Progress achieved in December 2024 has allowed the abolitionist movement to start 2025 under the best auspices. These milestones notably included:

1. the adoption of the tenth United Nations General Assembly Resolution on a “Moratorium on the use of the death penalty,” with 130 votes in favor on 17 December 2024;
2. the deposit by Zambia of the accession instrument to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty, on 19 December 2024; and
3. Zimbabwe’s landmark decision to abolish the death penalty on 31 December 2024, following the adoption of the Death Penalty Abolition Bill in Parliament a few days earlier.

Yet, worrying setbacks were rapidly observed. On 20 January 2025, shortly after taking office, the U.S. President signed an Executive Order titled “Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety,” thus reversing the moratorium on federal executions introduced by the previous administration. This Executive Order, among other things, directs the U.S. Attorney General to seek the death penalty in all applicable cases and encourages state prosecutors to pursue capital charges, particularly for crimes involving the murder of a law enforcement officer or for capital crimes that would have been committed by individuals with irregular immigration status. This order also calls for challenging Supreme Court precedents limiting the application of capital punishments. The rhetoric behind this decision is alarming, as it falsely suggests that the death penalty enhances public safety or prevent violence. In response, PGA joined Witness to Innocence’s statement, reaffirming that the death penalty does not deter crime and does not make societies safer, as demonstrated by scientific research.

The past three months also saw key discussions with the 58^th session of the Human Rights Council, and its biennial high-level panel discussion on the question of the death penalty, organized on 25 February. On this occasion, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Volker Türk, highlighted that the death penalty not only results in wrongful executions, but is also “often discriminatory, with a disproportionate impact on racial, ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities, and the LGBTIQ+ community.” The Council also examined the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, where the UN Special Rapporteur reported over 900 recorded executions in 2024 – the highest number since 2015 – making of Iran “by far the highest per capita user of the death penalty globally.” Alarmingly, half of the executions were reportedly carried out for drug offences – a clear violation of international human rights law, which restricts the death penalty to only the most serious crimes, defined as intentional killing under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and General Comment No. 36 of the Human Rights Committee.

The issue of capital punishment for drug-related offences remains critical. In March 2025, Harm Reduction International (HRI) published its annual report, “The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2024,” revealing that 34 countries still retain the death penalty for drug-related offences, and that over 615 individuals were executed in 2024 for such offences – the highest number since 2015 (this figure excludes data from China, North Korea and Vietnam, where statistics are kept secret). The 68^th Commission on Narcotic Drugs, held in Vienna from 10 to 14 March, provided an essential platform for civil society organizations to address this issue and remind States that the death penalty is not a deterrent, in order to engage them towards abolition, including for drug offences. During several side-events organized by civil society organizations, including HRI and Amnesty International on 12 March, as well as Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), Barrister Aqeel Malik, State Minister for Law and Justice (Pakistan) and PGA member, highlighted Pakistan’s progressive measures that led the country to abolish the death penalty for drug-related offences in 2023. While this major step forward has brought the country’s legislation into line with international human rights standards, 20 prisoners are still on death row for drug-related offences in Pakistan, as reported by JPP.

Finally, International Women’s Day on 8 March served as a crucial moment to highlight the gendered impact of the death penalty. PGA joined the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and its members in a statement, stressing that “in this current context of ongoing attacks on the rights of women and gender minorities, it is more important than ever to stand united” in defending their rights, ensuring justice systems adopt a gender-sensitive approach.