International demands for complete abolition of death penalty

On the World Day against the Death Penalty, marked on October 10, many countries and human rights organizations around the world have called for the complete abolition of the death penalty.

The countries and human rights organizations considered that this punishment “falls within the practice of torture and ill-treatment with all the physical damage and severe psychological complications, which do not concern the person sentenced to death alone, but extend to his family and to judges and lawyers.”

At the same time, they stressed that countries respect their commitments regarding “suspending the implementation of the death penalty by continuing to vote in favor of the UN resolution calling for a global suspension of this punishment.”

They also called for “ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and support the draft protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the abolition of the death penalty,” calling for “an end to the trial and conviction of people with disabilities and mental illnesses and sentencing them to death.”

Many organizations have confirmed that “hundreds, even thousands, of political opponents, human rights defenders, and freedom of expression advocates are facing the risk of execution, especially in countries ruled by dictatorial regimes.”