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UN Human Rights Council adopts a resolution calling for a panel debate on children of parents sentenced to death
At the end of last week, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution without a vote (so with consensus), calling for a panel debate at the Council on children of parents sentenced to death or executed. Children are often the forgotten victims of the death penalty, and suffer extreme emotional trauma and stigma from […]
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UN General Assembly adopt 4th resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty
The UN General Assembly today adopted a fourth resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty. 111 states in favour, 41 against and 34 abstentions. New votes in favour included Central African Republic, Chad, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Tunisia. Papua New Guinea and Indonesia moved from opposition to abstention. Regrettably, Bahrain, Dominica and Oman […]
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PRI starts new project to bring an end to the use of the death penalty worldwide
This new programme of work is being carried out in four regions: the Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and East Africa Funded under the European Union’s Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the programme started in November 2012 and will run for two years. […]
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Is there an emerging trend to see the death penalty as torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment?
Yesterday the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Juan Mendéz, presented his interim report to the 3rd Committee of the UN General Assembly in New York. Key among his conclusions was that “… the trend to abolish and the trend to restrict are both informed by a stated conviction […]
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Death Penalty and Human Rights: the Way Forward: Side event tomorrow – 24 October – at the UN General Assembly
Wednesday, 24 October 2012 6:15 pm – 7:45 pm Conference Room E, North Lawn Building (NLB) New York This side-event is organised by the Special Procedures Branch of the OHCHR in cooperation with PRI and the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT). The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Mr Christof Heyns, and the […]
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Bryan Stevenson: Why mass incarceration defines us as a society
Last June, in two cases brought by Bryan Stevenson, in a landmark judgment, the US Supreme Court ruled that sentencing children to life without parole including for murder, without ever giving them a chance to prove that he or she had been rehabilitated, constituted cruel and unusual punishment. As well as profiling Stevenson’s work to […]
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PRI Statement on World Day Against the Death Penalty 10 October 2012
World Day Against the Death Penalty is organised by the World Coalition against the Death Penalty to raise government and public awareness about the continuing use of the death penalty around the world. Since the World Day was first held a decade ago, significant progress has been made towards ending the death penalty, with 141 […]
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The OSCE has published its annual background paper on the death penalty in OSCE states
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) presented this year’s background paper on the death penalty in the OSCE region yesterday at the annual OSCE human rights conference in Warsaw. This year’s paper reports on developments in the OSCE area, including Latvia’s ratification of Protocol 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which […]
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PRI will give an oral statement on the question of the death penalty to the 21st Session of the Human Rights Council later today
The proceedings are being streamed live by the UN. Click here to watch. The statement will call on all states that retain the death penalty to ensure that it is not imposed on those who were under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged offence, or on those who have mental or intellectual disabilities. […]
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PRI participates in death penalty experts meeting at Harvard Law School
On 25-26 June 2012, PRI participated in an expert consultation at Harvard Law School with the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Mr Christof Heyns and the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Mr Juan Méndez. Other participants representing academia, lawyers, and NGOs included […]