INDEX

World Coalition member organisation Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights held public events and meetings with victims and leaders during a recent tour of South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

As the legal action taken by local activists to block the use of the death penalty failed, abolitionists across Asia have been calling for an end to the death penalty in their region.

After Taiwan’s justice minister was forced to step down for not signing execution warrants, local and international abolitionists rushed in to restore a balanced debate and protect the country’s 44 death row inmates.

At least 76% of executions worldwide take place in Asia. Despite these impressive figures, Bikramjeet Batra, and indian lawyer with Amnesty International, is optimistic and explains that “the asian trend is toward abolition”.

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.

Tsou Tzung Han is a Taiwanese teacher who actively took part in educational activities organised around World Day Against the Death Penalty. He writes about his experience with his students.

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

The Japanese government continues to execute prisoners with psychiatric illnesses and the conditions on death row provoke mental disorders among inmates, according to a new Amnesty International report.

The Thai government has attracted widespread condemnation from the global abolitionist movement after it had two drug traffickers executed.

The World Coalition and its members have been criticizing illegal organ transplants after executions. Beijing promises to tackle the problem.