The Swiss Constitution forbids the use of the death penalty. Capital punishment was abolished in civil courts in 1942, and in military courts in 1992.

No execution has been carried out since the Second World War. The Swiss government supports efforts by civil society, including PGA, to promote abolition throughout the world. Switzerland has ratified both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1992, and its Second Optional Protocol aiming at the abolition of the death penalty (ICCPR-OP2) in 1994.

6 November 2017: PGA Member Mrs. Isabelle Chevalley, attended the a Parliamentary Roundtable on Strengthening the Rule of Law, with a special focus on the abolition of the death penalty, organised in the Senate of Jordan by PGA with the cooperation of the Coalition of Women MPs to Combat Violence against Women – Jordan, and the support of the Swiss Embassy to Jordan.

16-17 November 2015: PGA organized a Parliamentary Roundtable and Consultations on the abolition of the mandatory death penalty in Malaysia, which Hon. Philipp Hadorn, PGA Member, attended.