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

Article first published by the Interpreter Public support for capital punishment isn’t as overwhelmingand unshakeable as the government often portrays it to be.

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.

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.

A delegation of World Coalition member organisations has handed over the petition to United Nations General Assembly president Srgjan Kerim.

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

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 Against the Death Penalty recruits a logistics and partnership manager for a full time permanent position starting as soon as possible.

On March 23 2020, the Governor of the State of Colorado, Jared Polis, signed legislation abolishing the death penalty. The bill SB20-100 had passed the Senate by a 19-13 vote on January 30 and the House by a 38-27 vote on February 26. He also commuted the sentences of the three people on death row […]

Many African organizations and institutions raised their voices on the occasion of the 14th World Day against the Death Penalty, whose last edition, celebrated on October 10, was dedicated to the use of death penalty for terrorism-related crimes.

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.

Human rights organisations and governments worldwide have slammed the Iranian authorities for the illegal execution of Delara Darabi, a young woman convicted of a murder committed when she was 17.

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”.

While Africa has been the fastest region in abolishing capital punishment in recent years, lawyers from Uganda and Nigeria say they are facing increasing from the authorities to use the death penalty.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), a World Coalition member organisation, has welcomed the federal government’s announcement on continuing the moratorium on capital punishment and has called for a thorough review of the death penalty regime in the country.

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.

We, the 37 undersigned groups and organisations, and three individuals, are appalled by Singapore’s denial and response to the highlighting of alleged “barbaric” unlawful practices in execution method that was highlighted vide a Jan 16 media statement issued by Lawyers for Liberty (LFL).get to many more people when media reports on our statements.

Kigali hosted the Inter-African conference against the death penalty on 13 and 14 October.

World Coalition member Amnesty International has released its annual statistics on the death penalty and launched a campaign against capital punishment in Belarus.

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.

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.

World abolitionists gathered in Puerto Rico between 20-22 June to take stock on progress in the crucial Caribbean region and prepare for the next round of the fight against the death penalty.

The NGO Forum and the subsequent 65th ACHPR Session (African Commission on Human and People’s Rights) was held in Banjul, the Gambia from 17th October to the 10 November 2019.

What is it? How is it implemented? You will find the answers to the most frequently asked questions about the Second Optional Protocol below.

The Regional Congress on the Death Penalty held in Rabat, Morocco between 18-20 October highlighted the key role of civil society in pushing the abolitionist agenda in a region affected by deep changes.

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.

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.

During the 8th World Congress Against the Death Penalty, in Berlin Germany, the phrase “the death penalty is being used as a political tool” was used frequently – in panels, in round tables, in speeches, even amongst the participants getting a coffee in between Congress events.

Today the international community offered unprecedented support to a UN call to halt executions when the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly considered a draft resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

The Community of Sant’Egidio conducted a crucial political networking exercise in favour of abolition in Rome at the end of November before 1,600 cities lit up their monuments against the death penalty.

Earlier in November, the UN Human Rights Committee released its concluding observations on Iraq’s implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee and civil society’s representatives specifically dwelled on Iraq’s application of the death penalty.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have long been at the forefront of the movement for human dignity, as the main, highly-specialized – and sometimes isolated– champions for social justice. However, a new generation of advocates from the private sector, whose primary center of interest or area of expertise seems disconnected from international human rights standards, has been […]

On October 26, abolitionists all around the world celebrated the release of Cheng Hsing-Tse, originally sentenced to death in 2006. This successful outcome highlights the work of numerous organizationss which assist death row survivors.

In a letter to the United Arab Emirates’ justice minister, the World Coalition denounced the growing number of death sentences handed down in the country, especially after unfair trials or against juvenile offenders.

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”.

Saudi Arabia: the largest mass execution in this country in years The kingdom of Saudi Arabia executed 81 men on March 12, 2022, all of whom had been convicted of a wide range of offences, including “terrorism”- related crimes, murder, armed robbery, and arms smuggling. Those put to death included seven Yemenis, one Syrian and […]

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

For eight years since June 2006, Jordan was adopting a moratorium on the death penalty. However, on the 21st of December 2014, 11 people were hung in Swaqa Prison, thus, triggering questions about the timing and the reasons behind the resumption of the death penalty in Jordan. It is arguable that the internal political pressures on the government have fuelled this setback which was further eased through the international political opportunity of Jordan’s role in the war on terrorism.

A recent visit to Taiwan by a joint World Coalition-ADPAN delegation left the impression that the Asian island was on course to “join a global trend towards abolition of the death penalty”, as was reported in the local media.

On 22 October 2023, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (World Coalition) organized a closed-door side event on a gender-based and intersectional approach to abolition as part of the 86th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

TheDeath Penalty Information Center’s 2020 annual report highlights the continuing trend toward abolition in the US and the resumption of federal executions in a challenging COVID-19 context.

Kathy Brown, an English IT specialist, is not the typical anti-death penalty campaigner. She is not an NGO-registered lawyer nor a political science student. But through the internet, she has become active in the global abolitionist community.

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.

Commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 2018 is an opportunity to question the effectiveness of civil and political rights, but also economic, social and cultural rights, in the context of an increasingly globalized world that ostracizes, excludes, sentences to death and continues to execute.

Bitter criticism has been targeting China since the execution of British national Akmal Shaikh in the Chinese province of Xinjiang on December 29 after he was found guilty of transporting drugs.

Those were the words of Anand Grover, former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health during the opening ceremony of Harm Reduction International’s 24th conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Pakistan’s new government has called on all death sentences in the country to be commuted to life imprisonment. Pakistani lawyer and human rights defender Kamran Arif believes a moratorium is at hand.

External Evaluation of the project “Preventing the risk of resurgence of the death penalty in three abolitionist countries” of 36 months in the Maldives, Philippines and Turkey

From “Acceptance” to “Treaty”, discover the vocabulary of international law and get a clearer picture of the Second Optional Protocol.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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 Parliament of Suriname (photo) has abolished the death penalty in law, setting an example for the Greater Caribbean – a major front line in the global fight against capital punishment. World Coalition member organisation Parliamentarians for Global Action provided crucial support for abolition in Suriname.

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.

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.

Denys Robiliard, a lawyer and former president of Amnesty International’s French section, details why the Second Optional protocol to the UN’s ICCPR is an crucial instrument to push the abolition of the death penalty worldwide.

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).

An appeal signed by local organizations and a new report by Amnesty International denounce multiple human rights violations in the use of capital punishment in the region and ask governments to “remove the death penalty once and for all from the law books”.

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.

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.

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.

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

 Dear Minister of Justice, Honorable Titus Mvalo Ahead of this joint letter, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty would like to express its deepest condolences to the Government and people of Malawi for the passing of Vice President Mr. Saulos Chilima on 11 June 2024.

We, the undersigned seven organizations, are gravely concerned by developments in Singapore since the beginning of August 2024, which has seen the authorities carry out two executions in violation of international safeguards on the death penalty, as well as limiting the right to freedom of expression of the Transformative Justice Collective, a non-governmental organization who […]

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 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.

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 […]