World Day Against the Death Penalty 2023 – October 10

World Day Against the Death Penalty is annually observed across the globe on October 10 to raise awareness about the inhumane and cruel practice of capital punishment and the need to get rid of the death penalty from the justice systems.

• 10th October 2023 marks the observance of the 21st World Day Against the Death Penalty. 

The death penalty: An irreversible torture

World Day against the Death Penalty 2023 will reflect on the relationship between the use of the death penalty and torture or other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment.

• This campaign was same for 20th World Day Against the Death Penalty.

Background: 

i.World Day Against the Death Penalty was initiated by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (WCADP) and supported by numerous Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and World Governments (Amnesty International, the European Union, and the United Nations).

ii.On September 26, 2007, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe declared October 10 to be the European Day against the Death Penalty.

• This day is a European contribution to the World Day against the Death Penalty, which is also held on October 10 each year.

Amnesty International Global Report:

According to Amnesty International Global Report titled ‘Death Sentences And Executions 2020’,

i.Abolition: 112 states have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, and 9 states have abolished it for common law crimes. 23 States are abolitionists in practice.

ii.Retention: 55 States are retentionists.(Retentionism is the practice of retaining the death penalty)

iii.Top 5 countries that executed the capital punishment the most in the world in 2022 are, (in order): China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and United States of America (USA).

• China remained the world’s leading executioner; Excluding China, 90% of all reported executions took place in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Why Death Sentence should be abolished?

i.Irreversibility: If an innocent person is executed, there is no way to bring them back.

ii.Ineffectiveness: The death penalty has not been shown to be an effective deterrent to crime.

iii.Disproportionality: The death penalty is disproportionately applied to minorities and the poor.

iv.Cruelty: The death penalty is a cruel and unusual punishment. It is a form of torture that inflicts immense suffering on the person being executed.

Additional Info:

i.As of  2022, there were 28,282 people  on death row across the globe; Out of that, less than 5% were women.

ii.Despite the fact that international law currently allows the death penalty, while strictly forbidding torture, it is increasingly clear that the death penalty is inherently incompatible with the prohibition of torture.

Recent Related News:

Day of International Criminal Justice is annually observed across the globe by International Criminal Court (ICC) on 17th July to commemorate the anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute(1998), the founding treaty of the ICC.

About Amnesty International:
Secretary-General – Agnès Callamard
Headquarters – London, United Kingdom(UK)
Established in – 1961