"I have the honor to ask the National Assembly for the abolition of the death penalty."

Here are the first words spoken, on September 17, 1981, in the hemicycle by Robert Badinter, then Minister of Justice.

The next day, the law abolishing the death penalty is officially voted.

France is then added to a handful of states in the world to have legislated in this way.

Forty years later, the situation has clearly changed within the international community, and even some conservative states are taking the path that could lead to a 'universal' abolition of the death penalty.

Interview with Anne Denis, head of the Abolition of the Death Penalty Commission for Amnesty International France. 

France 24: between 1981 and 2021, how has the world evolved in terms of the abolition of the death penalty? 

Anne Denis 

: Amnesty International's campaign for the universal abolition of the death penalty began in 1977 (with the Stockholm Declaration), four years before France passed a law in this direction.

At the time, 16 states were abolitionist for all crimes.

Today, in 2021, there are 108 states, to which are added 8 states that are abolitionist for common law crimes, as well as 28 states that are abolitionist in practice - that is to say that have not executed for at least ten years.

In total, more than 70% of states in the world (144 out of 198) have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice, which represents a significant development over 40 years.

How to explain this clear abolitionist tendency? 

Several factors explain this. There is a movement to abolish the death penalty all over the world. There is progress because human rights are taken into consideration by the international community. A state, sometimes, does not want to appear bloodthirsty towards its people and either chooses abolition or the choice of a moratorium on this issue. In addition, there is a whole atmosphere that is conducive to this trend: we see it with the UN General Assemblies where a resolution for a moratorium on executions is voted every two years - 123 states voted in favor. in 2020, a figure on the rise.  

And this progression can also be seen on a continental scale. In Europe, where many states have abolished the death penalty, the EU obliges its members to be abolitionists and this is also a very important condition for being able to be part of the Council of Europe. We also note a great increase in sub-Saharan Africa, where 22 states are abolitionist. And each year the situation evolves towards the end of the death penalty, with Chad in 2020 and Sierra Leone last July. 

In the Americas, in recent years, only the United States has continued the executions.

A few other countries, notably in the English-speaking Caribbean, retain the death penalty but do not execute.

Finally, in Asia, we have a heavyweight - China - which executes thousands of people every year, but we have no figures because the death penalty is a state secret there.

In addition, in Southeast Asia, several states that execute for drug trafficking (such as Singapore, Editor's note).

Are there reasons to hope for countries that have not abolished the death penalty?

Are abolitionist countries, moreover, tempted to question this achievement? 

There is progress, however small, in the abolition of the death penalty, even among "hard-core" states. The latter introduce nuances into their penal code which normally lower death sentences, and therefore executions. Iran, for example, which is the first executor in the world (if we compare the number of executions to its total population, editor's note), introduced in 2018 a change in its penal code limiting death sentences for drug traffic. Saudi Arabia [which executed a record number of people in 2019, Editor's note], meanwhile, abolished the death penalty for minors in 2020. 

Countries are trying, however, to back down on capital punishment.

This is the case of the Philippines, which abolished the death penalty twice: in 1987 - before reinstating it in 1994 - then in 2006. The current president, Rodrigo Duterte, wants to reinstate the death penalty, mainly to fight against the death penalty. drug trafficking.

But as it cannot, the Philippines having signed the second protocol called ICCPR of the United Nations, this manifests itself in extrajudicial executions (for which the ICC has just authorized, on Wednesday, the opening of an investigation, Editor's note).

Are we finally moving towards a "universal" abolition of the death penalty, as Robert Badinter pleaded on Wednesday?

Yes, we are clearly moving towards the "universal" abolition of the death penalty. There are signs that we are moving in this direction, although it will take time. It is a path that will continue, and each year we see progress in this area in the world. In the United States, Virginia abolished the death penalty in early 2021. And it's a symbol: it was the first southern state to begin executions on American soil in the early 17th century. And if, eventually, the United States were to abolish the death penalty in its 50 states, other democracies could follow with a possible ripple effect. Whether for Robert Badinter, Amnesty International or for myself, we are optimistic about the idea of ​​moving towards a "universal" abolition of the death penalty. 

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