28 February 2017Towards a return of the death penalty in the Philippines?

Today, the Philippines Parliament is due to make a decision on a legal text reintroducing the death penalty which the country abolished in 2006. But the populism of President Rodrigo Duterte and his Government runs the risk of facing a number of obstacles, particularly the engagement of Philippine civil society and several binding international treaties. Another step towards the return of capital punishment in the Philippines: the Chamber of Representatives brought debates to a close last...

28 February 2017Zainab Malik from Justice Project Pakistan: “being the bridge between the people being executed and the general public”

Can you sum up the situation of the death penalty in Pakistan? Pakistan had a 7-year moratorium on the death penalty. In that time, the population on death row increased to 8,264 people. In December 2014, there was a very tragic terrorist attack in Peshawar. The terrorists broke into the school and killed 134 children. It was quite tragic; there was an atmosphere of fear and anger amongst the general public. Generally, the view was that the Government wasn’t doing enough to curb terrorism...

21 February 2017JOINT STATEMENT – Philippines: House of Representatives must uphold international law obligations ahead of first death penalty vote

19 February 2017 AI Index: ACT 50/5741/2017 Ahead of the first vote on the proposed legislative amendments to reintroduce the death penalty in the Philippines, the undersigned organizations are calling on the country’s lawmakers to uphold its international law obligations and vote against the measure. The move would set the Philippines against its positive achievements in this area and the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty. On 20 February the House of...

27 January 2017Cheikh Diop Dionne: “We never plan to go back on abolition in Senegal,”

For a few weeks now, a small but noteworthy group of Senegalese MPs have been demanding a reintroduction of the death penalty. They seem determined to reopen the debate 50 years after the last execution. A draft law has been put before the National Assembly and some actors from civil society are calling for a referendum on the issue. Last December, Cheikh Diop Dionne, himself an MP from Senegal, participated in a parliamentary seminar in Ouagadougou organised by ECPM and the Burkina Faso...

7 December 2016Khadija Amrir : “They treated me like I wasn’t human”

She has spent more time in prison than on the outside. Khadija Amrir, sentenced to death for the murder of her husband in 1995, was released on 2 August 2016 following a series of royal pardons for good conduct. Her name reverberates around the cells. It inspires admiration and emotion. Often referred to as a model prisoner during her 22 years of imprisonment, Khadija Amrir never accepted her sentence, never stopped fighting and, barely out of prison, she declared that she was ready to tell her...

6 December 2016United States: Abolition in Retreat

Over the last few years, it has almost been possible to imagine America abolishing the death penalty. It was declared institutional by the Supreme Court in certain states and increasingly public opinion has been going against this inhuman punishment. Alas, three referendums and one election have sufficed to push such a possibility into the long grass. The hope that America might abolish the death penalty has been greatly reduced by the election of Donald Trump as President of the United...

28 October 2016Ndume Olatushani: “As long as I’m living, I’ll be fighting against the death penalty”

Ndume spent 28 years in prison in the United States, 20 of which were on death row, for a crime he did not commit. He was saved by his discovery of drawing and painting, and helped throughout his detention by his family and friends, and abolitionist organisations. Today, he continues to demonstrate his commitment to the fight against the death penalty through his work with young people. What was your initial reaction when you learnt that you had been sentenced to death? I was just really...

28 October 2016Relive the 14th World Day with ECPM!

The World Day is special for our organisation. For 24 hours every year, the issue of the death penalty takes centre stage and all the abolitionist actors come together to publicise their work, distribute information about an issue which is often absent from newspapers, and remind the world of the urgency of universal abolition. It therefore seemed natural to give you a glimpse of what we experience before, during and after 10th October. For ECPM, the World Day began on 8th October for a...

26 October 2016What is the vote on the resolution for a universal moratorium on application of the death penalty?

A resolution in favour of a universal moratorium on application of the death penalty has been put to the vote at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) every two years since 2007. In this text, which has been adopted by a large majority of States on every occasion, the UN reaffirms that application of the death penalty undermines human dignity “and calls upon all the States that still maintain it to establish a moratorium on executions.” Until now, five resolutions have called for a universal...