On the 2014 world day against the death penalty, Ban Ki Moon made a strong statement calling for global abolition. This declaration reflects a growing trend toward abolition, and yet 25 years after the adoption of the international treaty to abolish the death penalty, the level of ratification remains too low.
The United Nations’ commitment to eradicate the death penalty globally is quite evident. High Commissioners for Human Rights have consistently been calling on States to abolish and
ratify the second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR OP2), which provides the best guarantee for sustainable and categorical abolition. 2014 was a particularly active year of UN engagement against the death penalty: in June, the Human Rights Council adopted a
resolution which highlights abolition as a recurrent item of its work. In October, the OHCHR launched a specific
webpage and a
compilation of the most recent arguments and trends for global abolition. Two Special Rapporteurs, Christof Heyns and Juan Mendez, have also been
quite vocal in calling for abolition. With
98 countries having abolished death penalty for all crimes, the global abolition movement has never looked so strong.
Despite these positive developments, the reality of the situation remains alarming in various ways:
- Only 81 states have ratified ICCPR OP2
- Several countries such as Indonesia or the Gambia have in recent years resumed executions after multiyear moratoriums
- The latest Amnesty International report on death penalty highlights a 15% increase in executions around the world compared to the previous year
- A small number of countries continue to hold the record for most executions carried out, namely China, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia
Source: Oxford Human Rights Hub, Vincent Ploton, December 16, 2014
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