The Advocates for Human Rights launches “Champions of Death Penalty Abolition” scorecard for 2025

Advocacy

By The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 7 May 2026

At a side event on the margins of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 9, The Advocates for Human Rights launched a new tool celebrating countries that have championed the cause of abolition of the death penalty at the Universal Periodic Review. The scorecard highlights the countries that led the world in making recommendations on the death penalty in the 2025 UPR sessions.

“We’re excited about using the scorecard to recognize countries that have taken the lead in advocating for abolition of the death penalty in the UPR,” said Amy Bergquist, who represents The Advocates on the Steering Committee of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. “It’s rewarding to focus on positive progress, and the scorecard visuals tell a story that the numbers alone don’t convey,” she continued.

In 2025, UN Member States made a total of 444 recommendations on the death penalty to 19 countries under review. As part of the measurement and evaluation process for a grant from the European Union, The Advocates has been tracking all death penalty recommendations since the start of the fourth-cycle UPR in 2022, including the countries that made the recommendations and whether the state under review supported or noted each recommendation. These data capture the impact of the advocacy by the World Coalition and its members. 

Amy Bergquist worked with The Advocates’ Director of Pro Bono to identify a graphic designer, who took the raw data and worked with Amy to create the vibrant scorecard. Iceland far outpaced its peers with 26 recommendations, well ahead of second-place Spain with 18 recommendations and Australia, Estonia, and Uruguay, all tied for third place with 16 recommendations each.  Other top-ten champions are Italy (15), Portugal (13), Colombia (12), France (12), and Switzerland (12). 

The scorecard also recognizes regional leaders, including Ukraine (10) and Latvia (9) joining Estonia as leaders among Eastern European States, Paraguay (11) joining Uruguay and Colombia among Latin American and Caribbean States, Cyprus (11), the Marshall Islands (10), and Mongolia (2) leading Asia-Pacific States, and Namibia (8), Togo (8) and Sierra Leone (5) leading African States. 

With the benefit of data from previous years, the scorecard also captures “rising stars” – countries that significantly increased their death penalty recommendations in 2025 compared with 2024. The Marshall Islands earned the title of top rising star, moving from zero recommendations in 2024 to 10 in 2025. Other rising stars were Sierra Leone (400% increase), Latvia (125% increase), Uruguay (100% increase), and Switzerland (50% increase). 

The Advocates looks forward to issuing a new scorecard during each March Human Rights Council session, highlighting the champions and rising stars of the previous year. The abolitionist community can use the scorecard to identify countries that are strong allies in advancing the cause of abolishing the death penalty worldwide, including countries like the Marshall Islands and Sierra Leone that might not otherwise be on their radar. “We also hope it will motivate permanent missions in Geneva to participate in a little ‘friendly competition’ to improve their rankings year over year,” Bergquist added.