About our work on the death penalty

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty because it is a violation of two fundamental human rights, as laid down in Articles 3 and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

• the right to life, and
• the right not to be tortured or subject to any cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. It is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent. It has never been shown to deter crime more effectively than other punishments.

Opposition to the death penalty in the context of political prisoners has been part of our vision right from the start. In time, our opposition to the death penalty has broadened to include anyone sentenced to death.

In 1971 we requested the United Nations and the Council of Europe to make all possible efforts to achieve the abolition of the death penalty throughout the world. Six years later, we convened an International Conference on the Death Penalty in Stockholm. In 1977, just 16 countries had abolished capital punishment for all crimes. Today the figure stands at 80. In 1989 we organised a worldwide campaign against the death penalty.

We continue to work for abolition by regularly monitoring developments, collecting information worldwide and organising an ongoing programme of work against the death penalty in cooperation with other human rights organisations and governments.

In 2000, together with the Community of Sant'Egidio and Sister Helen Prejean of the Moratorium 2000 project, we presented more than three million signatures to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan supporting a moratorium on the death penalty with a view to total abolition worldwide.