces internship program where they accept interns on rolling basis.

Wen-Yu Weng (19), a student and debating coach from Thailand who attended the World Congress workshop on educational strategies, thinks young teenagers are mature enough to understand the death penalty debate – just like she did.

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

Since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, in 1994, 172 death sentences have been issued in the territories under its authority, of which 30 in the West Bank and 142 in the Gaza Strip, 87 since Hamas gained the control of the area in 2007. The video points out arguments against the death penalty: it is ineffective, irreversible, against human dignity and it has no deterrence effect as proved by the high criminal rate shared by the countries which use it most. Besides, while the Islamic Law regards it as a right of the relatives of the victim, the Shaaria also supports forgiveness and compensation.

On October 24, the Constitutional Court of Guatemala has abolished the death penalty in civil cases.

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.

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.

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.

Global Prison Trends 2018 is the fourth edition in PRI’s annual flagship Global Prison Trends series, which identifies topical developments and challenges in criminal justice and prison policy and practice. It is published in collaboration with the Thailand Institute of Justice, and features a foreword by the Rt Hon Helen Clark, Member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Former Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme.

On 24 April 2018, ‘The People’s Jury Law’ established a new judicial framework to deal with serious criminal cases, including death penalty cases. As of its enactment, death penalty cases in China are now jury cases.

According to the Saudi Human Rights Commission, the death sentence issued against Ali al-Nimr, Dawoud al-Marhoun and Abdullah al-Zaher will be reviewed in accordance with reforms decreed in the Kingdom in April on juvenile criminal justice.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty held its Steering Committee meeting on 11/04/2018 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, following the Regional Congress held on 09-10 April 2018.

The 3rd World Congress Against the Death Penalty came to an end in Paris on 3 February 2007. It was an opportunity for abolitionists from all around the world to come together in greater numbers than ever to exchange experiences and prospects for the future.

Troy Davis’s execution was stayed on October 23, four days before he was scheduled to die, as activists took action on his behalf all over the world.

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

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

Iran Human Rights has published its annual report on the death penalty in Iran in 2011. IHR’s international spokesperson Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam says the Iranian authorities are keeping the number of executions high because they use the death penalty as a political tool.

A recent report from a far-reaching commission established by the Californian senate on the administration of capital punishment in the state concluded that “the system is broken”.

The Federation of Liberal Students (FEL), a Belgian political organisation, has just joined the World Coalition. FEL president Arnaud Van Praet explains his organisation’s mobilisation against capital punishment.

Powerful words by the speakers of the solemn ceremony that concluded the 4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty gave hope to the participants as they prepared to head home.

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

As part of its 2008 annual conference, the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP) organised a brainstorming session to explore the question: “How can the international community support us in our efforts to abolish the death penalty in the US?”

Several World Coalition members are among organisations co-ordinating their efforts to help the international community put pressure on Iran over its use of the death penalty.

Amended by the General Assembly on June 26, 2011

ADPAN strongly urges all members of the Philippine House of Representative and Senate to reject the reinstatement of the death penalty and uphold the rights to life as enshrined in the Constitution.

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

On the 3rd January of this year, a Federal judge ordered Pennsylvania’s prison administration to immediately provide Mumia Abu-Jamal with medication to treat his hepatitis C infection, justifying his decision in these terms: “budgetary constraints cannot outweigh the Eighth Amendment’s constitutional guarantee of adequate medical care.”

The Greater Caribbean for Life (GCL) is currently seeking to appoint a part-time Project Manager, to assist with the management, administration, and implementation of a project seeking to restrict and reform the use of the death penalty in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean States.

Even though Taiwanese general mindset appears to be quite in favor of death penalty, Taiwanese civil society expects some changes to happen in the application of death penalty under the presidency of Tsai Ing-wen. In his article “Taiwan: Can Tsai Ing-Wen Change the Politics of Death?”, Michael Caster – graduate student at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, as well as human rights advocate and civil society consultant based in East Asia – quotes Executive Director of the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, Lin Hsin-yi, on that controversial matter.

In November 2019, Ecuador hosted a series of high level meetings of the Organisation of American States (OAS), including the Third Forum of the Inter-American Human Rights System and the 174th Period of Sessions of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), during which abolition of the death penalty was on the agenda.

One For Ten is a series of short documentary films telling the stories of innocent people who were on death row in the United States, with support from the World Coalition and several of its members.

On 10 October 2010, the World Day Against the Death Penalty will focus on the USA. There are two months left to prepare and promote the events planned around the world on the big day.

Ogarit Younan is a co-founder of the Lebanese Association for Civil Rights, which has just joined the World Coalition. She takes stock on the death penalty and abolitionist progress in Lebanon.

The 180 members of the public who had gathered to view the film Manners of dying had an opportunity to witness a discussion between Mumia Abu-Jamal and his lawyer Robert Bryan.

On 21 January, India’s Supreme Court formally banned the execution of mentally ill prisoners and in doing so highlighted why this year’s World Day against the Death Penalty, which is dedicated to issues of mental health, is so important.

The group, which brings together more than 30 member organisations from four countries, established itself as a formal body and launched its website on World Day Against the Death Penalty.

By welcoming the Olympics in 2008, China committed itself to improving its human rights situation. Anxious to remind Chinese authorities of their commitments, nine French associations, five of which are members of the World Coalition, created the China 2008 Olympic Games Collective.

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

Executions have multiplied in Indonesia throughout 2013. World Coalition local member organization KontraS sees political motivations behind the end of a four-year moratorium.

A group of prestigious human rights organisations have chosen to honour Emad Baghi, the founder of the Association for the Right to Live.

Abolitionists are given a unique opportunity to voice their position as Californian authorities seek comments from the public on the review of the lethal injection process.

The World Coalition requires travel management services, on a non-exclusive basis, for World Coalition staff, members and partners.

Call for action on the abolition of the death penalty in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean States launched by the Greater Caribbean for Life and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty

1.    OrganisationLa Fédération internationale de l’Action des chrétiens pour l’abolition de la torture, la FIACAT, est une organisation internationale non gouvernementale de défense des droits de l’homme, créée en 1987, qui lutte pour l’abolition de la torture et de la peine de mort. La Fédération regroupe une trentaine d’associations nationales, les ACAT, présentes sur quatre […]

The World Coalition calls for applications for a consultant in charge of planning a training session in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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