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Campaigning against the death penalty
Even though resistance to the death penalty has steadily grown during the last few years, death sentences are still handed down and executions carried out in many states around the world. Germany and its EU partners oppose the death penalty on ethical and moral grounds as well as for reasons of legal policy and are campaigning worldwide for the abolition of this cruel form of punishment.
World Day against the Death Penalty
© dpa / picture-alliance
World Day against the Death Penalty
World Day against the Death Penalty
© dpa / picture-alliance
The death penalty is not expressly prohibited under international law. Only the minimum norms enshrined under Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) are internationally binding. Under this Article, death sentences many only be imposed for the most serious crimes and carrying out the death sentence on young people under 18 and pregnant women is prohibited. Nevertheless, to date 65 states have already undertaken to completely abolish the death penalty by ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR. In Europe, Protocol 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which entered into force in 2003, obligates those member states of the Council of Europe that have signed and ratified it to abolish the death penalty in all circumstances.
The death penalty is still on the statute books in 47 states. However, 150 states around the world already refrain from implementing it. There are many signs of a clear trend towards suspending or abolishing the death penalty; the United Nations’ most recent five-year report on the death penalty points in that direction. It is also revealing that at present only seven states are responsible for 95% of all executions around the world: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the US, North Korea and Iraq.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (PDF, 126 KB)
Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
8th Report of the Secretary-General on death penalty (PDF, 592 KB)
EU policy on fighting the death penalty and EU guidelines
Protest against execution in Iran
© dpa / picture-alliance
Protest against execution in Iran
Protest against execution in Iran
© dpa / picture-alliance
Germany and our partners in the EU have been actively campaigning against the death penalty for many years. This campaign is based on the Guidelines to EU Policy towards Third Countries on the Death Penalty (EU guidelines). The guidelines define the campaign against the death penalty as a central human rights issue within the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Furthermore, it sets out principles and criteria for practical action, for example on the question as to when the EU makes public statements or in what form it intervenes vis-à-vis other states. The aim is to prevent the imposition of the death penalty in individual cases, as well as to influence the practice in individual countries and, for instance, to bring about a moratorium on or abolition of the death penalty.
The UN resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty
In 2007 during the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly, a resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on the use of the death penalty was adopted for the first time. The draft resolution was sponsored by an alliance of states from different regions, including members of the European Union. The EU decision to actively support the initiative was made during the German EU Presidency and is closely linked to Germany’s commitment to abolish the death penalty worldwide. In 2008, the resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty was again adopted by a substantial majority during the 63rd session of the General Assembly and thus successfully confirmed by the United Nations. The resolution, which is now one of the biannual resolutions sponsored every second year, was again adopted at the 65th session of the General Assembly in 2010. Happily, it gained the support of an even greater number of states: 109 countries voted in favour of the resolution, 41 against and 35 abstained. This result confirmed the trend towards a moratorium on or abolition of the death penalty. Ideally, this development could lead to a global ban and possibly the prohibition of the death penalty under international law.
Last updated 19.09.2011