PGA welcomes the unprecedented support towards the adoption of the UN resolution A/RES/77/222, for a universal moratorium on the use of the death penalty, which took place on 15 December: 125 States voted in favor of this crucial instrument to advance international standards. This historic majority is the result of the growing progress of the abolitionist movement globally, but PGA regrets the negative shift of positions of certain UN Member States compared to the one 2020 vote, in particular those of Yemen and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which both voted against, whereas they respectively abstained and did not vote in 2020.
On the other hand, PGA and the World Coalition against the Death Penalty celebrated the 20th International Day against the Death Penalty on 10 October. One month later, Ensemble contre la peine de mort organized the 8th World Congress against the Death Penalty, in Berlin, from 15-18 November, an occasion to take stock of the situation of the use of the capital punishment worldwide, and to stress the key role played by civil society organizations in this fight.
Positive developments
Equatorial Guinea: entry into force of the new Criminal Code, which abolishes the death penalty (10 December)
Australia: De facto law minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman pledged to continue the work of the previous administration to abolish the mandatory death penalty (12 December)
United States of America: Commutations of all Oregon’s death sentences (13 December)
Zambia: approval of the Penal Code Amendment Bill abolishing the death penalty (23 December)
Setbacks
Sudan: Petition to call on Sudanese authorities to overturn the sentence and guarantee Amal, a young woman sentenced to stoning, an immediate and unconditional release (19 October)
Japan: UN body slams death row conditions, demands progress towards the abolition of capital punishment (9 November)
Iran: PGA expresses its firm support for the human rights to life and freedom for all in Iran (14 November)
Kuwait: Executions of seven individuals after a five-year pause on executions (16 November)
Singapore: Parliament passes law to spell out how death row inmates can file challenges after appeals fail (29 November)
United States of America: Five executions in the US States of Alabama, Arizona, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas (30 November)
Iran: UN right experts condemn protestor’s execution, raise alarm over detained artists (8 December)
Saudi Arabia: Resumption of executions for drug-related offences (22 November)
Myanmar: UN Human Rights Chief alarmed at death sentences by secretive military courts (2 December)
North Korea: public execution of two teenagers for distributing South Korean movies (2 December)
Afghanistan: First public execution since Taliban takeover (7 December)
Belarus: the lower chamber of the Parliament adopts a Bill that envisages the death penalty for “high treason” (7 December)
Libya: The Tripoli court sentences 17 ‘IS members’ to death (19 December)
Iran: PGA statement following the executions of young human rights defenders (23 December)
New Reports and Resources
The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2022 (7 October)
PGA celebrates the 20th International Day against the Death Penalty (10 October)
Statement by PGA President, Hon. Kasthuri Patto, MP (Malaysia) on the World Day against the Death Penalty: Time to ratify UN treaty, abolish death penalty (10 October)
Human Rights Watch and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy: “The Court is Satisfied with the Confession” – Bahrain Death Sentences Follow Torture, Sham Trials (10 October)
73rd Ordinary Session of the African Commission of Human and Peoples Rights: adoption of a Resolution on the Review of the Study on the Death Penalty in Africa - ACHPR/Res.546 (LXXIII) 2022; of a Resolution on the Death Penalty and the prohibition of Torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment - ACHPR/Res.544 (LXXIII) 2022; and of a Resolution on the Renewal of the Mandate and Reconstitution of the Working Group on the Death Penalty, Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Killings and Enforced Disappearances in Africa – ACHPR/Res.531 (LXXIII) 2022 (20 October-9 November)
World Coalition against the death penalty: Abolition of the death penalty at the UN Human Rights Council 51st session (24 October)
World Coalition against the death penalty: Malaysia and the Politics Behind the Death Penalty: A Tumultuous Relationship (24 October)
Publication of the Iran Human Rights’ Annual Report on the Death penalty in Iran 2021 (27 October)
World Coalition Against the Death Penalty: Reflecting on the links between the death penalty and gender-based violence (25 November)
The 8th World Congress Against the Death Penalty reaffirms the importance of gender-based discussions (16 December)
For more information or to explore how you can get involved in PGA’s Campaign for the Abolition of the Death Penalty (ADP), please contact:
Ms. Frederika Schweighoferova (The Hague)
Senior Legal Officer, Campaign to Abolish the Death Penalty
Director, Rome Statute system Campaign
International Law and Human Rights Program