Global Call to Abolish Death Penalty

Participants of the 3rd World Congress Against the Death Penalty, which gatehered between 1-3 February, called on all countries -especially North African and M.Eastern countries and China- to abolish death penalty and to adopt relevant UN protocols.

Paris

The 3rd World Congress against the Death Penalty took place in Paris from 1 to 3 February.

The meeting brought together over 600 abolitionists and decision-makers from all over the world, who discussed current strategies and debated ways forward to achieve the ultimate goal of worldwide abolition of the death penalty.

The Congress followed on from the first World Congress in Strasbourg in 2001 and the Second World Congress in Montreal in 2004.

The Congress was organized by Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort (ECPM-Coalition Against the Death Penalty), which acts as Secretariat for the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and numerous other partners.

Delegates focused particularly on the prospects for abolition in North Africa, the Asia Pacific region and the Middle East, including reforms on the political and legal process in those regions.

Major debates included "Islam and the death penalty" and "China, the death penalty and the Olympic Games".

Roundtables were held on regional players in the abolitionist movement from Central Asia (towards the establishment of a death penalty-free zone) to the Great Lakes region in Africa (Anti-Death Penalty network) and on strategies towards abolition.

These included the campaign on the ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the role of international and regional organizations.

Several public debates focused on key countries and national campaigns and a public questions and answers session on the death penalty was held.

The Congress heard from those profoundly affected by the death penalty, including exonerated former death row inmates, the families of condemned prisoners and relatives of murder victims who campaign against the death penalty on behalf of their murdered relatives.

The event ended on Saturday with a march of hundreds of people through the streets of Paris, entitled "Say No the death penalty".(EÜ)

* To read the final declaration of the congress please click here.