In view of the European and World Day Against the Death penalty, the Council of Europe has undertaken several actions in line with 4th Council of Europe Summit held last May in Reykjavik, where Heads of State and Government declared that : “ the Council of Europe has played a crucial role to ensure that Europe is a death penalty-free zone and it should pursue the fight against the reintroduction of the death penalty, and in favour of its universal abolition, in all places and in all circumstances. It has also ensured that the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is upheld.”

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy issued a joint statement in which they strongly reaffirm their unequivocal opposition to the death penalty, including any reintroduction of it, in all cases and in all circumstances.

The Ministers’ Deputies held a thematic discussion and adopted a set of decisions reaffirming their unequivocal opposition to the death penalty, including any reintroduction of it, and promoting the global abolition of capital punishment, including among youth, in line with the Reykjavik Summit Declaration. They also welcomed the ratification of Protocol No. 13 by the National Assembly of Armenia and looked forward to the deposit of the instrument of ratification by Armenia. This thematic debate has amongst other issues touched upon the European Court of Human Rights caselaw on the abolition of death penalty which is particularly relevant in the context of the world day against the death penalty dedicated to the relationship between the use of the death penalty and torture or other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment (ECHR factsheet on the abolition of the death penalty; Compendium of case law of the European Court of Human Rights on the death penalty and extrajudicial execution).
 

In addition, the coordinator for the Abolition of Death penalty had two exchanges of views last week. The first one was held with a delegation of the ASEAN intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR). The second one took place in the framework of a training course to support action for democratic youth participation in Belarus based on Council of Europe standards (Living Democracy through Youth Participation - Youth (coe.int)).