The 47-nation Council of Europe and the 28-member European Union have published a joint statement to mark the European and World Day against the Death Penalty on 10 October.

The statement underlines the two organisations’ firm opposition to capital punishment in any circumstances.

It also calls on countries still using the death penalty to commute any existing sentences and to introduce a moratorium on capital punishment as a first step towards abolition.

Through the European Convention on Human Rights, the Council of Europe has created a death penalty-free zone covering 47 countries and over 820 million people.

No executions have taken place in any Council of Europe member state for over 20 years.

Links:

• Joint statement
• Return of the death penalty in Europe: genuine threat or populist fiction?
• European Court of Human Rights factsheet on death penalty cases