Your search “com16501.content.olc.org/com/ref/collection/criminal/did/154 ”

Emotions are running high in Trinidad and Tobago because of “runaway crime,” and once again the country finds itself in the throes of looking for ways in which to resume hanging. The Greater Caribbean for Life (GCL) urges Trinidad and Tobago’s government to focus on human development and crime prevention rather than expend time and energy in seeking to resume hanging.

Since the fall of the Morsi regime in 2013, the use of the death penalty has increased considerably in Egypt with a death sentence rate estimated at 2443 people between 2013 and 2018 according to Reprieve.

A new, authoritative study sheds a new light on capital punishment across Asia and may help abolitionists enhance their strategies.

United Nations agencies, governments and NGOs criticised Saudi Arabia’s death penalty record at the UN’s universal periodic review of human rights.

The French presidency of the European Union organised a meeting between EU diplomats and US abolitionists in November to strengthen a discreet but long-standing partnership.

Since 2007, October 10 is also the European Day Against the Death Penalty. Numerous European politicians have chosen this day to state their opposition to capital punishment.

As the World Coalition held its general meeting in Nantes at the end of June, discussions focussed on the involvement of corporations and local authorities.

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 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”.

In the lead up to the Beijing Olympics, the French coalition Collectif Chine JO 2008 highlights cases of human rights abuse in China on a weekly basis. This week, they focus on Nie Shubin, who was executed by mistake in 1995.

After the Supreme Court held a hearing much awaited by the abolitionist community on January 7th, we all need to reassess our strategy for abolition in America, writes Sandrine Ageorges.

The abolition of the death penalty in New Jersey on December 17 could pave the way for other US states. Death Penalty Focus’s Speedy Rice explains how some of them may make the move.

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

As the worldwide trend towards abolition of the death penalty grows, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty notes with concerns that the USA has reached a total of 1500 executions since 1977.

Joint Oral Statement delivered during the United Nations 46th Human Rights Council Biennial high-level panel discussion on the question of the death penalty.

President Edgar Lungo announced, on 27 January 2021, that 246 death sentences had been commuted into life, a more than welcome decision that has brought the overall number of commutations to over 500 since 2015.

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.

HRW, a member organization of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, focused its report on human rights practices in almost 100 countries, including on abuses in civil and political rights.

The United Nations Human Rights Council met for its 56th Regular Session from June 18 to July 12, 2024. If you missed it, here is what happened regarding the abolition of the death penalty!

On 29 May 2024, Amnesty International published its annual report on the state of the death penalty worldwide. Amnesty International’s monitoring shows that in 2023 the lowest number of countries on record carried out the highest number of known executions in close to a decade.

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).

We are greatly concerned by the news that the Government of Singapore has issued at least five execution notices since 12 April 2024, all cases in relation to drug offending. Transformative Justice Collective, a member of the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network, reports that in four of these five cases, the execution was stayed at the […]

The Death Penalty Information Center’s 2023 report highlights a rising trend towards abolition in the US, evidenced by a decrease in states conducting executions and heightened backing for individuals asserting innocence. In 2023, the United States witnessed 24 executions, 21 death sentences, and three exonerations, reflecting this evolving trend. 

Time and time again, abolitionists have been making the case against the death penalty, highlighting how inhumane, inefficient and unfair it is.

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.

From July 16 to 20, a World Coalition delegation comprising Connie Numbi of Foundation for Human Rights Initiative Uganda, Dr Anna Henga of Legal Human Right Center Tanzania, Damaris Kemunto of the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya), and Méline Szwarcberg, Women and Gender Project Manager at the World Coalition, attended […]

Joint letter sent to Member states of the United Nations Human Rights Council on 12 March 2021

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. 

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.

The ACHPR (the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights) met virtually for its 68th Ordinary Session from 14 April – 4 May 2021.

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

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.

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 […]

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 United Nations Human Rights Council met for its 50th Regular Session from June 13 to July 8, 2022. If you missed it, here is what happened regarding the abolition of the death penalty!

Sudan repealed the death penalty for homosexuality and apostasy

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!

Two more federal executions were carried out at the end of August in the United States of America. The abolitionist movement in the United States denounces human rights violations, challenges the cost of the death penalty in this time of crisis and even opposes its disrespect for tribal sovereignity.

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.

Shortly after Kenya commuted thousands of death sentences, the Nigerian state of Lagos took similar steps and moved closer to abolition.

Burundi’s new penal code, which abolishes the death penalty, was signed into law on April 22. ACAT-Burundi chairman Merius Rusumo recounts the campaign’s success.

Two World Coalition members, Avocats Sans Frontières France and the Paris Bar Association, held a conference on the death penalty in Nigeria in Paris on the 27th of November.

The UN Human Rights Council brought together representatives from civil society, States and the UN itself to discuss the rights of children whose parents are sentenced to death or executed.

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.

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.

World Coalition member organization FIACAT has taken part in a follow up mission to the Ivory Coast after the African human rights body issued the country with recommendations including ratifying the treaty that copperfastens abolition.

On the occasion of Cities for Life Day on November 30, the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty are proud to announce the online publication of the Chinese version of Representing Individuals Facing the Death Penalty: A Best Practices Manual. This publication is intended for lawyers who defend people facing the death penalty around the world.

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.

“China’s position is to retain the death penalty, but strictly and prudently limit its application according to law,” said the world’s top executioner after it rejected all 20 UPR recommendations to curb capital punishment.

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.

Collaboration between World Coalition member organisations The Death Penalty Project and Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty follows acceleration of executions in the country.

The World Coalition held its 2014 AGM in abolitionist Puerto Rico and highlighted key regional developments in the fight against the death penalty, which remains on the books of many countries in the Greater Caribbean.

The World Coalition and its members are present at every step in the international human rights law process – from the signature of human rights treaties to the verification of their implementation. Their contribution is yielding more and more concrete results.

Twelve governments from countries with and without capital punishment release a joint declaration calling for a world that “respects human dignity” on World Day Against the Death Penalty.

Statement of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty on Soheil Arabi’s Death Sentence in Iran: Exercising freedom of expression is not a crime.

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

The 62nd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), the African Union body responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa, was held from April 25th to May 9th, 2018 in Nouakchott, Mauritania.The death penalty was at the heart of the debates throughout this Session, during panel discussions, side-events or during the review of the State’s periodic reports.

The African Congress will be held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on 9-10 April 2018. Over 300 participants are expected.

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.

When it comes to the execution of death penalties, Saudi Arabia is one of the most prolific country in the world. This is what emerges from a new report published by Amnesty International in August 2015.

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.

On October 10, 2017, all the abolitionists all around the world joined their forces to celebrate the 15th World Day Against the Death Penalty. The mobilization was particularly strong in Sub-Saharan Africa where many events were organized. Thus, the pugnacity of African abolitionists put the abolition of the death penalty at the heart of every discussion.

The statement strongly condemns the execution of Nimr Baqir al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia and renewed its demand for Saudi Arabia to support the United Nations resolution on a global moratorium on the death penalty and to abolish the death penalty in national legislation.

Concerned by the population’s view on the death penalty, the Human Rights Defenders and Abolitionist Advocates in Democratic Republic of the Congo Network [Réseau des associations de défense des droits de l’homme et militants abolitionnistes de la peine de mort en République Démocratique du Congo (RADHOMA)] organized several training courses for journalists in the past few months.

Nauru recently ended its de facto moratorium by abolishing the death penalty in law.

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.

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.

Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) condemns the killing on December 23 2016 of three death row prisoners in Benin City prison on death warrants signed by the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki. Those executed were Ogbomoro Omoregie, Apostle Igene and Mark Omosowhota. They were all convicted and sentenced to death nearly 20 years ago by military tribunals under the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Decree as amended.

On August 13, 2017, the Iranian parliament finally approved an amendment aiming at raising the bar for a mandatory death sentence in cases involving drug related offenses. Despite this first step, abolitionists deplore the limited effect of this new legislation.

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

Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights and the National Alliance on Mental Illness slam the use of capital punishment against mentally ill people in the United States.

On Monday, 16 March 2015, the Greater Caribbean for Life (GCL) addressed the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on issues relating to the death penalty in the Greater Caribbean, during a dedicated thematic hearing held at the Organisation of American States (OAS) headquarters in Washington, D.C., USA.

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

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.

Fifteen capital defense lawyers from eight African countries arrived at Cornell Law School on June 12 to begin eight days of training on how best to represent death penalty clients in the first session of the Makwanyane Institute.

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

On 30 May 2019, the NH state Senate voted to override the governor’s veto. The death penalty repeal took effect immediately.

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

A large crowd gathered at Geneva’s Bâtiment des Forces Motrices Thursday evening to listen to the poignant stories of thirteen victims allied by their commitment to abolition.

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

One of the two main political parties in the largest US State has taken a formal stance against capital punishment – with help from local abolitionist organisations.

On 18 March 2019, the State of Palestine acceded to the United Nations Treaty aiming to abolish the death penalty, becoming the 87th State Party to the OP2-PIDCP.

The Greater Caribbean for Life (GCL) notes that 19 December, 2018 marks the 10th anniversary of the hanging of Charles la Place in St Kitts and Nevis. He was the last person who was hanged in the English-speaking Caribbean.

A delegation of the Community of Sant’Egidio has been invited from 6 to 11 September in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, and received by the President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdor.

On 28 September 2018, during the UN Treaty Event in New York, Gambia ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, aiming at the irreversible abolition of the death penalty, alongside the Convention Against Torture.

A bill which aimed to facilitate executions in the Caribbean nation was defeated in Parliament on February 28.

The Government of the small Caribbean nation has recently introduced a Constitution Amendment Bill, which seeks to make it clear that the death penalty is not unconstitutional.

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

This annual report covers the situation of death penalty cases involving Puerto Ricans who face death penalty proceedings in the federal jurisdiction, as well as in those states of the US where such punishment is strictly upheld, and one case of petition for extradition.

52 year-old black woman Kimberly McCarthy was executed on 26 June and became the 500th prisoner put to death since Texas restored the death penalty in 1982.

Recognising the process from sentencing to execution as a form of torture would ensure progress towards abolition in international law as well as in the US.

European Union officials and Belarusian activists denounce Minsk’s lack of political will to tackle the death penalty.

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

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.

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 National Law University, Delhi (“University”) is seeking to engage on a contractual basis, one Director (Research) for Project 39A.

This 8th annual report (released by Iran Human Rights and Ensemble contre la peine de mort) deals with the number of executions, the trend compared to previous years, the charges, the geographic distribution, as well as the monthly breakdown of the executions in Iran in 2015. These two organizations have been collaborating since 2011, in order to provide annual assessment and analysis of the death penalty trends in Iran. The 2015 report is the result of hard work from IHR members and supporters who took part in the documenting, analyzing and writing of its content.