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A new handbook gives members of parliaments arguments and advice to work towards abolition in their countries and to support their colleagues abroad.

The World Coalition has sent a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, asking him to “protect its nationals sentenced to death abroad, whether it is in a democratic country or not”.

A conference held near Naples, Italy last month helped around 200 attendees, most of them secondary school students, understand the death penalty situation in the US and relate it to prison issues in their own country.

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.

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. 

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

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”.

Roger Hood and Florence Seemungal with the assistance of Amaya Athill, published a empirical study aims to shed light on why Eastern Caribbean States and Barbados hang on to capital punishment even though they haven’t carried out any executions in the last ten years.

Mongolia abolished the death penalty for all crimes in law on 3 December 2015 by adopting a new Criminal Code without any reference to capital punishment. Mongolia had already taken a strong commitment in 2012 by ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, and it was one of the World Coalition’s target countries for the follow-up of the ratification campaign. The new Criminal Code will come into effect in September 2016

On March 20, 2016, a tense presidential election in the Republic of the Congo resulted in the re-election of President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who has been in power for a total of 32 years. One of the election’s least discussed outcomes is its solidification of the new constitution that President Sassou introduced last year and that provides for abolition of 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”.

Jamaican lawmakers voted to keep capital punishment and the government seems determined to use it. Caribbean abolitionists are battling similar moves across the region.

Wherever the Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT) is present, the struggle against the death penalty is an important element within their commitment to respect for human dignity.

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

In an open letter, the World Coalition and its members, including KONTRAS and Amnesty International, condemn the Indonesian government’s politicizing of the death penalty to show its commitment to eradicating drug-related crimes. Recent resumptions of executions show one thing, they are carried out for political reasons only: in Pakistan to show that it is tough on terrorism, Jordan that it tough on crime and Indonesia that it is tough on drugs. Instead, those states should abolish the death penalty to show their commitment to upholding human rights. The next World Day against the Death Penalty will be dedicated to the issue of capital drug crimes.

Hundreds of Ugandan death row inmates and those who support them are awaiting a final decision in the constitutional case they have taken against the death penalty in their country.

What if abolitionists were able to begin their next appeal, with a sentence to this effect: “A majority of countries has formally ratified a United Nations treaty permanently banning the death penalty.”

On 19 December 2016, with 117 States voting in favour of the resolution, the UN member states reasserted their support for a universal moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

On the occasion of the 30th session of the Arab League Summit, which took place in Tunis from 26 to 31 March 2019 and brought together 21 Arab delegations, a parallel counter-summit, organized by civil society, was held to address the issue of human rights in the Arab world.

The new president’s nominee for the post of attorney general opposes the death penalty and the number of executions and sentences is falling in the US.

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.

On 27 March, a US federal appeals court overturned Mumia Abu-Jamal’s death sentence, but not his conviction for murder. His lead counsel Robert R. Bryan gives his reaction to the ruling and the next steps in America’s most high-profile capital case.

On December 14, 2017, the Supreme Court of Kenya declared the mandatory death penalty unconstitutional. This landmark decision puts an end to several years of uncertainties and constitutes an additional step towards the abolition of the death penalty in the country.

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.

Despite a death penalty reform in 2013, Singapore continues to impose the mandatory death penalty in a significant number of cases while repressing abolitionists and human rights defenders.

The 51st Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) was held in Banjul from April 18 to May 2, 2012. During the session, the Commission presented its “Study on the question of the death penalty in Africa” prepared by the Working Group on the death penalty of the ACHPR.

The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network, which was founded on 10 October 2006, is again taking action this World Day Against the Death Penalty and takes stock on 10 years of progress in Asia – and on the challenges ahead.

  139 nations have already abolished the death penalty. In December 2012, the United Nations’ General Assembly will vote on a resolution calling for a worldwide halt to its use. We, the undersigned, in recognition of the five million people who signed the moratorium petition that was handed to the United Nations’ General Assembly in […]

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 Death Penalty Project recruits a Legal Officer.

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.

At the end of October, the death sentences of more than 2,500 prisoners were commuted by the Kenyan President. The presidential power of mercy was also recently exercised by the Zimbabwean President, where 10 death row prisoners were pardoned.

Four Singapore-based organisations denounce the high risk of miscarriage of justice in recent death sentences handed down on poor immigrants and calls for the abolition of the death penalty in the city-state.

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.

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

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

Oral statement on behalf of FIACAT, FIDH, World Coalition against the Death Penalty, ECPM, Avocats sans frontières, COJESKI-RDC, ECPM, RAL and Reprieve on the activities of the Members of the Commission and the Special Mechanisms.

After the end of the last workday of 2021, it became clear that no one would be sentenced to death or executed that year – the first time ever that Taiwan has experienced “double-zero.”

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.

Jose Medellin, a Mexican sentenced to death in Texas, was executed on August 5 despite serious flaws in his trial. The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty denounces an “irrevocable breach of international law”.

The recent execution of several Uyghurs and Tibetans after ethnic clashes in China was met with severe international criticism.

A joint effort by Kenyan and British lawyers and NGOs resulted in a court decision overturning all death sentences for murder. Legislation making capital punishment the only possible penalty for certain crimes is invalid.

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

The ACHPR (African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights) 77th Public Ordinary Session was held in Arusha, Tanzania from 20 October – 9 November 2023.

International organizations joined the 13th World Day Against the Death Penalty to stand against this cruel practice. United Nations, the European Union and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights merged to claim that capital punishment is not the solution to deter drug crimes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

On 30 November, the International Day of “Cities for Life” was celebrated around the world. An opportunity to raise awareness among the civil society on the universal abolition.

From Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to abolitionist and retentionist government representatives and World Coalition members, participants to the Biennial high-level discussion on death penalty exchanged views in order to address human rights violations related to the use of the death penalty, in particular with respect to the prohibition of torture.

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

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.

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.

Advocacy in Addis-Ababa On the 10 October 2023, the FIACAT (International Federation of ACATs), and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, represented by Ms. Florence Ayivor-Vieira of ACAT-Ghana and Mr. Hervé Nsabimana of CODHAS (Centre d’observation des Droits de l’Homme et d’Assistance Sociale), Co-Chairpersons of the World Coalition’s working group on the draft protocol […]

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.

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

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.

World Coalition member organisation Hands Off Cain has launched a campaign targeting DRC’s opinion leaders. The government regards the renovation of the prison system as a prerequisite for abolition.

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

The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty has just published Staving off the Executioner, a book describing the Taiwanese abolitionist movement’s strategies, challenges and successes.

A report on the death penalty by the UN mission to Iraq has unearthed startling new information about the use of capital punishment in the country. The study was released on the heels of the UN’s human rights review of Iraq, where the death penalty emerged as a primary concern.

As part of the campaign in favour of the treaty on the abolition of the death penalty, Chile and Spain encouraged the Dominican Republic and the Ivory Coast to ratify the text.

The Death Penalty Project, in partnership with Veritas, launches “12 Years Without an Execution: Is Zimbabwe Ready for Abolition?” a national public opinion study, providing for the first time comprehensive and contextualised data on public attitudes towards the death penalty in Zimbabwe – a country that has not carried out any executions in over 12 years.

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.

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.

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.

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 World Coalition is calling on international donors to stop helping Iran enforce abusive capital drug laws.

Citizens of the largest US state have voted against an initiative to replace the death penalty with life sentences, but the results show abolitionist views have gained significant ground through the referendum campaign.

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.