10 October 2011 - 9th World Day against the Death Penalty

 Responding to the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty’s call for action, every year on October 10, citizens, national and international institutions and NGOs rally to oppose the death penalty and to unite behind the struggle for its universal abolition. The World Day has been first established in 2003 with hundreds of initiatives including debates, concerts, press conferences, demonstrations, petitions, and educational and cultural activities organised in more than 70 countries. This World Day is to raise awareness on the inhumanity of the death penalty throughout the entire process, from sentence to execution. The dreadful conditions on death row inflict extreme psychological suffering and execution is a physical and mental assault. Around the world there are death row inmates held in appalling conditions; the cells are not suitable for a human being, the dietary regime is inadequate and, access to medical care is lacking. Not only the physical state of the inmates placed in cruel and unusual circumstances but also their minds are greatly affected by their situation, with many death row inmates suffering from mental illness and mental disabilities as a result of their death sentence.
Executions, regardless of the method used, are cruel and inhumane and can and have gone wrong in many cases.

Brochure 9th World Day
against Death Penalty

In 2010, 23 countries around the world carried out executions with the highest number of executions in China, Iran, North Korea and the United States. According to Amnesty International, there were 2,024 death sentences imposed in 67 countries in 2010. There still remains much secrecy surrounding the accurate accounting of executions worldwide with many governments not disclosing information to international governmental institutions or non governmental organizations (NGOs).