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Only nine US states carried out executions this year, the lowest number in 20 years, according to a new report released by the independent organisation Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty welcomes the vote by the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly of a resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty worldwide.

Good news from Sri Lanka: by decision of the President, the death sentences of 60 prisoners have been commuted.

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

World Coalition member organisation FIACAT and its affiliate in Mali, ACAT Mali organised a seminar to raise awareness on the abolition of the death penalty in Mali in Bamako on 29 and 30 September 2014.

On 21 December 2021, Japan’s new governement executed three men after two years with no execution during which Japan hosted the Olympics and the United Nations Congress on Criminal Justice.

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

The former Soviet republic has confirmed its accession to the only international treaty abolishing the death penalty in an irreversible manner.

April 10, 2024 Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) and 83 Iranian and international organisations and groups have called for joint action to stop drug-related executions, urging UNODC to make “any cooperation with the Islamic Republic contingent on a complete halt on drug-related executions”. They have announced the start of a mass international campaign in this regard.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty welcomes the moratorium on executions announced by the Governor of the US State of California, Gavin Newsom. California has 737 prisoners on death row, about 25% of all US death row prisoners, and the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere. Fewer than 30% of nations still use […]

Executions are currently on hold in the US pending a Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of lethal injections. This is an opportunity for action from abolitionists, especially among the medical professions.

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

For the first time in Cameroon, the Cameroonian organization Droits et Paix, in partnership with the French association Ensemble contre la peine de mort, held a conference and training on the death penalty in Yaounde.

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”.

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.

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.

On 15 December 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 9th resolution for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty with 125 votes in favor (2 more than in 2020), 37 votes against, 22 abstentions and 9 absent.

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.

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.

Ending the death penalty means finding replacement sanctions to punish former capital crimes – while taking into accounts human rights standards.

The FIDH and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights released a new report, From Visions to Facts: Human Rights in Vietnam under its Chairmanship of ASEAN, on 16 August 2010.

Kenya’s president has commuted all death sentences in the country in the wake of legal challenges brought by local and international activists.

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 […]

  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 […]

Although European activists were slow to take action on World Day Against the Death Penalty, their Asian counterparts showed their strength, especially in the World Coalition’s target countries.

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.

Human Rights Watch is launching a 30-page report on juvenile offenders awaiting execution on Yemen’s death row.

The actors involved in the universal abolition of the death penalty outlined the new challenges ahead in the fight for the right to life.

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.

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

As the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly gets under way in New York, the spotlight is once again put on a text calling for a global moratorium on executions.

Adapting to the restrictions that the COVID-19 pandemic has placed on physical gatherings, the NGO Forum and following 66th ACHPR Session (African Commission on Human and People’s Rights) were held via Zoom videoconference on 9-10 July and 13 July – 07 August, 2020, respectively.

A Bangladeshi court has sentenced 152 people to death and 161 others to life in prison on 5 November for a mutiny in Dhaka in 2009 (photo). High profile abolitionists have berated the decision.

On 20 December 2011 the European Commission added sodium thiopental to the list of goods that are subject to tight export controls to ensure they do not find their way into overseas death chambers.

Hands off Cain held a series of meetings, one year after the launch of the project “Containing the death penalty in time of war on terrorism in Somalia, Tunisia and Egypt”, in Nairobi, Kenya, to assess the work done in Somalia.

The revolution in Tunisia and the resulting changes in the political landscape may offer unprecedented new opportunities for abolitionist organizations

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 authorities of Taiwan have executed six prisoners, days after President Ma met World Coalition representatives and promised to “reduce the use” of the death penalty.

In addition to the academic debates and workshops, the organizers of the Congress had also prepared a nice surprise, on June 22nd, with the main event of their cultural program, soberly entitled “Living with the death penalty”. This event was hosted by Will Francome, a director involved in anti-death penalty work, and represented the opportunity to let these direct “witnesses” of the capital punishment speak about what brought them to be sentenced to death, their experiences on death row, and mostly the journey of their reintegration upon their release from death row. It also allowed relatives of current or former death row inmates to testify of their own fight, in favor of their family member as well as all the other individuals who had to go through this.

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.

Between 12-14 May, representatives from Arab civil society organisations gathered in Alexandria, Egypt at the invitation of the Swedish Institute to discuss the implementation of the UN moratorium on the use of the death penalty in the Arab world.

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

The House of Delegates has passed a bill replacing the death penalty with life in prison without parole. The governor of the US state has been supporting the bill and promised to sign it into law.

In March 2017, the 60th Commission on Narcotic Drugs annual meeting in Vienna took place. During this meeting, governments have been encouraged to “promote proportionate national sentencing policies for drug-related offences”. The death penalty was addressed during several side events.

Representatives from the World Coalition’s 88 member organizations will hold their AGM in Italy on June 13 to prepare future campaigns and listen to the testimony of a former death row inmate.

The World Coalition has developed and published a training manual, in partnership with its member the International Federation of Christians Against Torture (FIACAT), on working with the African Union’s human rights organ, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR). This how-to guide was created specifically for civil society to help encourage successful interaction with the ACHPR, a growing and influential human rights mechanism on the continent.

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.

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).

The 2019 General Assembly saw the Elections of a new Steering Committee for two years, which in turn elected a new Executive Board until June 2021.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty express its solidarity with the families and relatives of people who are sentenced to death in Iran and with the civil society organizations supporting them.

The Tunisian Coalition Against the Death Penalty has launched a campaign combining support for an abolition bill and reaction to the sentencing of a man sentenced for terrorism.

The World Coalition launched its action programme in favour of the UN Protocol to abolish the death penalty on 21 October in Geneva.

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 Italian province celebrated the anniversary of the first law to ever abolish the death penalty on November 28.

These are merely the very first steps down the road, but Iran, Sudan and Yemen, the only countries to apply the death penalty on juvelines along with Saudi Arabia, have just made some small progress on the issue.

On 13 July 2019, Think Centre reported that 32 executions have occurred in Singapore since it ended its moratorium on the death penalty in 2014. At the same time, lawyers defending capital cases have reported receiving threats from the government. As of the date of writing, Singapore is among 24 world states that have not ratified the ICCPR and its protocols.

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.

A group of prestigious human rights organisations have chosen to honour Emad Baghi, the founder of the Association for the Right to Live.

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.

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.

This report covers the judicial use of the death penalty for the period January to December 2014. As in previous years, information is collected from a variety of sources, including: official figures; information from individuals sentenced to death and their families and representatives; reporting by other civil society organizations; and media reports. Amnesty International reports only on executions, death sentences and other aspects of the use of the death penalty, such as commutations and exonerations, where there is reasonable confirmation.

The Anti Death Penalty Asia Network calls for the restoration of a formal moratorium after the government postponed a wave of executions under pressure from international abolitionists.

The 13th annual report on the death penalty by Iran Human Rights (IHR) and ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty), shows that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Islamic Republic continued carrying out executions as in the previous years, and remains the only country to have executed juvenile offenders in 2020.

The President of UN General Assembly is to receive 5 million signatures calling for a moratorium on executions collected worldwide by the Community of Sant’Egidio and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

On 17 November, the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly has adopted a draft resolution calling upon UN Member States to observe a moratorium on executions.

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.

The Greater Caribbean For Life (GCL) and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty are part of a joint project, led by The Death Penalty Project and funded by the European Union, which aims to create a platform for death penalty reform in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, leading to eventual abolition

As of today, no country in North Africa and the Middle-East has yet abolished the death penalty. However, there are positive signs that the region is now ready to debate the issue – as can be seen from the profusion of discussions and exchanges that took place during the 3 rd World Congress against the Death Penalty.

Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, keeps up the fight for two protestors condemned to death despite attempts at intimidation.

A few days out from the World Day Against the Death Penalty, California has decided not to resume executions. A shortage of one of the drugs used for lethal injections gives death row inmates and abolitionists more time to continue the legal battle.

As part of its 2008 annual conference, the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP) organised a brainstorming session to explore the question: “How can the international community support us in our efforts to abolish the death penalty in the US?”

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

In a video interview at the NCADP conference in Chicago, leading Illinois abolitionist Jeremy Schroeder explains how grassroots activism and political lobbying combined to get the abolition bill passed.

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

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.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center’s annual report, the number of death sentences in the United States has remained near record lows, a new State repealed capital punishment and public support for the death penalty fell to a 40-year low.

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.

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.

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 recruits a Legal Officer.

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.

The group, which brings together more than 30 member organisations from four countries, established itself as a formal body and launched its website on World Day Against the Death Penalty.

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.

As part of its efforts to mainstream a gender lens in the abolitionist movement, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty just released a glossary on gender and the death penalty. The first of its kind, this publication presents and defines terms relevant to gender-sensitive abolitionist work that recognize the various forms of gender-based discrimination […]

On 28 April 2020, the Chadian National Assembly unanimously voted to abolish the death penalty for crimes of terrorism.

The Greater Caribbean for Life (GCL) is currently seeking to appoint a part-time Project Manager, to assist with the management, administration, and implementation of a project seeking to restrict and reform the use of the death penalty in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean States.

This report identifies 33 countries and territories that retain the death penalty for drug offences, including nine in which the sentence is mandatory. Hundreds of people continue to be executed for non-violent drug offences every year by a small minority of States committed to aggressively pursuing extremely harsh penalties for drug crimes, in clear violation of international law.