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Browse the schedule and the map to prepare and promote the events planned around the world on the big day.

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.

On 23 December 2022, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema signed into law Penal Code (Amendment) Bill number 25, which bans the death penalty and the offence of criminal defamation of the president.

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 World Coalition Against the Death Penalty is recruiting an intern for a period of 6 months going from mid-June to mid December 2020.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty recruits interns twice a year for a period of 6 months (from March to August and from September to February).

Harm Reduction International is currently seeking to recruit Human Rights Advocacy Officer. Working as a member of the Campaigns and Advocacy Team.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty recruits an intern for a period of 6 months starting in September 2019.

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.

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.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty is looking for an intern for a period of 6 months, starting mid-September.

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.

Iran has taken a dreadful step in the wrong direction in the summer of 2007, through a combination of an increase in executions and the repression of activists opposed to 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.

Two French organisations have won a court case against an exhibition presenting human bodies likely to be those of executed Chinese citizens.

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 conference organized by Journey of Hope is just one among the many activities carried out around World Day against the Death Penalty in the U.S.

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.

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

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.

San Juan, Puerto Rico – On September 27, 2012, a jury declined the United States Government petition to impose capital punishment in a murder trial on the Federal District Court. The Puerto Rico Bar Association and the Puerto Rico Coalition Against the Death Penalty were among the organizations who led a series of vigils, press releases, radio and television appearances, along many other events to raise the voice of abolitionism and justice.

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

Joint Statement signed by Center for Prisoners’ Rights and Japan Innocence & Death Penalty Information Center to to call Japanese government for a sincere dialogue while condemning the government for refusing a dialogue with international communityand not accepting capital punishment as a human rights issue.

In celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ 70th anniversary, the 20th EU-NGO Forum was held in Brussels on 21-22 November 2018, during which a session on “International Actions against Death Penalty and Torture” took place. World Coalition Director Aurélie Plaçais was invited to participate in the panel discussion, alongside representatives from Coalition member organizations ECPM and FIACAT.

After nearly two months of fierce lobbying on both sides, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn abolishes the death penalty in the state and commutes all current death sentences to life in prison.

Governor Pat Quinn’s signing abolition into law last week in Illinois has reopened the debate on the death penalty throughout the country. Several states are currently considering abolition.

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.

On 30 June 2018, as a side event to the 2nd National Congress of Réseau des avocats contre la peine mort (RACPM), a conference was organised under the title “Death Penalty and Criminal Policy”. Morocco seemed eager to match its Tunisian neighbour, which had recently proposed, with the Commission on Individual Freedoms and Equality, abolishing 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 […]

FIACAT and ACAT Niger, in collaboration with the Nigerien Coalition against the Death Penalty, organised a seminar to raise awareness of the abolition of the death penalty in Niamey (Niger) on 10 and 11 March 2015.

The signature of an African treaty on the abolition of the death penalty is a priority to firm up the trend moving away from capital punishment across the continent.

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.

The winds of change have brought fresh air to the abolitionist cause in countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa, with new faces in power reigniting a stalled debate.

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.

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.

The role of lawyers in the fight against the death penalty has been discussed from different angles throughout the 5th World Congress, but the testimony of Chinese lawyers caught most people’s attention.

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.

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

At a meeting in Brussels in July, European institutions and NGOs restated their commitment to a long-term partnership to oppose the death penalty worldwide.

Italy became the 41st state to ratify the 13th Protocol to the European Convention for Human Rights on 3 March 2009.

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.

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.

A detailed opinion survey commissioned by the Death Penalty Project in Malaysia found that while most people initially respond supportively when asked about mandatory death sentences, their opinion changes when confronted with practical cases and additional information.

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

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.

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.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights calls for a moratorium on executions and the ratification of the UN Protocol for the abolition of the death penalty.

Nicaragua became the 71th state to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant for Civil and Politic Rights on 25 February 2009.

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.

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 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 10 October 2009, World Day Against the Death Penalty, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty wishes to teach abolition to all citizens around the world, especially to teenagers aged 14 to 18.

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).

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.

International abolitionists gathered on the Caribbean territory to promote their message and to show solidarity with the local authorities against capital punishment.

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.

Sudan repealed the death penalty for homosexuality and apostasy

Five African icons in the struggle against the death penalty joined together to debate the transition from a moratorium on executions to full legal abolition.

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 […]

The 1st and 2nd June 2018, Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), Ensemble contre la peine de mort (Together against the death penalty, ECPM) and Culture pour la paix et la justice (Culture for peace and justice, CPJ) organised in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC) a regional parliamentary seminar entitled “Abolition of the death penalty in Africa: the role of parliamentarians”, with the support of the European Union and of the Honourable Aubin Minaku, Speaker of the National Assembly of the DRC and Member of PGA.

As night fell, Xu Ziqiang and Zheng Xingze boarded a plane for Dubai together with a group of TAEDP members. Belgium was their final destination following this layover. This would be Ziqian’s and Xingze’s first time on European soil; they were preparing to take part in the World Congress Against the Death Penalty, held once every three years.

A bill to repeal the death penalty in the US state of New Hampshire was blocked in the Senate on 22 April with votes for and against the bill deadlocked at 12-12. Despite the disappointment, Renny Cushing, Executive Director of World Coalition member organisation Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, sees some positives.

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.

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.

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

As the Fourteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice is about to begin in Kyoto, Japan, the undersigned organizations urge the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and its subsidiary bodies, including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); and all UN member states, including the Congress host country Japan, to make […]

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”.

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 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.

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.

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.

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. 

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 30 April 2021, the World Coalition published the following article on the abolition of the death penalty in Malawi. Since its publication, the abolitionist status of the country has changed. This article has been updated below. —————————-

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty has obtained financial support from the European Commission for its 2007 campaign, an indication of its growing recognition and legitimacy.

On 10.10.10, the 8th World Day against the Death Penalty focused on ending the use of the death penalty in the United States of America. Since 2003, abolitionists have taken actions all over the world every 10 October to raise awareness and opposition to 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

During the past year, the 28 member associations in the FIACAT network have given their abolitionist activities a boost. The issue of the death penalty is at the heart of their mission.

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.

On May 23rd, 2016, the closing ceremony of the project “My pencil for abolition” took place at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This project was organized by the team of “Educating and Raising Awareness on Abolition” in the association Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM): it consisted in involving a few middle and high school’s classes, from Lorraine, Belfort and the Parisian region, in the elaboration of articles and cartoons in order to create a magazine committed to the abolition of the death penalty, known as the Abolition Mag.

World Coalition member organisation Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) was at September’s Fête de l’Humanité in Paris to spread awareness of the 12th World Day Against the Death Penalty on October 10.

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 American death row inmate heard the news less than one hour before he was scheduled to die. From Huntsville to Paris, activists demand that new evidence be examined.

The Great Lakes Regional Coalition Against the Death Penalty held its first meeting on November 17 in Kinshasa. Its lobbying efforts have accelerated Burundi’s legislative process.

The undersigned organizations express their grave concern for the lives of minor defendants particularly the two young men, Yousif Al-Manasif and Ali Al-Mubaiouq, who are at imminent risk of execution in Saudi Arabia following confirmed information that the Specialized Criminal Court of Appeal (SCCA) has upheld their death sentences.

The Death Penalty Project is recruiting a Project Officer.

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.

A proposed United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for a global suspension of executions has gained the support of two more countries pending a plenary vote next month.

Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan servant sentenced to death by a Saudi court, is facing decapitation. ACAT-France and ECPM have joined forces to defend poor immigrants at risk of capital punishment in Saudi Arabia.

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.

United States Federal District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, a strong supporter of the death penalty, ruled on 16 July that California’s death penalty system violates the US Constitution.

As 26 June is “Support. Don’t Punish” Global Day of Action, the World Coalition shares some insight on the 2019 Harm Reduction International Conference which took place in Porto end of April.

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.