Your search “Keep the Death Penalty Abolished fin the Philippfines ”

The African human rights watchdog has asked Libya not to execute 20 Nigerians on death row in the North African country after a Nigerian NGO highlighted their plight.

In Asia, death penalty for drug offences is one of the major issues. During the regional congress, two sessions addressed this issue. It is also the theme of this years’ World Day against the Death Penalty on 10 October 2015.

Ron Keine, an exonerated former prisoner turned activist, shares his story so that the United States may one day join the rest of the civilized world in abolishing the death penalty.

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.

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.

The programme of the 7th World Congress continued today with more than fifteen events held at the Egmont Palace. Plenary meetings, round tables, workshops, screenings and signings… This is a non-exhaustive summary of this new day.

Leaders Organization, a Palestinian member of the World Coalition, is opposing a decision by the Hamas-run cabinet due to leave office in the Gaza Strip to carry out existing death sentences.

The number of executions in the United States was at its lowest in 20 years and seven death row prisoners were exonerated in 2014.

The Philippines are a step closer to the reintroduction of the death penalty, violating their international obligations.

Uzbekistan became the first state to abolish the death penalty in 2008. World Coalition members Community of Sant’Egidio and Mothers Against the Death Penalty, who have led a campaign in the region, welcome the move.

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

Despite international and national standards banning the use of capital punishment against mental ill or intellectually disabled people, health professionals familiar with death row say it is full of prisoners who should instead be receiving treatment.

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 […]

Amnesty International published its international global review of the death penalty on Tuesday, 12th April 2018.At least 993 executions in 23 countries in 2017 were recorded, down by 4% from 2016 (1,032 executions) and 39% from 2015 (when the organization reported 1,634 executions, the highest number since 1989). China remained the world’s top executioner, but excluding China, 84% of all reported executions took place in just four countries – Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan.

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.

It has been 17 years since the United States decided on a de facto moratorium on federal executions, which can be carried out only for certain federal criminal offences. This moratorium, however, ended in July.

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.

The National Assembly of Madagascar adopted a bill that abolishes the death penalty on 10 December, World Human Rights Day.

A wide range of activists, law practitioners and former death row inmates have met in Trinidad and Tobago to discuss strategies for abolition and organise under the Greater Caribbean for Life.

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.

The World Coalition has been active in Liberia and internationally to bring the West African country back into the abolitionist community.

A conference to launch the project SALI: Saving Lives, was held in Abuja, Nigeria, on 27 March. It marked the start of the project activities while encouraging discussions on the issue of the death penalty in Nigeria.

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.

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.

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”.

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.

Democratic Republic of Congo abolitionists have been leading a non-stop fight for two years to have the death penalty recognised as incompatible with their country’s constitution. Ongoing penal code reform is giving them a chance to defend their case.

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

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.

On 24 May, Amnesty International published their annual report on the global use of the death penalty, which shows the overall sentences and executions in 2021 Global figures Amnesty International recorded 579 executions in 18 countries in 2021, an increase of 20% from the 483 recorded in 2020. Despite these increases, the 2021 global executions figure constitutes the second-lowest figure recorded […]

A majority of the world’s nations have approved a text calling for a global moratorium on executions, with stronger support than in a previous vote two years ago.

FIDH and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty join others to urge The Gambia to stop executions and call upon the African Union to relocate the seat of the African Commission for Human and People’s Rights in another country.

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.

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.

Khachig Ghosn is a 22-year-old student of social work at the Lebanese University. Three years ago, he witnessed an explosion in Beirut. Despite this dramatic experience, he is against the use of the death penalty and he is convinced that capital executions have no deterrent effect on terrorism.Ghosn is aware that changes in his country take a very long time, but he has a positive long-term vision and hopes that the death penalty will be abolished.

Abolitionists from the two countries set up a gallows in the heart of the French capital similar to that used in Tehran only a few weeks ago.

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.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty recruits a Finance and Administration Manager for a full time permanent position starting as soon as possible.

The World Coalition and ADPAN are publicising an open letter to the China National People’s Congress demanding concrete steps towards the abolition of the death penalty in China.

At least 682 people were executed last year aside from China, according to Amnesty International.

Annual reports published by two World Coalition member organizations of Iranian exiles expose the disproportionate use of the death penalty in Iran, mostly against drug users and traffickers.

After one year of encouraging signals from Belarus, the last European country with the death penalty has brutally resumed secretive executions and the harassment of abolitionist activists.

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.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia once again made its mark on the international scene by executing 37 people sentenced to death for terrorism in six regions of the country on Tuesday, 23 April 2019, 36 of whom were beheaded, while the last was crucified.

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.

Indonesian not-for-profit organization LBH Masyarakat, Reprieve, and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs recently published a report that reframes the drug problem and corresponding policy action in light of the country’s commitment to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The report argues that the drug policies currently in place in Indonesia must be re-evaluated in such a way that tackles poverty and inequality and prioritizes support for those who are “left behind”, and put an end to its current punitive strategies.

Together Against the Death Penalty, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, the International Federation of ACAT (FIACAT) and Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture in the Central African Republic (ACAT CAR) welcome this interactive dialogue and wish to draw the attention of the Independent Expert on the application of the death penalty […]

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.

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.

On 18 July 2014, Singapore executed two death row prisoners, Tang Hai Liang, 36, and Foong Chee Peng, 48, bringing to an end a three-year official moratorium established by the government in 2011 as part of the review process of the mandatory death penalty.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights held a regional conference on the death penalty in North and West Africa in Benin mid-April.

“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.

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 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.

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.

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.

In the context of the 6th World Congress Against the Death Penalty, the World Coalition together with Hands Off Cain and Amnesty International co-hosted a side event focusing on the 6th UNGA resolution for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, whose adoption will be decided in New York in December this year.

Petitioners challenging the potential resumption of executions in Sri Lanka experienced received reassuring news on 23 February 2023 when the Attorney General of Sri Lanka reported to the Supreme Court that the incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe has agreed to not implement executions during his tenure.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty is recruiting a Web-editor/Editorial Webmaster for its website.

Despite Africa’s march towards abolition, considered by many as the next abolitionist continent, Cameroon continues to withstand the abolitionist trend. Cameroon is the biggest executioner among French speaking countries in Africa, and the seventh country – on a global scale – with the largest number of death sentences: 160 in 2016, according to Amnesty International.

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.

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 […]

We welcome Lebanon’s position in accepting some of the recommendations on strengthening the justice sector and improving strengthening the justice sector and those aimed at improving the conditions of detention, including the fight against acts of torture and ill-treatment.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, in partnership with Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), has published a new how-to guide for civil society organizations (CSOs) on how to collaborate with parliamentarians to abolish the death penalty.

Everyone agrees that the highest international standards should apply in the fight against drug. But what about the standards used in punishing traffickers- and the inappropriate use of the death penalty against such criminals?

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.

The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights organised its first regional conference on the death penalty in Africa in late September.

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.

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

Details have emerged on the recent enactment of legislation asserting the death penalty in Liberia. The World Coalition has offered authorities in Monrovia its support to put Liberia back on the path to abolition.

After fresh executions, the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty has been campaigning to save the lives of five condemned prisoners, recalling the government to its commitments to human rights.

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.

Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture in Côte d’Ivoire (ACAT CI) has conducted advocacy activities between May and November 2016 in order to raise awareness on the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (OP2), aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. This project has been supported by the International Organisation of la Francophonie (OIF) and the International Federation of ACAT (FIACAT).

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.

With the recent execution of five prisoners in Taiwan, World Coalition member organisation, Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP), is feeling a sense of déjà vu.

Several former associates of Saddam Hussein have been sentenced to death. The Iraqi President, NGOs and international diplomats are now fighting to save their lives.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty’s office in Paris, France, is currently calling for translation contributions in Chinese.
The objective is to award contracts for translation services for the publications of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty for 30 months (mid 2013 – mid 2015).

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.

A record number of States – 121 out of 193 member states – voted in favour of a moratorium on the death penalty at the United Nations General Assembly on December the 17th. A world without the death penalty may become a reality according to Chiara Sangiorgio, Amnesty International’s Death Penalty Expert.

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.

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 World Congress is taking place in Madrid between 12-15 June 2013. During three days, it unites members of international civil society, politicians, and legal experts to elaborate abolitionist strategies for the years to come at the national, regional, and international levels, and to send out a clear message to the world: that universal abolition is essential for a world where progress and justice must prevail.

What started as an effort to save an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning is turning into a global movement for human rights and against capital punishment.

The Death Penalty Project is recruiting a Project Officer.

Days before the major Christian festival of Christmas, the International Federation of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture reaffirmed its Gospel-inspired opposition to the death penalty.

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.

During the 58th Extraordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), the Working Group of the ACHPR on the death penalty in Africa, in partnership with the World Coalition, the FIACAT and the FIDH, organized a panel discussion about the death penalty in Africa, on April 16, 2016.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty recruits a program manager for a full time permanent position starting in January 2019.

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.

One of the observations made by the World Coalition while doing the preliminary work for this year’s World Day, is the isolation in which the people sentenced to death might live.

The report is a first-of-its-kind comparative study of wrongful convictions. The report illuminates the similarities in wrongful conviction in six countries: Cameroon, Indonesia, Jordan, Malawi, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty welcomes the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of a second resolution calling for a universal moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

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.

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

Several organizations are condemning executions of innocent people because of wrongful convictions.

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.