Joint statement on death penalty abolition

The Fourteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Kyoto, Japan in March 2021, focuses on “Advancing crime prevention, criminal justice and the rule of law: towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda”.

In this joint statement, PRI and 15 other organisations note our regret at the exclusion of the abolition of the death penalty from the plan of work of the Congress, as well as from the UNODC strategy for 2021-2025. The statement calls on the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and its subsidiary bodies, including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); and all UN member states, including the Congress host country Japan, to make abolition of the death penalty an integral component of programmes to prevent crime and improve criminal justice systems globally.