2018 Edition
Council of Europe Strasbourg 9 October 2018
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10 October: European Day against the Death Penalty

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

The declaration underlines the two organisations’ strong opposition to capital punishment in all circumstances.

“The death penalty is an affront to human dignity. It constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and is contrary to the right to life. The death penalty has no established deterrent effect and it makes judicial errors irreversible.” – Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini

Pending the introduction of a moratorium, the declaration calls on countries still applying the death penalty – which notably include Belarus, the only European country still using capital punishment – to commute any existing death sentences to prison terms.

It also urges Council of Europe and EU member states to avoid involvement in the use of the death penalty by third countries, for example by acting to prevent the trade in goods that could subsequently be used to carry out executions.

Through the European Convention on Human Rights, the Council of Europe has created a death penalty-free zone covering 47 countries and over 830 million people.

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

 

2017 edition
Council of Europe Strasbourg 9 October 2017
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Europe against the death penalty

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.

2016 Edition
Council of Europe Strasbourg 10 October 2016
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European Day against the Death Penalty: Council of Europe/EU confirm their strong opposition to capital punishment

Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland and the European Union’s High Representative For Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, have published a joint statement to mark the European and World Day against the Death Penalty on October 10.

The statement reaffirms both organisations’ strong opposition to capital punishment in all circumstances, and underlines that the death penalty is incompatible with human dignity.

See also:
“Death penalty abolition is a continuous fight within and outside our borders,” says Parliamentary Assembly President
The European Day against Death Penalty file

2015 edition
Europe underlines its firm opposition to capital punishment
Council of Europe Strasbourg 9 October 2015
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Death Penalty Day

Ahead of the World and European Day against the Death Penalty (10 October), the 47-nation Council of Europe and the 28-member European Union have issued a joint declaration underlining their firm opposition to capital punishment and calling on countries across Europe to move towards abolition.

The declaration from Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland and the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, points out that no Council of Europe or EU member states have carried out executions since 1997.

It also calls on those European countries which have not yet done so to ratify two protocols to the European Convention on Human Rights which aim to abolish the death penalty. (more...)

2014 Edition
  • Joint Declaration by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

Strasbourg, 09.10.2014 - ''On the European and World Day against the Death Penalty, the European Union and the Council of Europe reaffirm their strong and absolute opposition to capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances, and their commitment to its worldwide abolition. We are deeply concerned about setbacks in some countries, such as recent mass trials leading to a vast number of death sentences, the extension in domestic legislation of the scope of the death penalty's use, or the resumption of executions after a period of several years.

No execution has taken place in our Member States in the past 17 years. The European Union and the Council of Europe welcome the fact that all Member States of the European Union have now ratified both Protocols 6 and 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights, and urge all other European States that have not yet done so to sign and ratify these instruments which aim at the abolition of the death penalty.

The European Union and the Council of Europe deeply regret the recent executions carried out by Belarus, the only European country that applies this form of punishment. They strongly urge Belarus to commute the sentences of the two remaining persons sentenced to death in 2013, and to establish a moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition of the death penalty.

Both organisations welcome the recent steps taken by the African Union towards the adoption of an Additional Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Abolition of the Death Penalty. They welcome that recent ratifications of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 15 December 1989, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, have brought the number of States Parties to eighty-one. They encourage all States which have not yet done so to ratify this protocol on the occasion of its 25th anniversary in 2014.

The European Union and Council of Europe call on all Members of the United Nations to support the Resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty which will be put to vote at the 69th session of the UN General Assembly in December 2014.''

2013 Edition
  • Joint Declaration by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

Strasbourg, 09.10.2013 – The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, and the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, have issued a joint declaration to mark the 7th European Day against the Death Penalty (10 October).

In the declaration, Secretary General Jagland and High Representative Ashton reiterate their strong opposition to the use of capital punishment, underling its inhumane and cruel nature and its failure to prevent crime.

Encouraged by the growing momentum towards worldwide abolition, they nevertheless state that the resumption of executions in different parts of the world and voices in favour of the death penalty – including in Europe – show the continuing need to spell out why it runs contrary to the right to life and human dignity.

Welcoming important recent steps towards abolition at the international level, they call on all European countries to legally abolish the death penalty in all circumstances and regret the continuous use of capital punishment in Belarus – the only European country still to do so.

Notes

1. The Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers declared 10 October as the annual "European Day against the Death Penalty" in September 2007 as a European contribution to the World Day against the Death Penalty on the same date. The European Day against the Death Penalty has been co-sponsored by the European Union since 2008.

2. Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights outlaws the use of the death penalty in peacetime. It has so far been ratified by 46 out of the 47 Council of Europe member states. Russia, which currently has a moratorium in place on the use of capital punishment, signed the protocol in 1997 but has yet to ratify it.

3. Protocol No 13. to the convention extends the ban to cover the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, including in wartime. Of the 47 Council of Europe countries, only Azerbaijan and Russia have yet to sign the protocol. Armenia signed it in 2006, but has yet to ratify it. Poland recently passed legislation which will enable ratification in the near future.

4. The right to life is enshrined in Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. A factsheet on relevant case law from the European Court of Human Rights is available here.

5. The full text of the joint declaration by Thorbjørn Jagland and Catherine Ashton to mark this year's European and World Day against the Death Penalty is available here.

2012 Edition
  • Joint Declaration by Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and Catherine Ashton, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

Capital punishment is inhumane and unnecessary. Experience has also shown that it does not serve as a deterrent to crime. No legal system is flawless; any miscarriage of justice could lead to the tragic loss of an innocent life.

Abolition of the death penalty throughout Europe, and beyond, is an objective common to all our member states. No execution has taken place in our member states in the last fifteen years.

The European Union and the Council of Europe encourage all European States which have not yet abolished the death penalty de jure under all circumstances, to do so by ratifying the relevant protocols to the European Convention on Human Rights. (more...)

  • Declaration of the Committee of Ministers

On this 10 October 2012, European and World Day against the death penalty, and in support of the joint statement of Mr Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe and Ms Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, the Committee of Ministers wishes to reaffirm its unequivocal opposition to the death penalty, in all places and in all circumstances.

It welcomes the fact that no more executions are carried out on the territory of the member States of the Council of Europe. It encourages countries which still apply the death penalty, including those holding observer status with the Council of Europe, to immediately apply a moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition.

The Committee of Ministers calls on all countries in Europe and beyond to support the Resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty which will be put to vote at the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly in December 2012.

The declaration was adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 10 October 2012 at the 1152nd meeting of the Ministers' Deputies.