Mobilising for universal abolition
The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, an alliance of more than 150 NGOs, bar associations, local authorities and unions, was created in Rome on 13 May 2002. It was founded as a result of the commitment made by the signatories of the Final Declaration of the 1st World Congress Against the Death Penalty organised by the French NGO Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) in Strasbourg in June 2001.
The aim of the World Coalition is to strengthen the international dimension of the fight against the death penalty. Its ultimate objective is to obtain the universal abolition of the death penalty. To achieve its goal, the World Coalition advocates for a definitive end to death sentences and executions in those countries where the death penalty is in force. In some countries, it is seeking to obtain a reduction in the use of capital punishment as a first step towards abolition.
The World Coalition is striving to achieve these aims in the following ways:
The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty aims to strengthen the international dimension of the struggle against capital punishment. Wherever the death penalty is in force, it contributes to reducing and, better still, definitively abolishing death sentences and executions.
On 10 October 2020, the World Day Against the Death Penalty will be dedicated to the right to effective legal representation for individuals who may face a death sentence.