To mark the 23rd World Day against the Death Penalty on Friday 10 October 2025, the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) calls for universal abolition of the death penalty and ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights , which serves as an international commitment to this end. Pending this, the IBAHRI calls on all retentionist States to introduce an immediate moratorium on executions and to commute existing death sentences.
IBAHRI Co-Chair Mark Stephens CBE commented: 'The death penalty is a legal relic that belongs in the dustbin of history. It is cruel, inhuman, and degrading - not justice, but a failure of it. The IBAHRI condemns its use in all circumstances. We applaud those nations that have had the moral courage to abolish it and urge those still clinging to this barbarism to follow suit. The global tide is turning - abolition is not just inevitable, it is imperative.'
Held every year on 10 October, the World Day against the Death Penalty is organised by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (WCADP), of which the IBAHRI is a member. Continuing the momentum of 2024, the 23rd World Day serves as an opportunity to challenge the misconception that the death penalty can make people and communities safer.
IBAHRI Co-Chair Hina Jilani remarked: 'Authorities often justify the death penalty as a means to ensure public safety and security and to deter specific crimes. Yet there is no convincing evidence that capital punishment has a unique deterrent effect on crime. Such justifications are misguided, overlook the root causes of insecurity, such as poverty, inequality, and discrimination, and can perpetuate cycles of violence.'
According to the WCADP, 145 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Specifically, 113 countries have abolished it for all crimes, ten have abolished it for ordinary crimes and 22 are considered abolitionist in practice.
Over the past year, the IBAHRI has undertaken a range of initiatives to promote the abolition of the death penalty and, pending this, strict observance of the international legal limitations on its application. In February 2025, the IBAHRI and the Law Council of Australia delivered a joint oral statement during the United Nations Human Rights Council's biennial high-level panel discussion on the death penalty, which focused on the contribution of the judiciary to the advancement of human rights and the question of the death penalty.
In April 2025, the IBAHRI and the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide provided written input to the UN Secretary-General's report on the death penalty, which discussed equality of arms, the need to prevent miscarriage or other failures of justice, and the irreversibility of the death penalty.
In September 2025, the IBAHRI engaged with the core group of States and penholders prior to and during the informal consultations on the UN Human Rights Council resolution on the question of the death penalty, providing substantive input on the overarching theme of equality of arms and counterarguments to address attempts by some retentionist countries to dilute the content and spirit of the resolution. On 7 October, the Council passed the resolution, with 31 States voting in favour, seven against and eight abstentions.
